# Package Layouts

Define the sections and document rules every new submittal of a type starts from, and add your company's own submittal types.

Every new package should not start as a blank list of sections that somebody rebuilds from memory. Under **Settings > Package contents**, a layout is the recipe a new submittal copies: its sections in compile order and the documents every equipment item in it must carry. Set one up per type once and every submittal of that type starts right.

## Built-ins and your library

The page has two lists. **Package Layouts** is your company's own library: layouts you can edit, set as the default for a type, archive, and restore. **Start from a built-in** holds the read-only layouts that ship with the product; open the fold and click **Clone** to make your company's own version of one. A company with no layouts of its own sees the built-ins as its library until it clones one.

![Package contents settings with submittal types and your layouts](https://submittalkit.com/static/images/help/package-layouts-settings.webp)

Each row shows the type the layout serves, how many sections it has, and how many submittals were created from it. **Set default** makes a layout the one every new submittal of that type starts from; the Default label marks it. **Archive** removes a layout from selection without touching the submittals already created from it, and a layout that has never produced a submittal can be deleted outright.

## Edit a layout

Click **Edit** on one of your own layouts to open it:

1. **Template name** is what the New Submittal form shows.
2. **Sections** lists the layout's sections in the order the compiled PDF will follow. Drag the grip to reorder, rename a title in place, and **Add a section** from the same palette of section types the submittal page uses. Each section's behavior comes from its type, so renaming never changes what it does. See [Configure sections](/help/configure-sections) for what each role does and the empty policy.
3. **Document requirements** says which document roles every equipment item in a submittal from this layout must have. A role marked **Required** counts against whether the submittal reads ready to issue; a role left **Not required** is still included when a part has it. A role the layout gives no section cannot be required until it has one.

## Submittal types

The **Submittal Types** list at the top of the page adds your company's vocabulary to the built-in list of Product Data, Shop Drawing, O&M Manual, and the rest. Give a type a name and choose how it behaves: an action submittal, issued for review and returned, or closeout and turnover. That behavior is fixed once added; the name can be changed anytime, and a type nothing uses can be deleted. Two types of the same kind compile identically. Set a type's short code under [Numbering & review](/help/submittal-numbering) and it prints in submittal identifiers.

## Copied at creation

A submittal copies its layout when it is [created](/help/create-a-submittal), so a later edit to the layout never changes an existing submittal. To bring an older submittal up to a revised layout, open its settings drawer, pick the layout, and click **Preview merge**: it shows what would be added, and only adds what is missing.

> Set one default per type before the team starts creating packages; a default set later applies only to submittals created after it.

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Submittal Kit · Submittals · Updated 2026-09-27
Canonical: https://submittalkit.com/help/package-layouts