Work with partial designs
To be able to reuse similar layouts for webpage placeholders such as the header, the footer, and main sections of a webpage, you can build partial designs in the Page builder. Partial designs consist of components, and are later combined with each other to build page designs.
By structuring the page layout in partial and page designs, you help create a consistent style and make the editor's work easier because fewer operations are needed when creating generic pages, such as articles. You can also place an empty Container or another rendering with an empty placeholder on your partial design to give your editors well-defined extension points.
Create a partial design
To create a partial design:
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In the Page builder in Templates mode, click Partial designs.
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Click Create > Partial design.
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In the Create partial design dialog, enter a name for your partial design (for example, footer) and click Create.
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Drag the desired component(s) from the left-hand pane to the relevant placeholder: Header, Main or Footer. Your choice of placeholder determines where the partial design will be placed in the page design.
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Configure the components as required using the left-hand pane settings.
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The partial design is automatically saved. When you have finished making changes, click Close.
After you create a partial design, a placeholder settings item is automatically generated for it in the Content Editor at sitecore/content/yourcollectionname/yoursitename/ Presentation/Placeholder Settings/Partial Design, with the key sxa-partialDesignItemName. Do not modify, delete, or rename this item because components from the corresponding partial design might not appear on the page.
The partial design is available in the Partial designs library. You can edit existing partial designs from this library.
Any changes made to an existing partial design are applied to all pages that use it.
Publish a partial design
To use your partial designs in a page, you must publish it from the partial designs builder.
To publish a partial design:
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In the Page builder in Templates mode, click Partial designs.
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Click
next to the partial design you want to publish. -
In the partial designs builder, click Publish.
Editing behavior when using partial designs
When all placeholders in a partial design are used, none remain available for editing on the page. As a result, placeholders do not render as visible locations for adding new components, and the toolbox appears empty. This behavior is by design.
This situation typically occurs when a partial design fully populates placeholders such as headless-main, headless-header, or headless-footer.
For this reason, the Recommendations: Structuring pages topic advises including empty containers or other renderings that expose placeholders in partial designs.
Placeholder requirements in partial designs
The way a partial design is created directly affects page-level editing behavior.
When you create a partial design that is intended to be applied to a specific placeholder (for example headless-main, headless-header, or headless-footer), the partial design must include the corresponding placeholder.
If a required placeholder is missing from a custom partial design, editors cannot add components as expected, and the toolbox may appear empty.
Recommendation for keeping page-level editing possible
To allow editors to add or modify components on individual pages, at least one empty placeholder must remain available after partial designs are applied.
Use column or row splitters, container components, or other renderings exposed placeholders in partial designs. These components define editable regions and ensure that page-level presentation can be extended or modified.