My Render Was Created but My Changes Don't Appear

You sent a request to the Templated API (or through Zapier, Make, n8n or a webhook). The API answered with success and gave you a render URL. But the image shows the template's original text, the old image, or a blank page.

This almost always means the data did not reach the layer you expected. Templated does not return an error in these cases. The render is created with the template's default values.

The 5 most common causes

1. The layer name does not match

Layers are referenced by their layer name, exactly as it appears in the Layers panel of the editor.

• title-1 and title_1 are different names.
• product name and product-name are different names.
• Extra spaces count.

If a name in your payload does not exist in the template, it is silently ignored. The render still succeeds.

Fix: copy the layer names from the template instead of typing them:

• In the editor, open the Layers panel on the left and check the name of each layer.
• Or call GET https://api.templated.io/v1/template/{templateId}/layers to get the exact names. See https://templated.io/docs/templates/layers/
• Or open the template's API integration page in the dashboard, which shows a sample request with the real layer names.

2. The layer is on a different page (multi-page templates)

When you use the pages array, the layers inside each page object are only applied to that page. If you put title inside page-2 but title only exists on page-1, nothing changes.

The page identifier must also be correct. If the page value does not match any page in the template, that render comes out without the page content.

Fix: call GET https://api.templated.io/v1/template/{templateId}/pages to see each page id and the layers that belong to it. See https://templated.io/docs/templates/pages/

3. You did not send the layer at all

A layer that is not in your payload keeps the value saved in the template. This is expected. Only the layers you send are changed.

4. You sent an empty value

If you send a layer with an empty value, for example "text": "" or "image_url": "", the empty value replaces the template value. This often happens in Zapier or Make when a mapped field is empty for that record.

Fix: check that the field you mapped has a value for the record that triggered the render.

5. The wrong property for the layer type

Each layer type uses its own property:

• Text layers: text, color
• Image layers: image_url
• Shapes: fill

Sending text to an image layer, or color to a shape, has no visible effect. See the full list of layer properties at https://templated.io/docs/renders/create/#layer-parameters

How to see exactly what was sent: View Payload

Every render keeps the payload that created it.

1. Open the Renders page in the dashboard (left sidebar).
2. Find the render.
3. Open the menu on the render card and click View Payload.
4. Compare the layer names and values with the layer names in your template.

You can also click Open template with render data on the render card to open the template in the editor with that payload applied. This shows which layers changed and which did not.

Quick checklist

1. Layer names copied exactly from the template (hyphens, underscores, spaces).
2. For multi-page templates: correct page id, and each layer is inside the page where it exists.
3. Values are not empty.
4. The right property for the layer type (text, image_url, fill...).
5. Image URLs are public and open in a private browser window.

FAQ

Q: The API returned 200 but my text did not change. Why?
A: The layer name in your request probably does not match the layer name in the template. Templated ignores unknown layer names without an error. Check the names with View Payload or the "List template layers" endpoint.

Q: Why does my render show the template's sample text?
A: The layer was not sent, the name was misspelled, or it was sent to a different page. Layers you do not send keep their template value.

Q: My render is blank or missing content on one page.
A: Check the page value in your pages array. It must match a page id returned by GET /v1/template/{id}/pages.

Q: Does the layer name need to match uppercase and lowercase?
A: Always copy the name exactly as it appears in the template. That is the safest way to make sure the value is applied.

Q: Some records work and others don't.
A: The records that fail usually have an empty field. An empty value replaces the template value.

Q: How do I see the data that was used in a render?
A: Go to Renders, open the render card menu and click View Payload.

Updated on: 01/10/2026