---
source: https://carbone.io/documentation/design/overview/template-feature.html
title: "Supported template files and features"
description: "Supported template files and features"
generated_at: "2026-07-13"
---

# Template feature

Supported template files and features

## Template types

Carbone supports virtually **any document as a template.** Carbone can also be used to generate emails in HTML, JSON, files for industrial label printers, markdown, and more.

However, some advanced features require specific template files. This table provides a non-exhaustive overview of all supported features by template type.

Carbone also manages more than 160 document conversions (ex., DOCX to PDF). The bottom of the table shows the most commonly used output file type. Here is [the complete list of supported output file formats](/documentation/developer/http-api/generate-reports.md#output-file-type)

| Input Template Formats | XML | HTML | ODT | ODS | ODP | DOCX | XLSX | PPTX | ODG | SVG | PDF | MD | IDML | CSV | TXT |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Community Features** |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
| Substitutions | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Repetitions | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ⚠️ | ✓ | ⚠️ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Formatters | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Translations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Conditions | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ⚠️ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Simple math | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Enterprise Features** |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
| Aggregators | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pictures | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Colors | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 📅 | 📅 | 📅 | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| HTML | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | 📅 | 📅 | ✓ | 📅 | 📅 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Charts | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Barcodes | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Hyperlinks | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Forms | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Transform | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | 📅 | ✓ | 📅 | 📅 | ✓ | 📅 | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| File operations | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Signatures | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| **Output File Formats**   ([see full list](/documentation/developer/http-api/generate-reports.md#output-file-type)) | xml | html   pdf   txt   png   jpg   webp | odt   docx   pdf   txt   jpg   png   epub   md   rtf   html | ods   xlsx   csv   pdf   txt   html | odp   pptx   pdf   jpg   png   gif   svg   webp | odt   docx   pdf   txt   jpg   png   epub   md   rtf   html | ods   xlsx   csv   pdf   txt   html | odp   pptx   pdf   jpg   png   gif   svg   webp | jpg   png   pdf   webp   epub   cdr | pdf   jpg   png   webp | pdf   odt   png   jpg   webp | pdf   docx   odt   jpg   png | idml | csv   txt   pdf   docx   odt   html | txt   pdf   docx   odt   html |

**Legend**

-   ✓ Working
-   ⚠️ Working with some limitation
-   📅 On the roadmap
-   ✗ Not available or not supported by the file format itself

It is worth mentioning that Carbone also supports all these features through Microsoft Word, OnlyOffice, LibreOffice or Google Docs:

-   Watermark
-   Header / Footer
-   Pagination, page count, page total
-   Pivot table
-   Bookmark, Cross-reference
-   Page size, page orientation
-   Repeat table header on new page
-   Page break
-   Automatic table resizing
-   Automatic text wrap
-   All font style / color / paragraph size
-   Comments
-   Footnotes
-   Table of Contents

This list is not exhaustive.

If you have questions, reach us on the chat.

## XLSX Templates

Carbone v5 has significantly improved support for XLSX templates.

**Known Limitations:**

-   **Sheet names** have a [maximum limit of 31 characters](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/rename-a-worksheet-3f1f7148-ee83-404d-8ef0-9ff99fbad1f9#:~:text=Important%3A%20Worksheet%20names%20cannot%3A,Contain%20more%20than%2031%20characters.) If Carbone injects data into a sheet name, ensure that the injected string does not exceed 31 characters. If exceeded, Excel will display a warning when opening the generated file: _"We found a problem with some content in 'file.xlsx'. Do you want us to try to recover as much as we can? If you trust the source of this workbook, click Yes."_
    
-   **Dynamic sheet creation is not yet supported** in XLSX templates. As an alternative, use ODS templates and convert them to XLSX with Carbone.
    
-   **For Carbone v4 users:** Add the [prerelease tag](/documentation/design/overview/version-lifecycle.md#pre-release-features) to your template to access the latest features and bug fixes for XLSX templates.
    

## PPTX Templates

**Known Limitations:**

-   **Dynamic slide creation is not yet supported** in PPTX. As an alternative, use ODP templates and convert them to PPTX with Carbone.
    
-   In presentations, images and shapes are positioned absolutely. So, if you create a loop, new elements will overlap. Use the [formatter :transform](/documentation/design/advanced-features/transform.md) to move items along the X or Y axis in a loop. See a [real example here](/examples/matrix-pptx/index.md).

## Related topics

- [Version lifecycle](/documentation/design/overview/version-lifecycle.md)
- [Philosophy](/documentation/design/overview/philosophy.md)
- [In-template options](/documentation/design/overview/in-template-options.md)
- [Getting started](/documentation/design/overview/getting-started.md)
- [Fonts support](/documentation/design/overview/font-support.md)
- [Design best practices](/documentation/design/overview/design-best-practices.md)