How to change the page template in WordPress

Page templates can be applied only to pages, in order to change their aspect. It can be applied to a single page, a page section, or to a group of pages.

Your Theme files should include a default page template (named: page.php). It may also have one or more custom page templates, for instance, to display content in wider columns. 

Changing a Page Template

There are 2 scenarios we have to take into consideration:

• first - you want to change the template of an existing page
• second - you want to change the template of a new page

First scenario - existing page

Step 1:

Go to Dashboard > Pages > All Pages.

Step 2:

Go to one of the existing pages that you want to modify and select Quick Edit.

Step 3:

Go to the Templates options (1), choose one of the available templates and click on Update(2).

Once it's done, click on the Apply button (3).

Second scenario - new page

Step 1:

Go to Dashboard > Pages > Add New.

Step 2:

After adding a New Page, it will automatically open the editor. 

Go to Page Attributes and expand (1). Then choose one of the options available for the page template (2).

Template Options:

In the following example, we are using the Hestia theme, which has 5 templates available.

• default template - generates a centered content.

• fullwidth template - generates extended left-right content.

• page with sidebar - you have to select also the direction of the sidebar (2)