Template Dropdown not showing up within Wordpress administrator page - wordpress

Question

I am working on a Wordpress-based project, and I just added a new template to the installation by uploading a template file. I was creating a new page that will use my new template, when suddenly, the "Template" dropdown in the "Page Attributes" box is gone.
I am using Wordpress 3.0.1.
Update:
I saw a site which told me to revert to the default template, and back to my custom template. Apparently it worked, but I am still baffled on what triggers this bug. Also, any additional knowledge or pointers on this bug would be a great help since my job requires me to patch this (and possibly submit the bug fix to Wordpress). Thanks!

Answer 1

If you have disabled or removed the style.css from the template directory then also it will not work.
So there must be the style.css on template directory then the templates directory will be shown. When you try to remove the style.css from the template directory or using style.css from css folder, then you must be put one style.css on template directory.
Thanks

Answer 2

Morichika is spot on. I had the same problem, but then it sorted itself out by doing:
<?php
/**
* Template Name: Front Page
*/
?>

Answer 3

I have found a different solution for this. I reactivated my custom theme but then problem persisted.. then in the top most section of the code for the custom page template where it actually defines the name of the template like this:
<?php
/*
Template Name: Front Page
*/
?>
I did this:
<?php
/**
* Template Name: Front Page
*/
?>
Then refreshed the admin panel and it appeared.Seems a bit weird but it worked for me. Feel happy to share this.

Answer 4

I tried many of the suggested answers. None worked in my case.
A possible reason for the Template Dropdown not showing is a missing index.php in your Theme folder.
Just create an empty one, in case your hierarchy does not need one. But the existance of that file enables the option to choose the page template and suppresses an error message in the Choose-Theme page btw

Answer 5

Put style.css in your theme directory, instead of the css folder. Or
<?php
/*
Template Name: Front Page
*/
?>
There must not space between "Template Name:".

Answer 6

I managed to fix this by making sure the style.css in the theme root contained the theme comments. I deleted the whole stylesheet and it removed the templates dropdown.
Put this at the top of your theme root's style.css.
/wp-content/themes/YOUR_THEME/style.css
/*
Theme Name: Twenty Thirteen
Theme URI: http://wordpress.org/themes/twentythirteen
Author: the WordPress team
Author URI: http://wordpress.org/
Description: The 2013 theme for WordPress takes us back to the blog, featuring a full range of post formats, each displayed beautifully in their own unique way. Design details abound, starting with a vibrant color scheme and matching header images, beautiful typography and icons, and a flexible layout that looks great on any device, big or small.
Version: 1.0
License: GNU General Public License v2 or later
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
Tags: black, brown, orange, tan, white, yellow, light, one-column, two-columns, right-sidebar, flexible-width, custom-header, custom-menu, editor-style, featured-images, microformats, post-formats, rtl-language-support, sticky-post, translation-ready
Text Domain: twentythirteen
This theme, like WordPress, is licensed under the GPL.
Use it to make something cool, have fun, and share what you've learned with others.
*/
https://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development#Theme_Stylesheet
Or if you have a custom theme...
/*
Theme Name: My Wordpress Theme
Theme URI: https://example.tk
Author: Me
Author URI: https://example.tk
Description: This is my custom theme
Version: 1.0
*/

Answer 7

I know is super late for this question, but I fix it adding
Version: 0.1 alpha
in the comments of the themeFolder/style.css
This is my style.css complete for my theme
/*
Theme Name: Stockout Theme
Theme URI: http://stockout.com.uy/myTheme
Author: MauriPastorini
Author URI: http://stockout.com.uy
Description: This is a theme for stockout page
Version: 0.1 alpha
*/
I hope someone find this useful

Answer 8

I had the exact same problem with WordPress 3.2.1. I added a new template and the menu disappeared from the page add/edit screen. The solution was to switch back to the default twentyeleven theme end then right back to my custom theme. The templates drop-down began appearing again.
BTW, you said "revert to the default template, and back to my custom template" but I'm pretty sure you meant theme. I'm guessing where you saw this was here:
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/template-file-drop-down-not-appearing
Looks like this bug has existed for a couple of years at least. I filed a report:
http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/18324

Answer 9

Try this. template will be available for both page & post
<?php
/**
* Template Name: Blog Post
* Template Post Type: post, page
?>

Answer 10

In WordPress 5.8 they have moved the selectable custom templates out from under the Page Attributes section so no matter what you do you won't find it there (even if you spend 2hrs troubleshooting like I did, lol).
Custom selectable templates have now been moved into their own box call "Template". For me, it was at the top of my right-hand sidebar in the WP admin page editor. It's possible it may not show if it has been unchecked in your screen options settings which are now found under the three dots in top-right --> Preferences --> Panels --> Ensure "Templates" is checked.
I'm not sure if I just overlooked it for 2hrs straight or if it appeared only after I changed to a different theme then changed back.

Answer 11

I had this problem a while back and found one janky solution after a lot of search--sometimes switching to another theme in your install and then switching back to you primary theme will make your templates appear. I know that sounds weird, but worked for me for a while.

Answer 12

I've had this problem for two days. This forum and a couple of tests later did the work. Here is what was missing for my part.
Be sure that there is a style.css in your theme folder.
The style.css must have a valid comment section at the top of the file.
This means at least this:
/*!
Template: your-theme
*/
If you're using SASS or LESS, make sure that you have a "!" just after declaring your comment. It's to prevent SASS or LESS to delete your comment section.
To be sure that everything is settled fine. You may go to "Appearance > Themes". After the listing of themes, if there is nothing, than everything should be fine. Otherwise, it'll be written "Broken Themes" and you'll still have some issues to solve.

Answer 13

sass had deleted the content in my child style.css. The template drop down shows again once I added back the comments.
/*
Theme Name: Sometheme Child
Description: Child theme for Sometheme.
Template: sometheme
Version: 1.1
Text Domain: sometheme-child
*/

Answer 14

You will not see the dropdown if you have added 0 custom template files in your theme root.
When at least 1 template is available, the WordPress ecosystem picks it up and the dropdown will become visible.
Add this in your theme root to try it.
<?php
/*
Template Name: Front Page
*/

Answer 15

The Template Dropdown is now moved To Page Section and is located just between the Static and Visibility and Permalinks dropdown. But you will be able to see it if you are naming your custom file like
page-Yourfilename.php
and adding a comment on the top of the file
<?php
/*
Template Name: YOUR TEMPLATE NAME
*/
?>

Answer 16

I was just facing the same issue so, the problem is in spacing between 'Template Name' and that colon.
/*
Template Name: template-name
*/
Make sure there is no spacing before the colon.

Answer 17

I found the root of the problem.
It is the style.css file inside the theme root.
It must be in "UNIX encoding".
It must have all comments with "Theme Name", "Version", etc.

Answer 18

Jack Nicholson was right! You need to make sure your style.css contains the full comment. Example below:
Previously mine was:
/*
Theme Name: Acadata
Theme URI: https://www.factorypattern.co.uk
Description: Custom
Author: Factory Pattern
Version: 1
License: GNU General Public License
License URI: license.txt
*/
Then I changed it to the below and now I can see all my templates.
/*
Theme Name: Acadata
Theme URI: https://factorypattern.co.uk/
Description: Custom
Author: Factory Pattern
Author URI: https://factorypattern.co.uk/
Description: The Acadata theme for WordPress.
Version: 1.0
License: GNU General Public License v2 or later
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
Tags: black, brown, orange, tan, white, yellow, light, one-column, two-columns, right-sidebar, flexible-width, custom-header, custom-menu, editor-style, featured-images, microformats, post-formats, rtl-language-support, sticky-post, translation-ready
Text Domain: acadata
This theme, like WordPress, is licensed under the GPL.
Use it to make something cool, have fun, and share what you've learned with others.
*/

Answer 19

Please set properly you style.css file specially if you are working on child-theme
/*
Theme Name: Theme Name
Theme URI: http: //mysite.com/
Description: This is a custom child theme for xxx theme
Author: My Name
Author URI: http: //mysite.com/
Template: template_name_in_lowercase
Version: 0.1
*/

Answer 20

This below is work for me and show template option in page attributes.Just place .php file in theme root folder.
<?php
/* template name: my custom template */
?>

Answer 21

There are a lot of great answers on this question, but one obvious solution, which initially escaped me, was to double-check that in Dashboard > Settings > Reading you want to set "Your homepage displays" to "Static Page" and then leave the "Posts Page" unselected.
While themes and a properly coded theme file play a role in the situation, the reason that the page attributes area on the edit page screen doesn't show the templates drop-down may be because you selected a particular page to be your "Posts Page", and so WordPress is not asking you for a custom template to use because it's already using front-page.php or home.php (See WordPress Template Visual Hierarchy).
Hope this helps someone like me who had a properly coded template file but didn't realize this setting had been selected.

Answer 22

This was also a problem for me and it was because of folder structure. The Theme Handbook told me a should organize my theme folder and files like so:
assets (dir)
- css (dir)
- images (dir)
- js (dir)
inc (dir)
template-parts (dir)
- footer (dir)
- header (dir)
- navigation (dir)
- page (dir)
- post (dir)
404.php
archive.php
comments.php
footer.php
front-page.php
function.php
header.php
index.php
page.php
README.txt
rtl.css
screenshot.png
search.php
searchform.php
sidebar.php
single.php
style.php
The page template I was trying to load was in /template-parts/page/template-contactus.php
I guess that was too deep for WordPress so I got ride of those directories and now my file structure looks like this:
assets (dir)
- css (dir)
- images (dir)
- js (dir)
inc (dir)
template-parts (dir)
- section-content.php
- template-contactus.php
404.php
archive.php
comments.php
footer.php
front-page.php
function.php
header.php
index.php
page.php
README.txt
rtl.css
screenshot.png
search.php
searchform.php
sidebar.php
single.php
style.php
I am now able to see the template drop-down and add templates.
Hope this helps someone.

Answer 23

In my case, I had called the template schedule-template-v2.php which won't work, the file name needs to be schedulev2-template.php. A simple mistake.

Answer 24

In addition to all of the above, make sure that you have 'page attributes' checked in the screen options panel in the top right, otherwise the page attributes section wont show regardless.

Answer 25

If you are trying todo with blog page the GOTO Dashboard > settings > and remove post page from select menu :)

Answer 26

After searching I have found a stupid solution that was obvious because. Couldn't catch it because the templates were put in other place of interface attaching screenshot