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For as long as I can remember, every time I install Ubuntu there is a folder in the home directory called "Templates." I've always just deleted it, but I'm curious: what's it supposed to be used for, and why is it in the default install?

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Great question. I've always done the same thing, deleting the folder after installing. I think @fossfreedom just made our lives a little bit easier. – Tom Brossman Jan 12 '12 at 17:20
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If you drop any files in this folder, for example

enter image description here

then when you right-click and create a new document, you can select any of these files as a basis for the new file - i.e. a template.

enter image description here

For as long as I remember, this has always been a standard feature on many desktops such as Gnome.

If you have deleted the folder and need to restore this functionality:

gedit ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs

Check that there is a line containing the following - if not, add this line.

XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/Templates"
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You just answered hours of questions. – BenjaminRH Apr 18 '12 at 17:00
    
If you want to be able to create "folder templates" (in addition to single-file templates), take a look at the Nautilus extension available at bitbucket.org/edgimar/nautilus-new-folder-from-template/…. – Mark Aug 17 '14 at 23:21
    
So does this play well with OpenDocument templates, eg .ott files and the like? – jdpipe Jun 7 '16 at 12:52
    
Does freedesktop specify the list of "well known" directories and what they should do somewhere, or is the xdg-user-dir implementation all we get? freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs – Ciro Santilli 华涌低端人口 六四事件 法轮功 Dec 10 '16 at 12:11

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