Troubleshoot a dynamic template

Start with the visible symptom and check the smallest relevant layer.

The template does not appear

1. Confirm you created the correct type: archive, feed or single.
2. Confirm the theme settings were saved.
3. Confirm the template is selected for the current URL.
4. For a Listings (Feed) element, check whether it explicitly selects a different template.
5. Reload the public page after saving.

See Understand template assignment priority for the applicable settings.

The archive header appears but results do not

Check that the archive HTML includes:

{{archive_results}}

Then verify that the archive has matching published content and that its result settings select a usable feed template.

Results show only a title

A title-only result is the safe fallback when POM cannot use the requested feed template. Reopen the current context's Custom result template, select the intended template and save.

If a Listings (Feed) element is involved, check its own template selection before changing the context default.

A merge tag is printed as text

• Check the spelling against the reference for that template type.
• Check both pairs of braces.
• Check attribute quoting and %%...%% boundaries.
• Do not use archive tags in feed or single templates.
• Confirm {{if}}, {{else}} and {{/if}} are balanced.

A custom field is empty

1. Confirm the field key, not only its admin label.
2. Confirm the preview item has a saved value.
3. Confirm the field belongs to that post type.
4. Wrap optional feed or single fields in a conditional block.
5. If the page uses Faceted Search data, update the relevant Faceted Search index after changing indexed fields.

Images or galleries do not render

• Confirm the source field contains an image or gallery value.
• Confirm image_size names an available WordPress image size.
• Use name with {{image_from_meta}} and meta_name with {{gallery}}.
• For a feed featured image, decide whether the product placeholder or fallback_url behavior is appropriate.

Styling or interaction is missing

Open the template in HMTL templates and check Custom CSS Stylesheets and Custom JS Scripts. Select only the assets the template actually requires, save and retest.

Also confirm the wrapper choice is compatible with your HTML. No wrapper (set your own on your archive and feed templates) expects the custom templates to provide the required structure.

Final verification

After correcting the issue, test one populated record, one sparse record, several results and a no-results state. This confirms that the fix applies to the content model rather than only one example.