Title: Missing template attribute in WordPress 3.7.1
Last modified: August 21, 2016

---

# Missing template attribute in WordPress 3.7.1

 *  Resolved [daktau](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daktau/)
 * (@daktau)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/)
 * Hi,
    I have read many posts about this but nothing is working for me. I need 
   to have a page’s theme available to me in the page attributes section but nothing
   is showing up.
 * I have this as the start of my page….
 *     ```
       <?php
       /*
       Theme Name: Right Hand Column
       Description: Includes a right hand column
       */
       ?>
   
       <?php
       get_header();
       $id = url_to_postid($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]);
       $page_data = get_post( $id );
       ?>
       ```
   
 * The file resides in /wp_content/themes/cusom_theme/rightHandColumn.php
    There
   are no active plugins. I have tried swopping between themes so to re-activate
   the theme.
 * Is there anything obvious that I’m doing wrong here? Does the name of the file
   need to match the theme name at all?
 * Thank You,
    George

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)

 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376181)
 * Try removing `Description: Includes a right hand column`.
 *  Thread Starter [daktau](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daktau/)
 * (@daktau)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376187)
 * I’ve done this but no joy.
 * Still no options under page attributes.
 * Is the name of the file ‘rightHandColumn.php’ at all important or does wordpress
   scan all files in a theme folder for ‘Theme Name:’ regardless?
 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376188)
 * What theme are you using? Where did you download it from?
 *  Thread Starter [daktau](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daktau/)
 * (@daktau)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376190)
 * This is a custom theme that I have created using twentythirteen as a base then
   altering header.php, page.php and footer.php
 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376193)
 * Does the custom page template work in the original 2013 theme?
 *  Thread Starter [daktau](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daktau/)
 * (@daktau)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376196)
 * No it seems not. I copied the file into the twentythirteen folder, swopped to
   that theme and still nothing shows up in the page attributes in the page edit
   screen.
 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376200)
 * Then there appears to be an issue in your template code. what happens if you 
   just yse:
 *     ```
       <?php
       /*
       Theme Name: Test
       */
       ?>
   
       <?php
       get_header();
       echo "Boo!";
       get_footer();
       ?>
       ```
   
 *  Thread Starter [daktau](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daktau/)
 * (@daktau)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376202)
 * Still nothing!
 * I have this code
 *     ```
       <?php
       /*
       Theme Name: Test
       */
       ?>
   
       <?php
       get_header();
       echo "Boo!";
       get_footer();
       ?>
       ```
   
 * in a file called test.php within wp-content/themes/custom_theme/ and still there
   is no option to choose this in the page attributes.
 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376204)
 * No – add that test template to the 2013 theme.
 *  Thread Starter [daktau](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daktau/)
 * (@daktau)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376205)
 * yeah, just done that and still nothing. 🙁
 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376207)
 * What did you call the template file?
 *  Thread Starter [daktau](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daktau/)
 * (@daktau)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376208)
 * test.php
 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376210)
 * Change `Theme Name: Test` to `Template Name: Test`.
 *  Thread Starter [daktau](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daktau/)
 * (@daktau)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376215)
 * Ha Ha (groan),
    That was it. Seems so obvious now.
 * Thanks a lot, very helpful of you!!!
 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376216)
 * No problem. Just sorry I didn’t spot that earlier. 🙂

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)

The topic ‘Missing template attribute in WordPress 3.7.1’ is closed to new replies.

 * 15 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/missing-template-attribute-in-wordpress-371/#post-4376216)
 * Status: resolved

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