Understand what a chart template saves, how a profile preserves a group of charts, and what to check before reusing or restoring desktop settings.
What does a chart template contain?
A template is a reusable set of settings for one chart. It can contain chart type, colours, scale, indicator settings, drawing objects and an attached Expert Advisor (EA) with its parameters. It is more than a colour theme. Before applying a template, check whether it is intended only for analysis or also contains an EA.
For example, a template can combine candlesticks, a moving average and RSI with chosen colours and periods. Applying it to another chart reuses those settings. Check the destination symbol and timeframe afterwards: the same indicator settings on two instruments do not make their prices, contract sizes or trading risks identical.
What is a profile?
A profile preserves a workspace containing several open charts, their arrangement and the settings applied to each chart. A template answers “how should this chart look?”; a profile answers “which group of charts am I working with?” Changes to open charts are normally saved automatically in the current profile, so a profile is not necessarily a frozen snapshot.
You could keep one profile for a group of currency charts and another for a different group of instruments. Giving each profile a clear name helps distinguish the workspaces. Switching profiles changes the displayed group; it does not move money, change your trading account type or close positions simply because a chart is no longer visible.
Open charts for an MT4 desktop workspace
Choose File → New Chart, then select the complete symbol you intend to view. Alternatively, right-click that symbol in Market Watch and choose Chart Window.
Check the symbol and timeframe on the new chart before adding it to your workspace.
A new chart uses DEFAULT.TPL. Review the indicators, objects and any EA/settings loaded by that template before reusing it.
For a stored offline chart, use File → Open Offline, select the entry and click Open. Its title includes offline; its stored data is not updated from the server.
Arrange and select MT4 chart windows
Open Window and choose Tile Windows, Cascade, Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically for the arrangement you need.
Use Arrange Icons to organize minimized chart windows along the bottom of the workspace.
Select a symbol from the open-window list at the bottom of Window to activate that chart. The current window is marked. Check the active chart before applying a template or saving a profile.
Switch and manage open MT4 chart tabs
Use the chart tabs below the chart area to switch between open charts. Check the complete symbol and timeframe shown on the tab.
Right-click a tab and choose Windows, or press Alt+W, to open the chart-management list.
Double-click the intended chart in that list, or select it and choose Activate. Confirm the active chart before changing its setup.
To arrange open charts as tiles, use Tile Windows in the tab menu or press Alt+R.
Tab-menu command | Effect on the active chart |
Maximize | Fills the chart viewing area. |
Minimize | Leaves only the chart window header visible. |
Restore | Returns the chart to windowed view. |
Close, including a middle-button click on a tab, closes the chart and can stop its attached EA. Restore changes the window display; it is different from recovering a closed chart through Open Deleted.
How to save a chart template
Click the chart you want to use as the source. Set its chart type, colours, indicators and drawing objects as required.
Right-click that chart. Open Template in MT4 or Templates in MT5, then choose Save Template.
Enter a descriptive filename and select Save. The template is stored as a .tpl file.
Use a different filename to keep the previous version. To update an existing template, select its filename instead and confirm replacement only if intended.
How to apply a saved template
Click the destination chart and check its symbol and timeframe.
Open the chart's Template or Templates menu. Select a listed template, or choose Load Template to browse for a file.
If browsing, select the required .tpl file and choose Open.
Check the resulting chart, indicators and any attached EA's inputs. Missing custom programs must be installed separately; applying a template alone does not authorize automated trading.
How to save and switch chart profiles
Open and arrange the charts you want in the workspace, including their individual settings.
Open File → Profiles and choose its command for saving the current profile under a new name. In MT5, this command is Save as.
Enter a clear profile name and save it. The saved copy becomes the active profile.
To switch, return to File → Profiles and select an existing profile name. Check the current profile name in the status bar; later chart changes are saved automatically to that active profile.
To delete a saved template, use Remove Template in the chart's template menu and select the intended entry. Profile removal is in File → Profiles; the current and default profiles cannot be deleted. MT4 also protects DEFAULT.TPL from deletion.
Saving, loading and local files
Saving a template records the active chart's settings in a .tpl file; loading one applies its saved settings to a chart. Saving again under the same filename can replace the earlier template. Saving a profile under a new name creates a copy of the current workspace and makes that copy active. Keep a separate copy before replacing a setup you want to preserve.
The default.tpl template is used for new charts. Changing it can affect the appearance and attached settings of charts opened later; it does not mean every existing chart has been deliberately updated. Confirm the active profile and intended chart before making changes.
MT4 stores desktop template files in its templates folder. MT5 uses MQL5\Profiles\Templates for templates and MQL5\Profiles\Charts for chart profiles. These belong to the particular desktop terminal's data folder. Do not assume that signing in on another computer, Web Trader or FXTRADING.com App restores them automatically, or that an MT4 file or program is interchangeable with MT5.
Before closing an MT4 chart, consider its attached EA: closing the chart stops that EA. In MT5, opening an EA’s inputs can pause its execution until that window closes; changing inputs and confirming with OK reinitializes the EA. Review automation deliberately when changing or restoring a workspace.
Restore an accidentally closed MT4 chart
For future recovery, open Tools → Options → Charts, enable Save deleted charts to reopen and confirm with OK. The terminal can then retain a closed chart’s template.
File → Close or Ctrl+F4 closes the active chart window. Check which chart is active before using either command.
To recover a retained chart, open File → Open Deleted and select its symbol from the list.
Check the restored timeframe, settings, indicators and drawing objects. Review any EA state separately; a restored chart image does not prove that automated trading has resumed.
Recovery depends on a saved entry being available. Enabling retention after a chart was already closed does not establish that its earlier setup was saved. Reopening a new chart and restoring a retained chart are different operations. These menu instructions are for MT4 desktop.
Restore a closed MT5 desktop chart
Open File → Open Deleted and select the required symbol from the retained list.
Check the restored symbol, timeframe, chart settings and objects. Do not assume a restored chart is a backup of account history or proof of an EA’s operation.
Act within the retention limits: MT5 keeps up to 100 deleted charts, automatically removes entries older than seven days, and retains only the latest deleted chart for each symbol/timeframe combination.
Delete in Open Deleted permanently removes a saved entry. Do not use that command when you intend to reopen the chart.
Before restoring or sharing a setup
A template or profile is not a backup of account balances, orders or transaction history. It also does not by itself install every custom indicator or EA that the saved setup requires. If a component is missing, check its files, platform compatibility and settings rather than assuming the template is broken.
Review any attached EA and its inputs before allowing it to trade. Applying a visual layout is not authorization for automated trading. Use only trusted files and do not enable additional program permissions simply to make a shared template work. EAs cannot be installed or run in FXTRADING.com App.
Before reinstalling or replacing local files, preserve the templates, profiles and compatible custom programs you actually need. After restoration, verify the connected account and exact assigned server, active symbols, indicators and any EA state. Describe a continuing problem with the platform version, intended setup and exact error; never include a password or verification code.