A Custom Element is a powerful and flexible tool for displaying and easily reusing content within a site. Using custom elements eliminates the need for entering content multiple times for multiple locations.

There are two types of custom elements, Global and Local elements.

When to use Global vs. Local Custom Elements

Use Global Templates when…

• You want to control the data for an element in one source, essentially reusing content throughout a site.
• You want authors to be able to select from existing “records” or instances of the data for an element.

Use Local Elements when…

• you want changes to the element version-controlled like all other elements on a page
• You simply want to capture specific structured data (field-value pairs) and render them out using your own Element Display Templates, but don’t care about multiple instances of the data.