Why aren't my customized template files being applied by docfx when building with a custom template specified in docfx.json?

Question

The docfx documentation site shows how to customize the various .partial files used in the default template (see https://dotnet.github.io/docfx/tutorial/walkthrough/advanced_walkthrough.html).

I've followed those instructions, creating a new template folder and putting a modified styles\main.css file in it, and also took the step under the Apply the Template section where the custom template name is specified in addition to the default:

"template": [
  "default",
  "templates/<name of your your HTML template folder>"
],

However, when I build the site, the _site/styles/main.css file doesn't have my changes.

Answer 1

I'm using docfx on Windows 10, with docfx located at C:\docfx, and I exported the default template and created my custom template within that same directory.

The project I'm building is located elsewhere, at C:\source...\documentation

I'm running the docfx build after navigating to C:\source...\documentation, and I found that in order for my customized template to work, I had to include the full path to the template folders in docfx.json, as in

"template": [
  "C:/docfx/_exported_templates/default",
  "C:/docfx/templates/MyCustomTemplate"
],

UPDATE: As pointed out by @hcdocs, if the custom "templates" folder is moved into C:\source...\documentation rather than C:\docfx, there's no need to use full paths. This config worked fine after doing that:

"template": [
  "default",
  "templates/MyCustomTemplate"
],