Create project template file without copying data in file geodatabases

[AlfredBaldenweck]

Pretty much what it says on the tin. 

I'm trying to create project templates. What I've noticed is that anything referencing an enterprise gdb will preserve the reference, while anything in a file gdb will copy the data. For reference, thee gdbs are on a shared network drive.

Is there a way to have the templates preserve all references, rather than duplicating data outside of file gdbs?

[AlfredBaldenweck]

Apparently this is specifically because of the file GDBs. Data in enterprise GDBs will not be copied. I submitted an idea about this here:Project Templates (APTX): Have option to store onl... - Esri Community