How to edit a project template?

[VanguardLH]

I've gone online to read some articles but those have me digging into
.zip file and editing files outside of the IDE (Visual Studio 2013
Community Edition). The other trick is to modify the properties of an
existing project and then export and import that project's template
while giving it a new name. I've also seen the clumsy method of using
#ifdef or #pragma as directives within the code to alter preprocessor
behavior but that means having to remember adding it to every project

The 2nd method is easier but requires me to run through the loop of
select project, edit its properties, export its template, import that
template, and then I can select that custom template when I create a new
project. It doesn't affect old projects that used the old template. It
only affects new projects created using the new custom template. This
also has me replacing an old custom template with a new custom template.

I may only need to change one property of a project but want it
reflected in all new projects thereafter. Is there no easy way to
modify a project template other than saving the current project's
template to a new template (or manually editing the template's files)?