diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0848005f9f..be6bd1dc92 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 - Template: Update nextflow.config to use environment variable for `hook_url` ([#3756](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/3756))
 - Update nf-test to 0.9.3 ([#3781](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/3781))
 - update release checklist to battle test pipeline template more ([#3788](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/3788))
+- add a fallback for new outputdir parameter ([#3798](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/3798))
 
 ### Linting
 
diff --git a/nf_core/pipeline-template/nextflow.config b/nf_core/pipeline-template/nextflow.config
index 48ae21dc96..a2b826b174 100644
--- a/nf_core/pipeline-template/nextflow.config
+++ b/nf_core/pipeline-template/nextflow.config
@@ -72,6 +72,12 @@ params {
     {%- endif %}
 }
 
+// Fallback for new output syntax
+outputDir = params.outdir
+{%- if modules %}
+workflow.output.mode = params.publish_dir_mode
+{%- endif %}
+
 {% if modules -%}
 // Load base.config by default for all pipelines
 includeConfig 'conf/base.config'