Saving a site as a template

You can save a site as a template at any time using the template option (Save site as template) on the Site Settings page in SharePoint. SharePoint Designer 2010 make it easy by providing a Save as Template option in the ribbon, which takes you to this page in SharePoint. Once you save the template, a solution file is created and stored in the Solution Gallery where you can download or activate the solution.

To save your site as a template using SharePoint Designer 2010, perform the following steps:

1. Open your site in SharePoint Designer 2010.

2. On the Site tab, in the Manage group, click Save as Template

 3.This takes you to the Save as Template page in SharePoint.

4. Specify a name to use for the template file in the File name field.

5. Specify a name and description for the template in the Template name and Template description fields.

6. To include the content of the site in the site template, check the Include Content box.

Note: Including the content of the site can increase the size of the template significantly. Keep in mind that the default size limit for a site template is 50 MB but may be less in your organization.

7. Click OK to save the template.

8. If all of the components on the site are valid, the template is built, and you see a message that says Operation Completed Successfully.

9. To download or activate the solution from the solution gallery, click the user solution gallery link and follow the steps in the procedure below.

10. Or, to return to your site, click OK.

 

Activating the site template in the solution gallery

Once you’ve saved your site as a template, a solution file (.wsp) is created and stored in the Solution Gallery for the site collection. From here, you can download or activate the solution.

To activate your site template, perform the following steps:

1. Browse to the top level site of your site collection in SharePoint.

2. Click Site Actions and choose Site Settings.

3. Under Galleries, click Solutions.

4. To activate your solution, click the pull-down menu beside your solution, and choose Activate

5. On the activate solution confirmation screen, click Activate.

Your solution now has an activated status in the Solution Gallery.

6. To download the solution, just click its name in the Solution Gallery.

7. In the File Download dialog box, click Save, and browse to the location where you want to save the solution.

What is a SharePoint site template

SharePoint site templates are pre-built definitions designed around a particular business need. You can use these templates as they are to create your own SharePoint site and then customize the site as much as you like. You’re probably familiar with the default site templates, like Team Site, Blog site, and Group Work Site as shown here.

You can create your own site template based on a site you’ve created and customized in SharePoint. This is a powerful feature in SharePoint that allows you to create a custom solution and then share that solution with your peers, the broader organization, or outside organizations. You can also package the site and open it in another environment or application like Microsoft Visual Studio and further customize it there.

When you save your site as a template, you create a Web Solution Package, or WSP. A WSP is a CAB file with the solution manifest. The solution you create gets stored in the Solution Gallery for the SharePoint site collection. From there, you can download a copy of the solution or activate it on the server.