13 April, 2014

No Save Site As Template SharePoint 2013

‘Save site as template’ is a pretty useful feature which has been carried out from SharePoint 2007 version and it’s still there in SharePoint 2013. Useful functionality when we want to transfer the site structure from one location to another with small data as it has a size limitation. I don’t want to discuss about size limitation in this article as it altogether a different issue and needs a separate set of troubleshooting.

In the past, I have written some useful articles to share the knowledge based on the same topic. Please find the following references:

Mystery of save site as template in SharePoint 2010

Save site as template using SharePoint Designer 2010

Save site as template is missing

How to activate the site template in the solution gallery

Unexpected error has occurred while saving the site as template

IMP NOTE:
If you find a different solution, please report it as a comment to this post. Be sure to double-verify it: undo your solution and verify that the problem comes back, then redo it and verify that the problem goes away.

Problem description:
One user has reported an incident that he is not able to save the site as template. – That’s a plain description. Previously I thought that he might be facing some problem/error while saving the site as template but further probing revealed the fact that he is not able to see the option “save site as template”.

Error message:
There is no error message here as the link is missing so NA.

Let me tell you some facts which are useful to understand the logic behind this-
It’s been pretty clear that if you have the publishing feature activated on your site collection then ‘save site as template’ won’t be there.

Reference:
SharePoint Publishing feature does not support "Save Site as Template" option

But there is a tweak here for SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010 versions as people can get this functionality / access that page by appending http://sitename/_layouts/savetmpl.aspx !

But this is a closed loop in SharePoint 2013 as you cannot browse that page by making the changes in the URL.

But after when I realized that it’s not possible using GUI so i started exploring SharePoint Designer 2013 and found the solution.

Resolution / Here are the complete details:
1.   Open the SharePoint Designer 2013
2.   Top Ribbon
3.   You will see the ‘site options’
4.   Click on it
5.   You will see 4 different tabs (Parameters, language, advanced and navigation)
6.   Click on parameters tab and you will see the option of “SaveSiteAsTemplateEnabled” is set to False
7.   Select the option ->click on Modify
8.   Set it true
9.   Click on Apply and OK

Please refer the following screenshot for better clarity.



If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues. Thank you.

Product Applies To:
o   SharePoint 2013

15 comments:

  1. If the publishing feature in your site is activated, the save site as template will be blocked. You can use either PowerShell or SharePoint designer to enable save site as template

    -Ting Li

    ReplyDelete
  2. Check your site settings > site features. If you have the publishing feature activated, the option to save that site as a site template will not be available. If it is activated, deactivate it, and that option will show in the Site Actions section.

    - Carol Puissegur

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not in the copy of SharePoint 2013 I'm looking at... Usual restrictions apply - site can't be a publishing site or have the publishing feature enabled...

    ReplyDelete
  4. While turning off publishing will allow you to save the site as a template, you will probably run into issues when you use the site template for a new site. Test, test, test!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice! I'm going to give that a try; having a publishing-enabled site template would be terrific. I'd want to do some testing, first, though to make sure there weren't any issues as a result of having that feature enabled the moment a site was created using the template.

    ReplyDelete
  6. When you enable Publishing feature in SharePoint there are many changes that takes place like Inherit Theme and Apply Theme sections are added to the Site Theme page etc. Even if you disable the feature again the added items are not deleted/removed. This causes some issue to come. So caution before you enable this feature although very useful.

    rohit anand tapaswi

    ReplyDelete
  7. You can do it too, adding to the sub site URL: _layouts/15/savetmpl. aspx; and follow the wizard page.

    Ernesto J. Garcia N.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for a great read. As Steve Jobs said : “Innovation is what separates leaders from followers.”

    ReplyDelete
  9. I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic.Thanks

    Linux Thin Client & Citrix Thin Client

    ReplyDelete
  10. SharePoint Designer and the OOTB save site as template are good tools, but for this task I would still use PowerShell. As far as I can remember SPD and OOTB... will not save the sub sites and permissions groups for those sub sites while PowerShell will.

    -Lukasz Kokot
    SharePoint Administrator at ASSA ABLOY

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think I've seen this problem and it was in O365. Save Site as Template disappeared when I enabled Publishing Features.

    -Ivan Krupsky
    SharePoint Architect \ Consultant \ Lead .NET Developer

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yes, in our on-premise SharePoint 2013 farm, I see Save Site as Template under site actions as long as SharePoint Server Publishing site feature turned off. Seen same on prior SP2010 farm.

    -Trevor Oborne
    Systems Analyst, School District SharePoint and ERP Systems Go-To Guy, Techie/Geek...

    ReplyDelete
  13. It is not missing! it is under Site actions in the site settings page

    -Ofer Gal
    Architect at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Cannot save a site as a template with Publishing turned on.

    -Darrell Trimble
    CEO at SP Marketplace

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ivan is correct, with publishing turned on you cannot save a site as as template. You can turn off publishing and save template, then turn Publishing back on.

    -Robert Davis, CKMP®; MCTS®
    SharePointologist (Architect and Administrator) at UnitedLex Corporation

    ReplyDelete

Your feedback is always appreciated. I will try to reply to your queries as soon as possible- Amol Ghuge

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