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| credit: Arshile Gorky |
With Microsoft SharePoint 2010, it is easy to create great website
solutions that include comprehensive data sources, with forms, HTML, JavaSripts,
workflows, and more. After website solutions are deployed they can be used
right away, or turned into site templates which can be easily and quickly implemented
in a similar environment, or to a different hosted SharePoint 2010 online domain.
This article provides an overview about SharePoint website
templates, what they are used for, how to create them, and how to deploy them in different environments.
What is a SharePoint website
template?
SharePoint website templates are pre-developed and packaged solutions
designed to meet a particular business objective. Templates can be deployed as
is for use right away, and they can be customized further, after deployment. SharePoint
comes with many prebuilt website templates, like Team Site, Document Workspace,
Basic Meeting Workspace, Blog site, and Group Work Site as shown in the
following image.
In addition to the standard website templates that come with
SharePoint 2010, users are enabled to build templates based on websites which
are customized and built in SharePoint. This useful capability in SharePoint allows
users to create websites and then to share those website templates anywhere
other SharePoint installations exist, for example with other users, customers
using different servers, and with people using SharePoint online.
When a website is saved as a template, a Web Solution
Package file is created which gets stored in the SharePoint Solution Gallery.
After the template is created, it can be downloaded for use on other SharePoint
servers.
What gets saved in a website
template?
SharePoint template files include the complete structure of
the website – its libraries, views, lists, workflows, and forms. Additionally, documents,
pictures, videos, JavaScripts, and HTML can be saved with the template. This enables
a complete solution to be saved and rapidly deployed for immediate use.
Note: SharePoint
website template cannot be larger than 50 MB.
Most files in a site are included and supported by the
template packaging process. There are a number of files, objects and features which
are not supported. The following table provides a list of items included and
not included with a website template.
Included
|
Excluded
|
Lists
Document libraries
External Lists
Data connections
List and data views
Custom forms
Workflows
Content Types
Custom Actions
Navigation
Site pages
Master pages
Modules
|
Customized permissions
Running workflow instances
List item version history
Workflow tasks associated with running workflows
People/group field values
Taxonomy field values
Publishing pages and publishing sites
My Sites
|
What can be done with
website templates?
Website templates are powerful and provide multiple uses for
website content in SharePoint. The following are some of the benefits for
saving a website as a template in SharePoint.
Websites can be deployed immediately after saving them to the
solutions gallery and activating them for use as template. New sites are
created from templates saved to the solutions gallery. The process is easy: simply
save the site as a template, and then activate it for use. That’s all it takes.
Website templates are portable and can be re-deployed to most
any SharePoint infrastructures with similar features enabled.
Saving a website as a
template
Go to the site settings page in SharePoint and save the website
as a template. After the template is saved, a solution file is created and automatically
stored in the Solution Gallery where it can be download, or activated for use.
Use the template to create a website
Upload the website template file to the target environment
in the solution gallery. Activate the website solution and form the Solution
Gallery so users will see it as an available template from the “Create site
page in SharePoint”. Use the new template to create a new site, which will
inherit the components of the site, its structure, workflows, and etc.
Create and deploy a portable website template using SharePoint 2010
Create and deploy a portable website template using SharePoint 2010
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