Save Site as Template Option Missing in SharePoint 2013?

Perhaps the easiest way to create a standard site template is to create a site,  Add-remove content, list and libraries, and save it as a template. But SharePoint 2013 does not support the “Save Site as Template” option on Publishing sites. If a site with “SharePoint Server Publishing” is activated, this option will not be available in  Site settings, So you can’t save the site as a template!

In SharePoint 2007 and  SharePoint 2010, we use a trick by appending the URL: “/_layouts/savetmpl.aspx” to get this functionality! Unfortunately, you cannot save the site as a template in SharePoint 2013 using this trick! If you try accessing the page with the above trick, you’ll get an error message:

Sorry, Something went wrong – The “Save site as template” action is not supported on this site.

Enable save site as template in SharePoint 2013 publishing sites:

How to enable “Save site as template” in SharePoint 2013? Well, this issue can be resolved in one of these two ways:

1. Setting “SaveSiteAsTemplateEnabled” property of the site to true
2. Using PowerShell to Enable Save site as template feature.

Option 1: Save site as template option with SharePoint Designer 2013

• Open your site with SharePoint Designer 2013
• Click on ‘site options’ button from the ribbon.   
• Under parameters tab, locate the option for “SaveSiteAsTemplateEnabled” and change this setting to “True”

  

• Click on OK button to save your changes.

Option 2: Enable Save site as template SharePoint 2013 with PowerShell

Run this PowerShell script to enable the save site as a template in SharePoint 2013.

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell

$SiteURL ="https://intranet.crescent.com/sites/operations"

$web = Get-SPWeb -Identity $SiteURL

#Enable Save Site as template option
$web.SaveSiteAsTemplateEnabled = $true
$web.Update()
 

So now, When you access the save site as template URL shortcut: _layouts/savetmpl.aspx (Such as: https://your-site-url/_layouts/savetmpl.aspx), You should be able to get the save site as a template page.