Save library or list as template in SP online

sharepointbabe 14 Comments

EDIT: The OLD article below is no longer relevant or recommended to use for LISTS in SharePoint Online! There is a new way to do this using the new app Microsoft Lists or by following the steps below! Instead of saving a list as a template you get to choose from a list of existing list templates based on lists you have created in your tenant:

NEW: How to create a list from templates

You can now use any existing list from your tenant as a template when creating a new list in SharePoint online. Or even better, use the new app Microsoft Lists that you can read more about here.

Click on “Site contents” and “New”, choose “List”:

Then click on “From an existing list” in the left side menu and a selection of your existing lists in the tenant rolls up. Select a site and then select the list you want to use as template. Excellent, easy and fast! ⭐

OLD: Classic (old) way to save libraries as templates (Do Not Use for Lists!)

Many times when you setup a document library or a list with lots of metadata columns, views, etc you want to save it as a template so that you can reuse that model on all other sites without having to do the same setup over and over. But if you go to the settings of a modern list/library in SharePoint online you will not find a link to “Save list or library as template” anymore. As an on prem user, you are used to work like this, using templates to be able to setup a list or library quickly somewhere else and that will save you lots of work since you don’t have to recreate the same columns/views etc again. Here are two options to achieve this in SharePoint online:

Option 1: Using Powershell (use only for Libraries)

To enable the “save library as template” option you must run a Powershell command. I tried this and it works just fine: you will see the link in the library settings and if you go to “Add an app” your library template will show up as we are used to. Note: you must go to “add an app” because in modern sites, if you click on “New” and “Document library” you will not see the list of templates.

When things like this are removed or hidden in SharePoint online, it is of course for a reason, but I cannot tell or judge if it’s a risk to enable this link using the PS command. Maybe someone who reads this knows? Then please leave a comment, it would be much appreciated! It has worked fine in my tenant and the libraries that I added using my template works exactly the same as any other modern library. But I can only say: run this at your own “risk” 🙂

The following cmdlet must be run on the site where the library is that you want to save as template, and then also on the other sites where you want to use the template. So you are not enabling the command on your entire tenant. Open SharePoint online management shell and run the following cmdlet:

1 $SiteURL = “https://tenantName.sharepoint.com/sites/yoursite”
2 Connect-SPOService -Url “https://tenantName-admin.sharepoint.com”
3 Set-SPOsite $SiteURL -DenyAddAndCustomizePages 0
Now when you go to a library settings you will see this link:

Option 2: Using Content Type Hub

The second option is to use the Content Type Hub. You will not achieve the exact same result as when using a template, but you will get the site columns at least. Go to the content type hub by adding “/sites/contenttypehub” after your tenant url. You cannot publish only the site columns (again: WHY? I cannot answer this either, but it’s not good) so you have to create a Content Type first. I added one called “Word template” and it will contain my site columns. As soon as you add this to your library, all columns are automatically added too. The steps are:
Create a new Content Type, select “Document Content Types” and “Document” as parent content type and add it to your own custom group (I recommend to add your own group and name it after the company or the area where it will be used because then it will be easier for the users to find the custom content types)
Then add the site columns on “Add from new site column”, configure it and then store it in a custom group (then you will be able to add any of these site columns from any site in your tenant).
When your columns are added, don’t forget to click on “Manage publishing for this content type” and click on “Publish”!! Otherwise nothing will be pushed out to your sites! And if you update this content type, you must click it again and select “Republish”. The publishing can take up to one hour.
When all this is done and published, you can go to the library where you want these columns. First you must enable the option “Allow management of content types” in advanced settings of the library, otherwise you will not be able to add your new own content types:
A new section “Content types” is added in the library settings. Click on Add from existing site content types and select your own content type from the list. Now the columns are also added into the library and you can make them visible on the “All documents” view.
This is not exactly as what you get using a library template, but at least you are not modifying any backend settings and this is certainly a recommended solution. What you don’t get using this is any custom views, filters, etc but still a good alternative.
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Simon

Hi Lise, Thanks for the article, and the new modern update!! One thing that I might be missing is that the create new based on existing list, seems only to be available for Lists, not Document Libraries. I use the list approach often and it makes things so much easier!! Am I missing something?

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sharepointbabe

Hi Simon! Thanks for the feedback! Well, you can actually save a library as a template – the old school way 🙂 Go to your library, click on Library settings and then “Save library as template”. There you go! The only thing you must do differently when you create a new library is to choose “Add an app” from the Settings menu, instead of going to “Site contents” and click on “New” (it’s not available from there). Good luck!!

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Nikki

this does not work on new sites – only old sites

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sharepointbabe

Hi Nikki! That is correct! And no need anylonger to save lists as templates, as I say in the top of the article 🙂 We have the new template functionality in SP online and in Lists now.

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Richard

You seem to keep mixing up libraries and lists. The title says “Library”. Article deals with lists. Nikki mentioned Library and you answered lists. The question is how to save a “Library” as a template no lists. This option does not work for libraries.

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sharepointbabe

Haha well I certainly don’t mix libraries and lists! But the article missed the LIST part in the Title, it is there now 😉 And I answered Nikki’s question correctly but also added that lists work differently from libraries. But thanks anyway for your input.

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Gene Rice

I’ve tried this, ran the scripts in powershell, no errors. Reloaded the LIbrary settings, still no link to “Save library as template”.
Any other ideas?

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sharepointbabe

Hi Gene! Thanks for your feedback! It can take up to 24 hours before the change is applied in your libraries, but it could also depend on other things that might have changed on the backend in SharePoint online. I checked today in my document library, that is on a modern communication site, and that still has the link available but I ran this cmdlet a few years ago. So I cannot answer your question I’m afraid! We can only hope that the libraries are brought into Microsoft Lists also, so that we can use the existing libraries as templates… Read more »

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Quintin

I ‘m trying to do this at our “root” level site but does not give me the publish option. I do have admin rights.

I tried it on a lower site and it worked but then I can’t use the content type across sites.

Any suggestions?

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sharepointbabe

Hi Quintin! Things are changing fast in Office365 and now you don’t have to do this anymore to use a list as a template. If you go to “Site contents”, and click to create a new List – you will see suggestions of your existing tenants lists as templates! Already served for you! I hope you have gotten this option in your tenant already, but if not – it will be rolled out. That is why we no longer need to save lists as templates. But if you would like to do it this “old” way anyway, then you can… Read more »

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Maxime DELCAMBRE

Thank you.
I used your first solution (powershell) and it woks.
I still have an issue, the template is only available in the original site.
How can I share my template between other sites ?

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sharepointbabe

Hi Maxime! Things are changing fast in Office365 and now you don’t have to do this anymore to use a list as a template. If you go to “Site contents”, and click to create a new List – you will see suggestions of your existing tenants lists as templates! Already served for you! I hope you have gotten this option in your tenant already, but if not – it will be rolled out. That is why we no longer need to save lists as templates. But if you would like to do it this “old” way anyway, then you can… Read more »

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Santosh

Thanks for the information.!

Question regarding option 1 – What permissions do we need to run the PS Script ? – I am a site collection admin

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sharepointbabe

Hi Santosh! You must be a global admin to be able to run PS scripts. I suggest that you go for the content type hub instead, I have found that to be more useful.

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