Using List Templates

When a user creates a new list, he or she selects a list template to use in creating the list. Windows SharePoint Services includes many list templates by default, and users can customize an existing list and save the customized list as a new list template. List templates created by other users or software vendors can also be imported to the site collection template gallery.
You must have the Manage Lists right to create a list template. The Manage Lists right is included in the Web Designer and Administrator site groups by default. To add or import a list template to the site collection gallery, you must have the Add Item right for the list template gallery, which is included by default in the Web Designer and Administrator site groups for the top-level Web site in a site collection.
A list template is a file that includes all of the design information about the list, such as:

• The columns and fields in the list.
• Any views created for the list.
• List content (optional).

List templates do not include:

• Security settings, such as a list of users or groups with permissions to the list from which the template was created
• Lookup field links. Although lists can contain lookup fields that reference data in another list, that other list (and its data) is not included when you save a list template.
List templates are stored as files with the .stp extension.

Using List Templates

Users can create lists based on templates available on the server or on the site collection. To create a list based on a template, the user can go to the Create page in a site, and then click the list name to create. Custom list templates are listed on the Create page alongside the default set of list templates from the site definitions.
Important - When a user creates a list, he or she can select a list template from the set of list templates on the server and the site collection. This set is filtered based on the site language and the site definition ID that your site is based on. For example, a site based on the Meeting Workspace template has a different site definition ID from a site based on the Team Site template. If you create a Meeting Announcements custom list template from the Announcements list in a site based on a Meeting Workspace template, that template is not available from within a site based on the Team Site template.

Creating Templates
Members of the Administrator site group for a site can create a template based on that site.

To Create a site template

1. On the site, click Site Settings.
2. Under Administration, click Go to Site Administration.
3. Under Management and Statistics, click Save site as template.
4. In the File name box, type the filename to use for the site template file.
5. In the Template title box, type the title you want to use for the template in the site template gallery.
6. In the Template description box, type a description for the site template.
7. If you want to include the existing site content, select the Include content check box.
8. Click OK.

You must be a member of the Web Designer or Administrator site group to be able to create a list template.

To Create a list template

1. Navigate to the list you want to save as a template.
2. Under Actions, click Modify settings and columns.
3. On the Customize page, under General Settings, click Save list as template.
4. In the File name box, type the filename to use for the template file.
5. In the Template title box, type the title you want to use for the template in the list template gallery.
6. In the Template description box, type a description for the template.
7. If you want to include the existing content, select the Include content check box.
8. Click OK.

Managing the List Template Gallery

List templates are managed at the site collection level. You must be an administrator of the top-level Web site in a site collection to manage the list template gallery.
When a user creates a list template, it is automatically added to the list template gallery for the site collection. If you want to import a list template from an .stp file, you can do so from the Manage List Template Gallery page.

To Add a template to the list template gallery
1. On the top-level Web site, click Site Settings.
2. Under Administration, click Go to Site Administration.
3. Under Site Collection Galleries, click Manage list template gallery.
4. On the List Template Gallery page, click Upload Template.
5. In the Name box, type the path to the template, or click Browse. You can upload multiple templates by clicking Upload Multiple Files.
6. Click Save and Close.

To Delete a template in the list template gallery
1. On the top-level Web site, click Site Settings.
2. Under Administration, click Go to Site Administration.
3. Under Site Collection Galleries, click Manage list template gallery.
4. On the List Template Gallery page, click the Edit icon next to the template name.
5. On the List Template Gallery: page, click Delete.Important - After you add or delete a template from the central template gallery, you need to restart the Web service in Internet Information Services (IIS). You can restart all of IIS at once by running iisreset on the command line, or just restart the specific Web sites in Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. If you are in a server farm environment, you must restart the Web services for each front-end Web server in your server farm.