Article ID: 925189 - Last Review: June 17, 2008 - Revision: 3.0

Error message when you try to use an existing site template to create a new SharePoint Server 2007 site: "Failed to apply template"

View products that this article applies to.

System TipThis article applies to a different operating system than the one you are using. Article content that may not be relevant to you is disabled.

Expand all | Collapse all

SYMPTOMS

Consider the following scenario. You change an existing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 site. You save the updated SharePoint Server 2007 site as a template. Then, you try to use this template to create a new SharePoint Server 2007 site.

In this scenario, when you click Save Site as Template under Look and Feel on the Site Settings page, you receive the following error message:

Failed to apply template TemplateName.stp to web at URL SharePointSiteName, error The template you have chosen is invalid or cannot be found.

Additionally, the template is not saved.

Back to the top

CAUSE

This issue occurs if the top-level SharePoint Server 2007 site of the SharePoint Server 2007 site that you are trying to save as a template has the publishing features turned on. In this case, Save Site as Template appears under Look and Feel on the Site Settings page.

Note To prevent the use of the Save site as template feature for creating new sites, you must disable the Save site as template feature. However, if the top-level site has the publishing features turned on, the option to turn off the Save site as template feature is disabled when you try to create a new site. This behavior also occurs in SharePoint designer.

The supported method to create templates for publishing sites is to use site definition templates. For more information, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms434313.aspx (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms434313.aspx)

Back to the top

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, open the Feature.xml file of the Publishing feature. Then, manually add a new ElementManifest. For example, add the following element.

<ElementManifest Location="MyHideAction.xml"/>

Then, create a new MyHideAction.xml file in the same directory by using the following content.

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<HideCustomAction Id="HideSaveAsTemplate" HideActionId="SaveAsTemplate" 
GroupId="Customization" Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings" /> 
</Elements>

Back to the top