The Fab 40, back together again in 2010!

You are probably familiar with the “fabulous 40” site templates that MOSS 2007 provides.

In SharePoint 2007, when you save a site as a template, these templates will be stored in “Site template gallery” list of the site collection. These templates are stored with .stp extension which are just cab files and can be extracted.

In SharePoint 2010, the site template gallery does not exist. So when you save a site as a template, it will be saved as a ‘WSP’ solution file in “Solutions gallery”. This is the gallery where sandboxed solutions are stored. Moreover, the template needs to be activated before it can be used.

Before you start using the templates, make sure to take backup of your site and test it in a demo environment first to protect your data while upgrading.

In this blog I will present the steps to use the upgraded version of fab 40 site templates:

1. Create a new Web Application on MOSS 2010

2. Create a new Site Collection against that new Web Application

Fig 1. Web Application

Fig 2. Site Collection

Make sure that the following "Site Collection Features" are activated:  

        - SharePoint Server Enterprise Site Collection features

        - SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure

        - SharePoint 2007 workflows

    Make sure that the following "Site Features" are activated:      

        - SharePoint Server Standard Site features

        - SharePoint Server Publishing

3. Go to 'Site Settings' of that new Web Application

4. Go to 'Solutions'

5. Upload the MOSS 2010 Application Template ".wsp" file, and "Activate" that when upload completes

Fig 3. Solution gallary

Obviously you have to activate the template you are going to use to create the site. In this case knowledge base site

 Fig 4. Activated feature

The template needs to be added as a subsite option for the root publishing site collections. If you go to Site Settings -> Look and Feel -> Page layouts and site templates -> select the template and add it under subsite templates, it will be available.

Fig 5. Adding template under subsite templates

6. Create a new "Site" in the newly created "Site Collection" (in step 2), and select the newly uploaded solution in "Template" section

Fig 6. Choosing the newly created template

Fig 7. Knowledge base site  based on the new template.

See also.

1. www.wssdemo.com/application/default.aspx
   Refer to online demo (hosting on SharePoint 2010 site) of SharePoint "Fantastic 40" Site Templates:
2. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;982776&sd=rss&spid=14944
   @Everyone who is receiving the Excel Mobile Viewer feature error while setting up a template can follow this article:
3. http://techsolutions.net/Blog/tabid/65/EntryId/17/Fab-40-Templates-for-MOSS-2010.aspx
4. http://praveenbattula.blogspot.com/2010/02/sharepoint-2010-site-templates-not.html
5. http://sandeepnakarmi.com.np/2010/03/where-is-site-template-gallery-in-sharepoint-2010/
6. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mcsnoiwb/archive/2010/01/07/features-and-their-guid-s-in-sp2010.aspx.