Understanding WebTemp*.

xml Files
SharePoint 2010
Other Versions

Published: May 2010

Each server in a deployment of Microsoft SharePoint Foundation has at least the originally
installed WebTemp.xml file located in the %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft
Shared\web server extensions\14\TEMPLATE\LCID\XML folder, where LCID is the numeric
ID of the language/culture, such as 1033 for English. There may also be one or more custom
WebTemp*.xml files. The WebTemp*.xml files contain an itemization of the site definition
configurations that are available in the user interface (UI) for users to select when they create a
new website. The UI varies depending on whether the Microsoft Silverlight or HTML site
creation page is being used.

Caution
You must not modify the original WebTemp.xml file that is installed with SharePoint
Foundation. Changes that you make to originally installed files may be overwritten when you
install updates or service packs to SharePoint Foundation, or when you upgrade an installation to
the next product version. For these reasons, changing the original WebTemp.xml file is not
supported. For more information about creating a custom site definition, see How to: Create a
Custom Site Definition and Configuration.
File Format

The Templates element specifies the site definitions that are being made available in the
WebTemp*.xml file. Each site definition is defined with a Template element. Each site definition
has one or more site definition configurations that can be used to instantiate sites. Each Template
element specifies a unique ID and a name that corresponds to a site definition subfolder within
the %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server
extensions\14\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates folder.

A Template element can contain any number of Configuration child elements. Each such child
represents a site definition configuration. The ID attribute of each Configuration element
corresponds to the ID of another Configuration element that is in an Onet.xml file. The second
Configuration element specifies the lists and modules of the site definition configuration.

Each Configuration element in a WebTemp*.xml file also specifies the title and description (and
the path to the image) of the configuration that is displayed in the SharePoint Foundation UI
when a user is creating a new site. A configuration can be hidden from the UI by setting its
Hidden attribute to TRUE.

The DisplayCategory attribute of a Configuration element in a WebTemp*.xml file specifies the

category of site type that the site appears under in the UI; for example, "Collaboration" and
"Meetings". (In the Silverlight version of the UI for creating a new site, some built-in site types
do not appear in the category that corresponds to their DisplayCategory value.) If you are
creating a custom site definition configuration and specify a previously unused value for
DisplayCategory, a new category with that name appears in the UI to contain your custom site
definition configuration.

The SupportsMultilingualUI attribute of a Configuration element indicates whether sites that

were created from the site definition configuration can have different UIs for different languages.

The following excerpt from the built-in WebTemp.xml file shows the format of the markup.

<Templates
xmlns:ows="Microsoft SharePoint">
<Template Name="STS" ID="1">
<Configuration
ID="0"
Title="Team Site"
Hidden="FALSE"
ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/stts.png"
Description="A site for teams to quickly organize, author, and share
information. It provides a document library, and lists for managing
announcements, calendar items, tasks, and discussions."
DisplayCategory="Collaboration" >
</Configuration>
...
<Configuration
ID="2"
Title="Document Workspace"
Hidden="FALSE"
ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/stdw.png"
Description="A site for colleagues to work together on a document. It
provides a document library for storing the primary document and supporting
files, a tasks list for assigning to-do items, and a links list for resources
related to the document."
DisplayCategory="Collaboration" >
</Configuration>
</Template>
<Configuration
ID="0"
Title="Basic Meeting Workspace"
Hidden="FALSE"
ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/stmw.png"
Description="A site to plan, organize, and capture the results of a
meeting. It provides lists for managing the agenda, meeting attendees, and
documents."
DisplayCategory="Meetings"
SupportsMultilingualUI="FALSE" >
</Configuration>
 ...
</Template>
</Templates>

Templates Element (Site)

Published: May 2010

Top-level element in a WebTemp*.xml file that specifies the collection of site definitions
available for instantiating sites within the deployment.

<Templates>
<Template
ID = "Text"
Name = "Text">
<Configuration/>
...
</Template>
...
</Templates>