Copy page/news template between sites using powershell

[kenneho]

Hi.

I'd like to be able to create a page/news template on site A, and copy it over site B. I found a way to copy files over from site A to site B by running something like Get-PnPFile to download the template from site A, and Add-PnPFile -Path './mytemplate.aspx' -Folder 'templates' to upload the file to site B's "templates"-folder, but on site B the template is not listed under the templates gallery when creating new pages/news, so I must have missed something.

Any pointers as to how to both copy the template file and also get it to appear on site B's templates gallery will be appreciated.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

You need to have at least one template created before copied files are visible on Templates gallery. I noticed this when copying templates over with Power Automate.

I have been using PnP Provisioning Template to copy page templates between sites. If you are interested, you can check out my blog post about this topic.
https://mattipaukkonen.com/2020/07/02/distribute-sharepoint-page-templates-with-pnp-powershell-and-p...

Idea is first get all client side pages to a provisioning template, create a new template object with just page templates and apply it to a target site.

[#3]

Thanks, this seems to be exactly what I'm looking for! I'll check it out.

[#4]

@Matti Paukkonen I got things working exactly as needed, thanks to your script. Again, thanks!

[#5]

@Matti Paukkonen , copying the templates works perfectly. However, when I have a template containing images, and copy that template to a new site, we find that the image doesn't seem to get copied. Is this a case even for you? Have you found a way to get this working?

[#6]

Hi @kenneho,

You can include images to a template by adding -PersistBrandingFiles handle, for example

$basetemplate = Get-PnPProvisioningTemplate -IncludeAllClientSidePages -Handlers PageContents,Pages -OutputInstance -Schema LATEST -PersistBrandingFiles

If you are creating a new template, like in my blog post, you need to add Files.

$template.Files.AddRange($basetemplate.Files)

Example above is actually adding all image from SiteAssets library.

Hope this helps! Blog post examples also updated.