How to duplicate a SharePoint site with all it's content?

Hi Elsie Reekie, 
Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum!

Have a good day and I hope you're doing well!

I came across your query on the Microsoft Community forum about duplicating a SharePoint site with all its content, and I completely understand how frustrating it can be when you need to replicate a site for a new project or purpose without starting from scratch. It's a common challenge, and I'm here to help make it easier. 

To address your issue, here's a concise step-by-step guide to save your site as a template and create a new one with a different name.  

1. Click the gear icon > “Site Information” > “View all site settings.” 

2. Under “Site Actions,” click “Save site as template.” Fill in details (include content) and click “OK.” 

3. Go to Home > “Create site.” Select site type, fill in info (use a new name), and click “Next” > “Finish.” 

4. Click “Browse templates” > “From your organization.” Select your template and click “Use template.” 

5. Navigate to “Site contents” > “New SharePoint site,” fill in details, and click “Create.” 

If you don't see the "Save site as template" option: This feature is only available for classic sites in older SharePoint versions or SharePoint Online (classic mode). It's not supported in modern sites, as per Microsoft's documentation: 

For more details, check Microsoft's official guide on site templates: Save, download, and upload a SharePoint site as a template

You can refer to this Microsoft Answers thread for potential ways to enable it: Saving SharePoint modern site as template. Please try the suggestions there if applicable to your setup.

However, if this functionality is unavailable as noted, the easiest method currently available is to manually migrate your content by syncing the SharePoint libraries to your local computer via OneDrive and then dragging and dropping the files. This allows you to transfer files between sites without advanced tools. Here's how: 

1. Ensure you have the OneDrive desktop app installed and signed in. 
2. In the original SharePoint site's document library, click "Sync" to sync it to your local computer (files will appear in File Explorer under a SharePoint folder). 
3. Create a new SharePoint site with the desired different name, go to its document library, and click "Sync" to sync it locally as well. 
4. In File Explorer on your computer, drag and drop the files/folders from the original synced folder to the new site's synced folder (OneDrive will automatically upload them to the new site). 

For detailed steps and discussions, refer to this Microsoft Q&A :

Best way to Transfer Data from one SharePoint site to another

Migrate data from one SharePoint Online site to another

Please note: This method only migrates the content (files and documents), including versions if applicable. However, other elements like site permissions, metadata, lists, pages, workflows, and custom structures will need to be recreated manually in the new site. 

Additionally, you can also search for some tools that can duplicate sites quickly to address your specific issue. However, as a moderator, I cannot mention them directly; you can find them by searching online. 

I truly understand how inconvenient this limitation can be, and I appreciate your patience as we navigate these challenges together. I'll continue researching more information, and if I find any better or more convenient ideas, I'll update you right away. In the meantime, I hope the information above clarifies things and helps you to some extent. 

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