How to load a template that I created in Visual Studio?

Question

After creating the solution for the project, I exported it as a template. Now, after exporting, it automatically adds the template to my IDE and creates a ZIP file with all the project files and the .vstemplate extension file.

Now I am on another computer with a visual studio, and I want to download this template and save it in the IDE, but I can not find this option anywhere. My temporary solution is to open an empty web application and copy the entire contents of the ZIP file, not including the .vstemplate file. So my question is: how to load this template into my IDE?

When I open the vstemplate file in Visual Studio, all I get is a text editor and XML data.

I am using Visual studio 2013 with update 4.

Answer 1

After exporting the template, copy the entire ZIP file that was created to the folder C:\Users\[User Name]\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Templates\Project Templates . (You might want to use one of the provided subdirectories to have your template organized.)

Restart Visual Studio, and then use the search bar in the New Project dialog box to help you find the project template that you just added.

Answer 2

For the record, this is similar to using template changes using VS2017. The template provider for your project will need to publish a new build mechanism, and it will be slightly different than just dumping the .zip into the user folder:

Using project / item templates: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/extensibility/upgrading-custom-project-and-item-templates-for-visual-studio-2017

Create a project / element template: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/extensibility/creating-custom-project-and-item-templates

Answer 3

try "open with ..." in the main file, find VStudio, use it "just now."