SharePoint Online – Custom Team Site and Document Library Templates with Predefined Folder Structure

Question

SharePoint Online – Custom Team Site and Document Library Templates with Predefined Folder Structure

Prathap Reddy Pidintla 25

Hi,

We have a SharePoint Online environment used for Tender management and would like to standardize the folder structure across all Tender sites and document libraries.

We have two potential approaches and would appreciate Microsoft's guidance on the supported options and best practices.

Scenario 1 – Team Site Template

We are considering creating a custom Team Site template that is available under "Templates from your organization".

Our requirement is that when a user creates a new Tender site using this template, the site should automatically provision a predefined folder structure.

For example, within the default Documents library (or a custom document library), the following folders should be automatically created:

Awards

Clarification

Pricing

RFT Docs

Submission

Could you please confirm:

Is it possible to create a custom Team Site template that automatically provisions a predefined folder structure when a new site is created?

Can a Team Site template automatically create folders within the default Documents library?

Can a Team Site template automatically create a custom document library and populate it with the predefined folders listed above?

Can this be achieved using Site Templates, Site Scripts, Site Designs, or another Microsoft-supported provisioning method?

What is the recommended Microsoft approach and configuration process?

Are there any limitations when provisioning document libraries and folders through organizational site templates?

Scenario 2 – Document Library Template

We would also like to understand whether this can be achieved at the document library level.

Our requirement is to create a custom Document Library template that contains a predefined folder structure:

Awards

Clarification

Pricing

RFT Docs

Submission

Our expectation is that when a user creates a new document library using this template, the above folders are automatically created within the new library.

Could you please confirm:

Is it possible to create a custom Document Library template with predefined folders in SharePoint Online?

When a user creates a new document library from this template, can the folder structure be automatically provisioned?

Can such a Document Library template be made available to users as a standard organizational template when creating new document libraries?

What is the Microsoft-recommended approach for implementing this requirement?

If this is not supported, what alternative Microsoft-supported solution would you recommend (for example, Site Scripts, Site Designs, Power Automate, PnP Provisioning, or another approach)?

Any Microsoft documentation, limitations, prerequisites, or best-practice guidance would be greatly appreciated.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

0 additional answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Dear @Prathap Reddy Pidintla,

Thank you for providing such a clear breakdown of your requirements! Based on your scenarios, I have compiled Microsoft’s supported methodologies, configurations, and architectural limitations to help you decide on the best roadmap for your Tender management sites.

Because I am assisting you through the community forum, I don't have a live sandbox environment to physically test or run these scripts for your specific tenant. However, based on official Microsoft architecture guidelines, here is the complete information you need to move forward.

Scenario 1: Team Site Template

Implementing an organizational template at the site level is Microsoft's recommended path for your requirement.

Is it possible? Yes. You can create a custom Team Site template that appears under the "From your organization" tab when users create a new site.
Default vs. Custom Libraries: You can target both. The template can create folders inside the default "Documents" library or provision a brand-new custom document library populated with your 5 mandatory folders (Awards, Clarification, Pricing, RFT Docs, Submission).
The Technology: This is achieved using Site Scripts (JSON) and Site Templates/Designs.

Please refer to this document: Get started creating SharePoint site templates and site scripts | Microsoft Learn

The recommended process

Write the Site Script: Construct a JSON file using the createSPList verb (set templateType to 101 for a Document Library) and nest createSPFolder subactions inside it to generate your folders.
Upload via PowerShell: Use the SharePoint Online Management Shell to register the script using Add-SPOSiteScript.
Publish the Template: Tie that script to a template using Add-SPOSiteDesign so it becomes visible to your users.

Please note:

Action Limits: Scripts applied via the browser UI are limited to 300 total actions, while scripts invoked via the Invoke-SPOSiteDesign PowerShell cmdlet are limited to 30 actions. Please refer information from techcommunity forum: Site Script Action Limit | Microsoft Community Hub
Complexity: Site scripts are intended for structural layout (lists, columns, content types). They cannot natively handle advanced configurations like unique folder-level permissions or complex metadata defaults.

Scenario 2: Document Library Template

If you are looking for a solution where a user clicks New > Document Library inside an existing site and gets pre-populated folders, this is not natively supported.

The Limitation: While SharePoint Online allows you to publish custom library templates to sync columns and views across the tenant, Microsoft's template schema does not package or provision folders.
Alternative Recommendations: If you must standardize at the library level rather than the site level, Microsoft recommends:

Power Automate: Build a cloud flow triggered by the "When a new list or library is created" event. If the library matches your Tender criteria, the flow automatically creates the 5 required folders.
PnP Provisioning: For IT-driven deployments, use PnP PowerShell templates, which easily handle complex folder hierarchies and security inheritances.

For detail, please refer to this document:

Site template JSON schema | Microsoft Learn

SharePoint site template and site script overview | Microsoft Learn

SharePoint site design - PnP PowerShell cmdlets | Microsoft Learn

To ensure global consistency across your Tender management space, Scenario 1 (Site Templates + Site Scripts) is your best approach. It provides a seamless, self-service experience for your users right at the moment of site creation.

Please try drafting your JSON web page script based on these instructions. If you encounter any deployment errors, script validation errors, or syntax difficulties when configuring in your environment, please respond with error logs and I will gladly help explain the issue or direct you to the support team for further assistance.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Prathap Reddy Pidintla 25 Reputation points

2026-06-08T09:53:56.22+00:00

Can you provide a sample Site Script JSON that creates folders (Awards, Clarification, Pricing, RFT Docs, Submission) inside a document library during site creation?
Sophie N 18,175 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-08T23:42:24.53+00:00

Dear @Prathap Reddy Pidintla,

Thank you for your question, this is a great use case for Site Scripts.

I’ll share a sample JSON below that demonstrates how folders such as Awards, Clarification, Pricing, RFT Docs, and Submission can be created in a document library during site provisioning.

Please note that I do not currently have a testing environment available, so I’m unable to fully validate this script in practice. However, this example follows the supported structure for Site Scripts and should give you a good starting point:

{ "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/site-design-script-actions.schema.json", "actions": [ { "verb": "createSPList", "listName": "Documents", "templateType": 101, "subactions": [ { "verb": "createFolder", "path": "Documents/Awards" }, { "verb": "createFolder", "path": "Documents/Clarification" }, { "verb": "createFolder", "path": "Documents/Pricing" }, { "verb": "createFolder", "path": "Documents/RFT Docs" }, { "verb": "createFolder", "path": "Documents/Submission" } ] } ], "version": 1 }

Please refer to this document: Site template JSON schema

If your document library already exists, you may need to adjust the script to target that library instead of creating a new one.

I truly appreciate your understanding regarding the testing limitation. Please feel free to share any results or errors you encounter. I’ll be happy to help review and refine the script further with you.