Microsoft® SharePoint® Designer 2010 Unleashed

Saving a Site as a Template (WSP)

A major benefit when working with SharePoint 2010 customizations is in the ability to have reusable and switchable modules. If you save a site as a solution file (WSP) you can then import the solution into Visual Studio 2010 and work with the contents of the file. This includes any custom actions created in SharePoint Designer 2010. In fact, reviewing the solution file in Visual Studio is a great way to learn about how SharePoint constructs custom actions and also provides a basis from which to extend those custom actions.