Is it possible to update .Webpart file and reflect the change on all uses of a webpart

Question

I have a webpart that is a modified XSLT list view webpart in SharePoint 2010. I exported the webpart as a file and uploaded it to the webpart gallery manually.

If the user adds this webpart to pages and I want to update certain property in the .webpart (XML) file and re-upload it, will the change be reflected on all pages or would the user need to add the webpart again?

I tried to delete the webpart from webpart gallery and then re-upload a modified file with same name but the change is not reflected as I hoped. Is there a different way to do this or am I missing something?

Answer 1

Unfortunately web parts added to a page do not maintain a link back to the .webpart files in the Web Part Catalog. You would have to go to each page and update the XSLT manually, or write some powershell script that can find and update the properties.