creating a site template using CSOM or PowerShell - SharePoint Online

Question

I would like my users to be able to create a subsite based on a custom template. The template will have some announcement list,document library,quicklinks etc created. I would prefer this to be done via a UI(e.g from a list) or just have a template they can select from like the way you create using "Team Site". What are my options (Simplest method and re-usable)

Thanks in Advance

Answer 1

Can you build a sample site using UI and then navigate to Site Settings>Save site as a template? After that users can create it from Custom Templates?

How the templates work: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Save-a-SharePoint-site-as-a-template-5a4eb024-d1fa-4681-a4ac-e6bd1e3209ba

The option will not be available if you enabled Publishing Features: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2492356/-save-site-as-template-option-isn-t-available-in-sharepoint-online-in
If you are having issues, or missing the option, you may access the save site as template through http://sitename/_layouts/savetmpl.aspx directly.

After that the template will be available under Custom site templates: