Save site as Template Option Missing in SharePoint 2010?

This is one of those minor things that can get you scratching your head trying to figure what the issue is. Basically this menu option is removed whenever a site has Publishing Features enabled. Deactivating this feature makes the option show up and vice-versa.

Even when it’s not display there is actually a way of forcing SharePoint to Save the site as a template regardless of whether Publishing is enabled or not. The link that allows you to save the site as a template is “_layouts/savetmpl.aspx” so simply accessing this will allow you to save.