Serialization in Sitecore
In addition to the serialization features mentioned here, Sitecore Content Serialization provides easy and automated content serialization.
Sitecore serialization helps teams of developers that work on the same Sitecore solution to synchronize database changes between their individual development environments. Serialization is also useful when a single developer works on a solution.
You use serialization to serialize an entire Sitecore database, or a series of items in a database, to text files. You then use these text files to transfer this database, or series of items, to another database or Sitecore solution. You typically use Sitecore serialization in combination with a source control system to make it easy for developers to synchronize database changes between the local databases that they use for development. The source control system also keeps track of database changes and allows you to compare database changes.
You have three three serialization access points in Sitecore. They all use the same general settings in the App_Config\Sitecore\CMS.Core\Sitecore.Serialization.config file.
You can configure two different serialization formats:
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The Sitecore default serialization format
NoteThis format will be deprecated in a later version of Sitecore.
Serialization access points
You can execute serialization functions in three ways:
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Manually serialize, update, and revert items in the Content Editor.
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Use Sitecore event handlers to automatically serialize items.
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Use the Sitecore service page to serialize, update, and revert a whole database.
Enable the Developer tab
To run serialization functions in the Content Editor, the Developer tab must be enabled (it is disabled by default).
To enable the Developer tab:
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Open the Content Editor.
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Right click on the Content Editor ribbon and select Developer.