Saving vector layer with specific symbology using QGIS?

Question

I am creating a polygon feature layer with soil classes in QGIS.

I need to share this layer with some colleagues and I need the layer to maintain the color ramp I have created.

Is there any specific format where the color ramp is saved together with the layer?

Since I don´t know how to do that, I was thinking on saving the color ramp that I created as a style.

How can I export this style?

Answer 1

After setting the symbology (colours / appearance) of your vector layer, you can save the symbology together with the shapefile. If the layer style file stays together with the other necessary parts of the shapefile (shp, shx and dbf) then it will automatically be rendered in the same way when it is next loaded into QGIS, even on another computer.

1. Save your layer as a shapefile, if you haven't already, for example shpexample.shp.
2. Open the Layer Properties | Style tab
3. Click the Save style button and select "QGIS Layer Style File", then save it with the same name (shpexample)

Answer 2

You could save your data as a Geopackage. Geopackage has the ability to store the layer styling information in the database itself so that when the user drags your data into the map the styling is automatically applied. See: Is there any way to include "universal" style/symbology in GeoPackage?

Answer 3

I've created this plugin that can save all layers with their specific symbology as .gpkg. All layers are saved as geopackages. It can be found on the official QGIS plugin repo here: https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/SaveAllScript/

Hope this helps!