How to Edit a Website Using Microsoft Word

By Larry Amon

Microsoft Word is ubiquitous as a word-processing program. Some people think it is a bit bloated and overdone with all its capabilities, but on the plus side, it can do many things, including creating and editing web pages. Word may not look like a traditional HTML editing program, but it is still quite powerful and can get the job done, especially if you don’t have anything else.

Step 1

Download or find the HTML page for each web page of a website you want to edit. You can edit a website one page at a time with Word but you must first have access to the page. If it is on your local computer then you are set. If the page is on a server, you must either FTP the HTML document and its images to your local computer or you can save the page from a web browser. When saving an HTML web page from a browser, just make sure you choose to save it as a web page and not a web archive.

Step 2

Open Microsoft Word. Go to the File menu and choose Open. Select the HTML file for the web page that you want to edit.

Step 3

Edit what you see. The way that Word opens the HTML document, it will be similar to what you see in a live web page, except some of the pictures may be missing. You can type directly on the page to change elements such as the text. You can also use the tool bar to do some basic editing, such as bolding items or changing the font size.

Step 4

Edit links by right clicking on the link and choosing “hyperlink” and then “edit hyperlink.” You can also use the “Insert” menu to add or edit pictures and objects. If you want to change an existing picture, just click on that picture before selecting the “insert” menu.

Step 5

Click on View and then “HTML source” to see the web page in HTML code. This will let you edit the web page in a much more powerful way, if you know and understand HTML.

Step 6

Go to the “File” menu and choose “Save as” and then type a name and select “web page” as the file type. It will save the file at whatever location you choose and will also create a folder for any files that go with the page. You can now upload the page and the folder to your web host.

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