Support Start > Managing Your Web Site > FTP Publishing > Settings for Common FTP Programs > Microsoft Publisher

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Microsoft Publisher is a program that is usually used to create printed material, such as flyers. It's also possible to convert Publisher documents to Web pages, although it doesn't work very well.

The instructions below will help you upload Publisher pages to our servers if you choose to use it.

On this page:

• Should I use Microsoft Publisher?
• Creating the FTP site
• Publishing your files
• Disable VML

Should I use Microsoft Publisher?

If you haven't started creating a website, we should mention that we find Publisher to be a very poor program for Web design. It works well for designing flyers and other printed materials, but the Web export "feature" it offers is awful in several respects. The interface is confusing, and it often creates Web pages where the picture and text layout are in the wrong places.

We hear many more complaints about Publisher than any other program. People who use Publisher have all sorts of problems that they wouldn't have if they chose a different program.

Because of that, we don't recommend using Publisher for new Web projects under any circumstances. Instead, we recommend that you choose a different program. If your budget allows it, we recommend Dreamweaver; if you're looking for a free program, try Nvu or WordPress.

Creating the FTP site

If you do use Publisher, you'll need to create an "FTP site" in the FTP Locations folder before you upload your files for the first time. You only need to do this once.

1. From the File menu, click Publish to the Web (marked Save As Web Page or Export As Web Page in some versions).
2. In the "Save in" box, click Add/Modify FTP Locations under "FTP Locations".
3. Enter the FTP site name as: ftp.tigertech.net
4. Enter the user ID, all lowercase, as: example.com
5. Enter your account password as the password.
6. Click OK, then click OK again in the next window.

Publishing your files

Each time you want to publish your files to the server, do the following:

1. From the File menu, click Publish to the Web (marked Save As Web Page or Export As Web Page in some versions).
2. In the "Save in" box, click FTP Locations.
3. In the list of FTP sites, double-click the "ftp.tigertech.net" FTP location you created.
4. If you're publishing your home page, type index as the "File name".
5. Click Save.

Disable VML

Older versions of Publisher may create pages with VML encoding that is incompatible with modern Web browsers, including Internet Explorer 8.

To fix this, disable VML in Publisher:

1. From the Tools menu, choose Options.
2. Click the Web tab.
3. Uncheck Rely on VML.
4. Click OK.