Cannot edit publishing page in SharePoint Designer 2007

Question

I try to edit a publishing page by going to the Sites catalog, expanding the dropmenu of default.aspx and choosing Edit in Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer. I then get prompted about how I want to edit the page and I choose Edit page layout. SharePoint 2007 opens and what I get is:

Master Page error
The page has controls that require a Master Page reference, but none is specified.

Correct the problem in Code View

This is a standard publishing page with nothing added to it. Just empty. I've tried to create new publishing pages but they see the same issue. Standard non-publishing subsites does not suffer from this. What could be the cause? Any info is welcome.

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Studying system development. I always give credit to helpful posts!

Answer 1

Depends on what you are trying to edit.

If you want to edit page content.. you can right click on your file you can detach from page layout, then you should be able to edit your page. When you are finished reattach to page layout. 

If you are looking to modify the page layout in SPD .. then look into creating a more suitable page layout that would go in the gallery and this could be applied to the page through the ui. ..this way your pages stay uncustomized aka unghosted.

gl

 

 

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-tom daly

Answer 2

Hi Thomas, thanks for your reply.

I want to be able to see my page in design mode as I need to edit web part zones. And like I mentioned, this page has not been tampered with as it's fresh of the rack without any custom masterpage, just standard.

There is a guide on how to edit publishing pages that I've read through just to make sure I'm not doing something horribly wrong: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-designer-help/customize-a-publishing-page-layout-HA010174129.aspx, but I still get the aforementioned error.

EDIT:
Detaching the page did eventually help me after a few bumps on the road. Thanks once again Thomas, you made this thursday a little easier.

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Studying system development. I always give credit to helpful posts!

Answer 3

Glad to hear you were able to edit those pages.

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-tom daly

Answer 4

Hi Rex E,

Some Site Collection Features and Site Feature would cause the issue.

Please check relevant Features being Active.

If it is helpful to you, please tell me.

Thank you.