Downloading Site Files and Publishing

Question

Could someone please give me a quick step by step on how to download the site files from ftp://, upload them onto Expression Web, and then Publish them onto my site?  I'm really afraid of messing the site up because I like it a lot and just have a few small changes I want to implement. 

Maybe a short step by step such as:

-Open htp://
-Download files to computer
-Etc., etc.

Someone please?  I'm a newbie...

Answer 1

Create a new empty web site on your computer.
Open your site and "Publish" it back to the new empty web site on your computer.

You can publish both to and from a server

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Expression Web MVP

Answer 2

Thank you,

Could someone give a little bit more detailed explanation though?

Answer 3

Not really since you didn't specify which version of EW you are using and the location of publishing settings are different in v3 than in earlier versions. However, the help file should tell you how to connect to an FTP location and how to publish up and down.

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MS MVP Expression Tutorials & Help http://by-expression.com

Answer 4

Not sure what you mean abourt more detailed.
If you know how to publish from your computer to your server, simply open the site on the server and use the same procedure to publish it back to your computer.

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Expression Web MVP

Answer 5

Thanks Steve,

However, I'm not exactly sure how to publish from my computer to my server.  I'm using Expression Web 2 by the way. 

Do I only add the html files onto Expression Web or ALL files?  Also, once I have the files onto expression web how do I find what folder to publish to?  Is it the same folder I downloaded the site files from?  How do I find that folder in Expression Web?

Sorry for not knowing much.  I'm just paranoid and don't want to mess my site up by making dumb little changes.

Answer 6

If you were a former Frontpage user and your site is an FP site then the first thing you should do is learn about FPSE's (frontpage server extensions) and if they have any effect on your site. If your site was an FP (or other program) site then perhaps you still have that on your machine as well as EW2 and you could re-publish it with the old application if something happened. In this case you might want to publish in EW2 using the FPSE's enabled checked if you did build the site with FP. This is a side issue to your main question but may require consideration.

Regarding publishing in EW2, after you make your changes you should not have to select any folder per say at publish time because you would be publishing to the root and EW should know what folders contained therein it needs to publish to. However some complain that EW takes too long and select specific folders or files to publish but if your paranoid you do not have to. It may be better and simpler to publish the whole thing until you understand it better.

Regarding the publishing itself there are many options and considerations worthy of a chapter in a book so you should understand any reluctance to try and give you a step by step strategy without knowing about your site and the many considerations. Even though the publishing pop up windows are self explanitory if you are still feeling paranoid then such a book with such a chapter already exists and you should still be able to find it at B&N or Borders, Its called Using Expression Web 2 by Jim Cheshire published by Que ISBN-13 978-0-7897-3784-7. While this book has not answered every single question I have had it is perhaps the best available on the subject and got me through the learning process nicely along with help I got here.

Answer 7

I don't see any reason to learn about FPSEs. In EW 2 create new local site. File > New Site from dialog box select new empty site, browse to location you want the new sati to be and give it a name.

 Then File > Publish and follow the prompts filing in the information for your ftp server making sure your have the folder listed where your sati files are located. When your are connected use the arrow in the center to publish down from your hosted site the your local file system. 

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MS MVP Expression Tutorials & Help http://by-expression.com