Convert a print newsletter for use on the Web

You create a print newsletter in Publisher for your business. Now, how can you use the same publication on the Internet? You have two options:

• You can create a Web site from the print newsletter.

• You can change the print newsletter file to a PDF or XPS file and then publish it to a Web site that you create in Publisher.

By sending an e-mail message that contains a link to a Web newsletter, you can both save mailing costs and reach a wider audience.

What do you want to do?

Create a Web site from a print newsletter

Convert print publications to PDF or XPS files to publish to the Web

Publish files to the Web

Create a Web site from a print newsletter

Before you begin converting your newsletter

Important: Make any changes that you want in your print newsletter before you convert it to a Web publication. After you begin the conversion, some editing options are no longer available. (For example, after you use the Convert to Web Publication wizard to convert your print newsletter to a Web publication, the Columns option is no longer available in the Page Options task pane.)

Consider making the following modifications to your print newsletter before you convert it to a Web publication:

• If the complete text of an article spans multiple pages, consider moving the article onto a single page for easier reading. Alternatively, after you convert the publication, you can use hyperlinks to connect article sections to one another.

• If the last page of your print newsletter contains placeholder text for a customer mailing address and company contact information, you might want to delete the page, change the information, or move the contact information to other pages.

• Because one column is easier to read on the Web than multiple columns, consider using the options under Columns on the Page Options task pane to change a multiple-column print newsletter into a single-column Web publication.

  Note: You must change the column selection for each page of the publication individually.

• A print newsletter has print-specific design features that aren't required for the Web. Page numbers, in the table of contents and on each page of the publication, are one example of print-specific items that you might want to remove. Customer mailing information is another.

Create a Web publication from a print newsletter

After you identify and make all of the changes that you want in the print publication, you can proceed to the conversion.

Convert a print newsletter to a Web newsletter

1. Start Publisher.

2. In the Recent Publications list, click the print newsletter file. (Alternatively, click From File, browse to and select your existing newsletter file, and then open the file.)

3. Make any changes to the content or layout of the newsletter (such as changing a multiple-page article to a single page, changing a multiple-column layout to a single-column publication, removing a customer mailing address area, or removing print-specific design features).

4. On the File menu, click Convert to Web Publication.

5. Under Save Your Current Print Publication, do one of the following:

   • To save your modifications in the original print newsletter file before you continue the conversion, click Yes.

     Alternatively, after you finish the wizard, you can save your modified publication under a new file name by clicking Save As on the File menu, and then typing in a new file name.

     Note: If you save by using the same file name that you used for your original publication, you will overwrite the original publication.

   • To convert the newsletter without saving your modifications in the original print newsletter file, click No.

6. Click Next.

7. Under Add a Navigation Bar, do one of the following:

   • To add a navigation bar to your converted Web publication, click Yes.

   • To convert your Web publication without adding a navigation bar, click No.

     Important: Without a navigation bar, visitors to your Web site have no way to access other pages of the Web publication. However, you can still add a navigation bar even after you convert your newsletter.

8. Click Finish.

9. If you chose to save the modified version of your print newsletter in step 5, the Save As dialog box displays a suggested new file name for the modified version. Save the modified print publication under a new descriptive file name (such as July2008Modified) by changing the suggested name in the File name box, and then, in the Save as type list, select either Single File Web Page or Web Page, Filtered.

   Important: If you use the default name, you will overwrite your print publication.

   Note: By using a different file name than the one used for the original print publication, you will ensure that your original print newsletter publication remains unchanged.

10. In the converted Web publication, make any formatting changes that you want. (For example, you might want to reposition the navigation bar.)

11. Save your new Web publication by typing a descriptive file name (such as July2008Web).

Adjust the navigation bar

If you add a navigation bar when you convert your publication, you might then want to adjust the position of the navigation bar so that it is in the same location on each page. The top margin of each page is often a good choice, especially if you make the navigation bar horizontal so that it better fits the space.

Add a new navigation bar

If you choose not to add a navigation bar during the conversion of your newsletter, you can add one later by using the following procedure:

1. On the Insert menu, point to Navigation Bar, and then click New.

2. In the Design Gallery dialog box, click the navigation bar design and options that you want.

   Note: To create links that have both an unselected state (showing a default color) and a selected state (showing a different color when you click the link to select it), click Show selected state.

3. Under Automatic update, do one of the following:

   • To update the navigation bar by including a link to each of the existing pages in the publication, select the Update this navigation bar with links to existing pages in this publication check box.

   • To manually specify which pages are linked to from the navigation bar, clear the Update this navigation bar with links to existing pages in this publication check box, and then specify which pages you want to link to by using options in the Navigation Bar Properties dialog box.

4. Click Insert Object.

Change the text on the navigation bar

1. Select the navigation bar on any page.

2. Select the text that you want to change, and then type the new text that you want to replace it with.

   The changed text changes in the navigation bar on every page.

Automatically add links on the navigation bar

If you add pages to your Web newsletter, links to those pages can be automatically added to an existing navigation bar.

1. Select the navigation bar on any page.

2. On the Format menu, click Navigation Bar Properties.

3. In the Navigation Bar Properties dialog box, select the Update this navigation bar with links to new pages that are added to this publication check box.

Manually add links to the navigation bar

1. In the converted publication, click the navigation bar, and then click the wizard button .

2. In the Navigation Bar Properties dialog box, click Add Link.

3. In the Add Link dialog box, under Link to, click Place in this document.

4. Under Select a place in this document, click the page that you want to link to from the navigation bar.

5. In the Text to display box, type the link text that you want to appear on the navigation bar, and then click OK.

6. In the Navigation Bar Properties dialog box, click OK.

Convert a table of contents to a list of Web contents

If your print newsletter had a table of contents listing all of the articles and their corresponding page numbers, that table of contents can become your navigation bar, providing links to all of the pages in your Web publication.

On the first page of your publication, you can include a smaller table of contents that provides links to specific articles. Delete the page numbers, and format the article titles as hyperlinks that jump to their respective articles.

Format an article title as a hyperlink

1. In your table of contents, select the article title.

2. On the Insert menu, click Hyperlink.

3. Under Link to, click Place in This Document.

4. Under Select a place in this document, click the page that you want the title to link to, and then click OK.

Make other adjustments for the Web

Print formatting features that do not display well in Web browsers are not available in Web mode. After Publisher converts your print publication to a Web publication, you'll need to make some additional adjustments to the formatting of the publication to make it ready for Web display.

After conversion, text no longer automatically wraps around picture frames. If a picture frame is on top of a text frame, the text is hidden. You can either move or resize the text frame, or move the picture frame so there is no overlap.

There is generally more space between text frames and the edges of the publication than is needed on a Web site. You can adjust any of the text or picture frames to better fill the empty space.

Font schemes available for Web publications differ from those available for print publications. The fonts that were used in your print newsletter are not converted automatically to fonts that are better for the Web. It's a good idea to change all the fonts in the converted newsletter to Web fonts to make them easier to read on the Web.

To select a Web font scheme

1. Select some text in your publication.

2. On the Format menu, click Font.

3. In the Font dialog box, under General, make sure the Show only Web fonts check box is selected.

4. On the Format menu, click Font Schemes.

5. Choose one of the fonts in the list under Apply a font scheme.

   The font scheme for the entire publication is converted to fonts that are appropriate for Web viewing.

Page size change during conversion

You'll notice after you have converted a print publication to a Web publication that the page size has changed. The additional space at the bottom of the page allows you to move text frames and picture frames from other pages onto a single page to simplify the Web site.

Check your graphics

Review the file format of each of the graphic images in your newsletter. If your original newsletter contained high-resolution photographs or illustrations, use an image editing program such as Microsoft Picture It! or Microsoft Digital Image Pro to resize and resave them in a Web friendly format. This will speed up file download times.

On the Tools menu, click Graphics Manager, to quickly review all of the graphics in your publication.

Going back to the original publication

Note: If you converted a newsletter to a Web publication and then want to return to the original newsletter, do not choose Convert to Print Publication in the File menu. This will convert an already converted file, and result in changes to your original publication. Instead, on the File menu, click Open and then locate your original newsletter publication.

To preview your Web site

1. On the File menu, click Web Page Preview.

2. The Web site opens in a browser window. You can navigate from page to page by clicking hyperlinks in the publication and links on the Web navigation bars.

Publish your newsletter as a Web site to the Web

When editing is complete, you are ready to create your actual Web files. Follow the instructions provided by your Internet service provider (ISP) to publish your Web site, or read the Publish files to the Web section of this article.

Find a brief overview of how to publish your files to the Web below in Publish files to the Web.

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Convert print publications to PDF or XPS files to publish to the Web

Before you publish your Publisher files to the Web, you should convert them to PDF or XPS files.

Note: You can save as a PDF or XPS file from a 2007 Microsoft Office system program only after you install an add-in. For more information, see Enable support for other file formats, such as PDF and XPS.

Find links to information about how to save your Publisher files in formats that others can view in the See also section.

Save Publisher files as PDF or XPS files

To save your publication in PDF format

Use this option if you want to save your publication in a format that is common, can be easily shared, and is a format that many commercial printers use.

1. In Publisher, open the publication that you want others to view.

2. On the File menu, click Publish as PDF or XPS.

3. In the Save as type list in the Publish as PDF or XPS dialog box, click PDF, and then click Save.

   Your publication is saved by default as publication name.pdf in the My Documents folder on your computer. Clicking Change, and then click Standard or Minimum size in the Publish Options dialog box. These settings are designed for online viewing.

You can also save the file as a PDF by using the Save As dialog box.

To save your publication in XPS format

Use this option if you want to save your publication with even greater compression than PDF format while remaining a high quality printable file perfect for desktop printing.

1. In Publisher, open the publication that you want others to view.

2. On the File menu, click Publish as PDF or XPS.

3. In the Save as type list in the Publish as PDF or XPS dialog box, click XPS, and then click Save.

   Your publication is saved by default as publication name.xps in the My Documents folder on your computer. The publication will be optimized for High quality printing but you could change to a lower setting by clicking Change.

You can also save the file as an XPS file by using the Save As dialog box.

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Publish files to the Web

You can publish a Web site to a Web server, a network server, a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, or to a folder on your own computer.

Publish a Web site to a location on the Internet or on a network

To publish your Web site on the World Wide Web (WWW), you must subscribe to a Web hosting service. A Web hosting service provides Internet access and storage space on Web servers. Before you publish your Web site, contact your Internet service provider (ISP) or system administrator to get the information that you need to publish and the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the Web site where you can save files.

1. On the File menu, click Publish to the Web.

2. In the File name box in the Publish to the Web dialog box, type the URL of the Web or network server where you want to save your Web site — for example, http://www.northwindtraders.com — and then click Save.

3. If prompted, type your user name and password, and then click OK.

   The directory associated with your URL will appear in the Publish to the Web dialog box.

4. Double-click the folder where you want to save your Web site.

5. In the File name box, select index as the default name for your home page, and then click Save.

6. When prompted, click OK.

Publish a Web site using FTP

Before following this procedure, contact your Internet service provider or system administrator to get the information that you need to publish to an FTP site. You also have to create an FTP site in FTP Locations.

How?

1. On the File menu, click Publish to the Web.

2. In the Save in box, click FTP Locations.

3. Double-click Add/Modify FTP Locations.

4. Enter the information you received from your Internet service provider, and then click OK.

5. Click Cancel.

1. On the File menu, click Publish to the Web.

2. In the Save in box, click FTP Locations.

3. In the list of FTP sites, double-click the site you want, and then double-click the folder where you want to publish your Web site.

   Note: If your Internet service provider (ISP) requires you to use a specific program to upload your Web site, or if you are publishing your Web site to a corporate intranet, you may need to save a version of your Web site in a specific HTML file format and follow a different procedure to publish your Web site. Ask your ISP or your system administrator for information about how to save and publish your Web site.

Save a Web site to a folder on your computer

1. On the File menu, click Publish to the Web.

2. In the Save in list, in the Publish to the Web dialog box, click the drive or folder where you want to publish your Web site, such as your My Documents folder.

   If you want to add your Web site to a new folder, right-click where you want to add a new folder, select New , click Folder to create a new folder, and then type a name for the new folder in the Name box.

3. In the File name box, type a file name for your home page.

4. Click Save.

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