Remote Publishing from the RootsWeb Servers

With the latest update to the RootsWeb servers, remote publishing is not longer possible. You will need to use FileZilla or another 2rd party FTP client.

Remote Publishing using FrontPage 2003

This process works with FrontPage 2003 ONLY. With FrontPage 2002 and earlier versions, you will receive the message that FrontPage does not support opening files from an ftp server.

Step 1: From the Start menu, select Programs, click Microsoft FrontPage. If you have not already created a new website for your site on the server do so now.

Step 2: From the File drop-down menu, click Open Site

Step 3: In the dialog box, click the My Network Places button on the left hand menu > enter the ftp information for the server ftp://users.freepages.rootsweb.com

Step 4: Enter your username and password.

You may be asked to do this twice.

Step 5: In the next dialogue box, Check FTP as the method to transfer your files > Use Passive FTP > If you want the remote site to open in a particular directory, add the directory name to Root Directory. If you do not enter a directory, all available directories will be shown when you sign on to the remote site.

Step 6:  If the folder you want to publish to on your hard drive is already open, check add the files to this web. If not, uncheck add to current website  and browse to the folder where you want to publish the files > Click Next

Step 7: The Import Website Wizard - Congratulations box will appear > Click Finish

Step 8: The next window will show your Remote Website on the right hand side of the window and your local website on your hard drive in the left hand window. Make sure remote to local is checked > Click Publish Web Site and the Process will begin.

N.B. If you encounter the server error screen that references any of the _vti_cnf files, it is because somewhere on the remote site, you will find one or more _vti_cnf folders left over from publishing via a third party ftp program like Filezilla which transfers all of the files within your directories. Once you click OK, the publishing process comes to a halt and will NOT continue until you get rid of the offending folder from the remote site. Once I had deleted the folder, I was able to click Publish Web and the process proceeded.

Step 9: Once you have the files from your Remote Site published to your computer, click Tools > Recalculate Hyperlinks.

My thanks to Tina Clarke for her original tutorial on this topic.