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Tips for Blogging from Microsoft Word

By: Jacob Wood, January 14, 2014 Publisher Advice

Introduction

Blogging is an important part of any publisher’s toolbox, but it’s also a fun activity for other hobbyists. Though it’s possible to do all of your blogging directly in a browser, it can be helpful to create blog posts offline and upload them later.

Why would you want to do such a thing? There are a few great reasons:

• Working offline means cutting down distractions. If you’re working in a word processor rather than your browser of choice, you don’t have the entire internet at your fingertips to distract you.
• You create offline backups of your work as you create it. IF your blog goes down for some reason, you still have copies of your posts. (You are still remembering to back up your blog regularly though, right?)
• It can be easier to work in a familiar environment. Word was designed for writing large blocks of text. Browsers weren’t.
• You can write several posts at once, and then schedule them for later.

It’s not always necessary, but it can be a good idea to write your blog posts in advance and save them for later. This is especially great for building up a catalogue of reserve posts so you can take a week off from blogging without falling short on your posting schedule.

Many people already write their blog posts in Word and then copy/paste them into their blog platform of choice, but did you know you could save yourself time by skipping that step? You can save blog posts directly from Microsoft Word to many of the most popular blog platforms, including Blogger, WordPress, and others. I’ll show you how.

Step One: Create a New Blog Post

1. Open Microsoft Word and select File -> New. Then double-click Blog Post.

2. A new Word document is created, but take a look at the Ribbon (the toolbar at the top of the Word window). Notice how the “Home” tab has been changed to “Blog Post?”

This new tab gives you access to several blog-specific functions you may not have seen before.

3. You’ll also notice a place to enter the title of your blog post. This is exactly what it sounds like: type your blog post’s title into that field. For most blogs, this will be a level 1 Heading.

You can enter a title now, but before you get too much further you’re going to need to link your blog to Microsoft Word.

Step Two: Link your Blog to Word

You can get started writing, but you won’t be able to save directly to your blog until you complete the following actions.

1. Set up your account. On the Blog Post tab, click Manage Accounts.

2. The Blog Accounts window appears. Click New.

3. The New Blog Account window appears. Select your provider from the dropdown list.

4. Click Next. Depending on your provider, you may have a few different options. In this case, I selected WordPress, so I am prompted to enter my blog’s URL, username, and password.

5. After filling in your credentials, you may choose to select Remember Password. Then click Picture Options.

Depending on your blog provider, you may have a few different options here. If your provider allows it, it’s probably easiest to select “My blog provider.”

If you select “My own server,” you will be asked to enter your server’s URL and credentials.

Obviously, if you select “None,” you won’t be able to automatically upload any pictures you include in your blog posts.

Tip: If you have the option, I highly recommend setting this up. Manually uploading pictures in WordPress can be time-consuming.

6. Click OK. If you entered all of your information correctly, you should get a confirmation message. Otherwise, you’ll get an error message.

7. Click OK. The Blog Accounts window reappears. Your Name and Host are listed.

Close the window and return to your blog post.

Step Three: Write your Post

This step is pretty self-explanatory. Write your blog post just as you would normally. You may format your text, insert images, draw tables, and so forth. You can also select a category to associate your blog with if you click the Insert Category button on the Ribbon.

Step Four: Save and Publish

When you’re ready to save your work, click the Blog Post tab on the Ribbon. Then click the down arrow on the Publish button.

You may choose to either Publish your work, which will automatically post your finished draft to your blog, or Publish as Draft. I recommend selecting Save as Draft, which allows you to then go to your blog provider and ensure the post’s formatting is accurate. You’ll also be able to set other properties of the post, such as tags, categories, and publication date.

Final Thoughts

Now you know how to get started with blogging directly through Microsoft Word. Is this a tool you see yourself using regularly, or does it seem like more of a hassle to set up than it’s worth?

Personally, I like to write lengthy posts using Word. It allows me time to save, edit, and return to my posts as I see fit. I also find it much easier to insert images and format certain items using my word processor. Naturally, this very blog post was written in Microsoft Word 2010.

For shorter posts, it’s just as simple to launch my browser and login to WordPress, but it’s nice to have this option available.

If you’ve ever used Word to write your blog posts or if it’s something you think you’d like to try, let me know in the comments!

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