Preview and Publish a Page

When your website is ready to go live, or you want to check how it looks first, you can preview, publish, update, and unpublish your site directly from the Site Editor.

Table of Contents

Page Preview

Before publishing, you can see exactly how your website will look to visitors:

  • Click Preview in the top-right corner of the screen next to the publish button:

Preview button in the top-right corner of the Site Editor, next to the publish button.

  • Your site will open in Preview Mode, where all editing tools are hidden. Use the Navigation Menu at the top to move between pages:

Preview Mode with the site navigation menu at the top. Editing controls are hidden.

  • There are two View Options in Site Editor: Desktop and Phone. Switch between these viewing modes by clicking the corresponding buttons at the top of the screen:

Desktop and Phone view icons at the top of Preview Mode.

  • To return to the Edit Mode, click Back to Editor in the top left corner of the screen:

Back to Editor button in the top-left corner of Preview Mode.

Publishing Your Website

 The publish button status will change depending on the project state: 

  • Publish Website: Your site is not published.
  • Website Published: Your site is live and matches what's in the Editor.
  • Update Website: Your site is live, but you have changes that haven't been published yet.

You can publish your website from either Edit Mode or Preview Mode in the Site Editor:

  • To publish a website for the first time from Edit Mode, click the Publish Website button in the top-right corner:

Publish Website button in Edit mode, top-right corner.

  • To publish a site from Preview Mode for the first time, click the Publish Website button in the top-right corner:

Publish Website button in Preview mode, top-right corner.

  • Choose your Website URL. You can use the proposed Website URL from the dropdown, or click the No custom domain, find yours now! button to find your custom domain if you don't have one:

Publish dialog with the Website URL field and No custom domain, find yours now! offer.

Please refer to the Domains article to learn more.

  • Select Publish Website to confirm:

Publish pop-up with the Publish Website confirmation button.

  • A progress modal window will appear while your site is being published:

Publishing progress modal showing Publishing Website message.

  • You can continue editing by clicking [x] in the modal window's top right corner. The publishing of the website will occur in the background with a confirmation tooltip in the top and bottom right corners:

Background publishing with confirmation tooltips in the corners of the screen.

  • The Publish Website button will be changed to Website Published once your website is published:

Top-right publish button now reads Website Published.

  • You can hover over the Website Published button and click View Website to display the published version of your website: 

Popover under Website Published button with the View Website option.

Please Note: After your website is live, any new edits you make are saved in the Editor but not automatically visible to visitors. You need to publish again to make your changes live.

  • When you make edits to a published site, the Website Published button will automatically change to Update Website. Click the Update Website button to publish your latest changes to the live website.

Update website highlighted in the top-right corner of Site Editor.

  • Hover over the Update Website button to see additional options in the pop-up window:
    • View Website: Open your live site in a new tab.
    • Manage Publish Settings: Switch between domains (if you have more than one connected). Choose another domain you want to publish to and click Publish Website.
    • Unpublish Website: Take your site offline.

Popover on Update Website showing View Website, Manage Publish Settings (highlighted), and Unpublish Website.

  • If you have a published site and pending changes, you will receive a pop-up notification when attempting to exit the Site Editor and after reentering the Site Editor:

Notification pop-up under publish button reminding you about pending unpublished changes.

Sharing Your Website After Publishing

  • Once your website is published, you can view it by clicking View Website in the pop-over that appears under the publishing button.

Popover under Website Published button with the View Website option

  • You will be redirected to your live website. You can now copy the website URL and share it with other people.

Unpublishing Your Website

If you want to take your website offline, you can unpublish it from the Site Editor:

  • To unpublish the website, hover over the publish button in the top-right corner (Website Published or Update Website):

Popover under the publish button with the highlighted Unpublish Website option.

  • Click Unpublish Website in the pop-up window that appears.
  • Confirm by clicking Unpublish Website.

Common Questions

I made changes but they're not showing on my live site.

Your edits are saved in the editor, but visitors won't see them until you click Update Website. After publishing, try refreshing the page in your browser.

What's the difference between Publish Website and Update Website?

Publish Website button is used the first time you make your site live. Update Website button appears after your site is already published and you've made new changes; clicking it publishes those changes to your live site.

I can't find how to unpublish my site.

Unpublishing is done from the Site Editor. Open your site in the Editor, hover over the publish button in the top-right corner, and select the Unpublish Website option in the pop-up window.

How do I share my website with other people?

Your website must be published before others can view it. To share your site:

  1. Open your site in the Site Editor.
  2. If your site is not live yet, click Publish Website in the top-right corner and complete the publish steps (see Publishing Your Website).
  3. Once your site is published, hover over Website Published or Update Website in the top-right corner.
  4. Click View Website to open your live site in a new browser tab.
  5. Copy the URL from your browser's address bar and share it