Can't upload Word file despite following instructions
-
Hi. I’m trying to upload a word file (.docx) onto my site which is running the ‘Stay’ theme. I can select and upload it onto my Gallery through the ‘Add Media’ function but when I ‘Insert into Page’ all I get showing on the page when I preview it is the file name. I’ve tried saving the file I want as a .pdf too, but just the same thing happens. I don’t want to simply copy and paste as I lose all the formatting.
Looking around online I thought I could use a plug-in but I don’t have plug-ins showing as an option on the sidebar menu of my dashboard – is that maybe a feature of ‘Stay’ theme?The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
-
WordPress.com users cannot install and use 3rd party plugins. Here’s more info on that: https://en.support.wordpress.com/plugins/
When you say Gallery, do you mean this WP Gallery feature https://en.support.wordpress.com/images/gallery/ ?
If so, the Gallery feature can only display image files JPG JPEG PNG and GIF.
If you just want your site visitors to be able to download the file, here’s how you insert the link: https://en.support.wordpress.com/uploading-documents/
If you want to actually embed the Word Doc in your page, here’s how you do that: https://en.support.wordpress.com/word-web-app/ or https://en.support.wordpress.com/scribd/
If you need more help, please post back here.
-
That’s very helpful, justjennifer, thank you. I’ve not tried it yet but looking at the links it seems straightforward enough. It’s odd that it’s not intuitive nor that there’s an explanation in the dashboard – in fact it’s misleading in that when uploading files into the gallery it states the file extensions that can be selected include .docx
-
You’re welcome.
That’s why I asked if you were referring to the image Gallery feature (and gave the link to the Support doc to be extra sure).
Technically you are correct. It is possible to upload any of these filetypes, including Word documents: https://en.support.wordpress.com/accepted-filetypes/ after clicking the Add Media button or even the Create or Add to Gallery button (for an existing Gallery). But the only thing that will actually display in a Gallery are image files.
Here’s what it says in the Media Manager’s Create and Add to Gallery Upload Files tab:
Allowed file types: jpg, jpeg, png, gif, pdf, doc, ppt, odt, pptx, docx, pps, ppsx, xls, xlsx, key.
Maximum upload file size: 1 GB.I’ve added a tag for Staff to make note of your feedback concerning the misleading info about what files can be uploaded in the Upload to Gallery discussion box. Thanks for pointing it out!
-
Hmm… I’ve tried the link (https://en.support.wordpress.com/word-web-app/) you sent to embed the document but the OneDrive ‘Share’ screen I get doesn’t offer ‘Embed’ as an option (unlike the walk-through illustration on the link). OneDrive does offer ‘Post to Blog’ as an option but I’m reluctant to try that route as a tentative look shows Microsoft are trying to suck information out of me, and anyway it may end up as a simple blog post (as the name suggests) rather than an embeded file. Any advice?! Thanks.
-
You do need first to select the Edit > Edit in Word Online in In order to get to that File tab in the Support doc. Once there, you can continue with the Support doc instructions.
Caveat: I was logged in to my MS account when I did this and was able to successfully embed my document in my test site with the embed code.
If you’d like to give the direct link to the blog post you need help with, please do. However, if it is not a published post only Staff will be able to see it. Since this thread is already marked for their attention, you can ask for their assistance when you provide the direct link.
-
Hi there,
As justjennifer mentioned, you’ll need to open the document in Word Online to get to the Share section mentioned on the Microsoft OneDrive Word Web App page. If you’re logged in to OneDrive, you can switch to Word Online by clicking the icon in the top left corner and then clicking the “Word Online” box.
Please let me know if you have any further trouble with that, and thanks for your feedback about the gallery upload page!
-
Justjennifer and rachelmcr, thanks for your responses. I’ve been away since I posted that last comment and am just back now (my hope to carry on with it when away came to nothing!). I’m going to try your recommendations now…
-
No…I reckon I’m maybe being stupid here! I’m logged in to OneDrive but don’t seem to have access to Word Online. When on the OneDrive screen, the top left icon is the arrow which takes me back to the Word document itself. I can see no reference to Word Online. I’m running MS Office Home and Business 2013…
-
There are a lot of different screens depending on where you are in OneDrive, so we’re probably just looking in different places. :) Can you make a screenshot of what you see when you look at the document on OneDrive? That will help me understand what you’re seeing on your end.
You can upload screenshots to your Media Library under Media > Add New in your dashboard, or you can use an online service like Snaggy.
-
OK, I’ve copied that screenshot onto my Media Library…is that something you can access?!
-
Are you signing in to OneDrive from inside MS Office? If you are, please go to OneDrive directly at https://onedrive.live.com/ instead. From there, you can open the document in Word Online to get the sharing options mentioned on our support page.
-
That’s it! I now know more about MS Office as well as WordPress! Thanks! I thought perhaps the embedded file might be displayed as if it were a seamless, integral part of the WordPress site, and the text look like it had been entered directly onto the page – however, it’s clearly not. Am I missing something else or is this the only way I can show my Terms and Conditions? (OK, I guess if I trade up I’ll get more functionality and may be able to achieve it…right?)
You can see how its displayed at http://www.summerislescroft.com/terms-and-conditions. Thanks again. -
Am I missing something else or is this the only way I can show my Terms and Conditions?
If you want to use the DOC embed, yes.
However, you can write your Terms & Conditions directly in the WP Editor or if you want to copy & paste from Word to the WP Editor, read this first https://en.support.wordpress.com/microsoft-word/ and follow those instructions for a clean transfer of your text.
-
Thanks, justjennifer. It was in an effort to retain the formatting of the original Word document that all this started – having already gone through what you’ve outlined above and getting too plain a result. Yes, I could take the time to re-write it all directly into WP Editor, but there’s still limited scope for formatting (on the free version of WP). I’ll go with what we have meantime I think. Thanks again for all your help.
- The topic ‘Can't upload Word file despite following instructions’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 