Welcome to the AOL Press 2.0 Manual Save Page
- and few other work-arounds too.

First, some quick thoughts;
This page was originally put up after answering the same questions over and over on the AOL Press 2.0 Message Board. (That Board no lnger exists, AOL has decided there weren't enough people interested in it.) It was just easier to point people here instead of retyping the same thing yet again. If you want to get a better understanding of why you can no longer just click 'Save' and have your page automatically upload to your web space, check out Paul Horvick's excellent essay: http://members.aol.com/kitestackflyer/paul.html Any way you slice it, it is no longer possible to merely 'Save' the automatic way in AOL Press 2.0. This page describes the Manual Save process for uploading.

Since this page was written, other irksome glitches have appeared on the scene. Rather than take up space here, there is a Glitch Page. Instead of a FAQ, call it a FOG, Frequently Occurring Glitches. If you are already familiar with manually uploading to the FTP space, but something else is happening that you don't understand, check here to see if it is a reported glitch that someone else has experienced.

There is a FAQ page too. There are links for downloading AOL Press 2.0, the User's Guide, and more.

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Have you been seeing this when you tried to Save?
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SAVE FAILED!
FORBIDDEN!
The requested URL cannot be accessed by this server!
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   Welcome to the Club. AOL has modified its servers to no longer accept the 'http put' protocol that Press uses to Save.
   That means that editing the page and clicking Save will result in the error messages above.
    The AOL Techs are not programmed to deal with this problem.
    The only thing they will say is that AOL Press 2.0 is no longer supported, you are on your own.

This page is here to help out with Saving your changes Manually now that AOL and AOLPress aren't talking to each other. AOL Press is still a great Web Editor. It is just that saving the changes is a bit trickier...
It ain't pretty, but it will get you going.
If there is something missing, or not clear, Mail Me

    Here is what you should know:
    A) It isn't your fault. It is not something you are doing wrong.
    B) It isn't a problem (per se) with AOL Press 2.0 either. Press still works. It still edits. AOL just won't let it Save.
    C) Don't panic !!! There is another way to Save and you don't have to know any HTML.
         You will, however need good file management skills. A good computer geek should have those anyway.

    The bad news is you have to learn to walk before you learn to run. Be patient.
    The good news is that this is very basic stuff that every computer user should know (or learn) how to do.

What to do:

READ THIS FIRST:    Make a Folder on your hard drive and save your hard won web files there so you can edit and save and then upload them to AOL's FTP space where your web pages really live.
DOING THIS BEFORE EDITING MAKES LIFE MUCH EASIER!!!
    Some people recommend storing them in C:\aolpress. I prefer to make a Folder on the C drive called web_page. That way it is easier to find them to edit and save and upload later. If you use more than one screename for hosting, it is best to have a Folder for each Screename (I use all 7 of the  AOL account screenames for web hosting) and then separate folders within each Screename Folder for each Site, then Folders within them for each page on the site. Example: C:\web_page\gengvall\index.html. That way when it is time to back up to CD, it is only necessary to click on the C:\web_page Folder and my entire AOL Web Presence is backed up. AOL could disappear tomorrow, and I could re-publish on another host as soon as I could pop the CD into the drive.

How to make a new Folder in Windows:
Move cursor to Taskbar and click on Start. Click on Programs.
Click on Windows Explorer (it is inside Accessories in Windows ME).
Move cursor over (C:) so it is highlighted.
Then click on File, click on New, slide over and click on Folder.
Where New Folder shows up on the right side, type a name for the Folder.
    (I use 'web_page'.)
Hit Enter.

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The Manual Save process for AOL Press 2.0:
Each of these steps is explained in detail farther down the page.
    Step 1. Edit the page in AOL Press.
    Step 2. Click 'Save As' instead of  'Save'.
    Step 3. Choose C drive, and save the file to a location you can find again,
                preferably one you have made for this purpose.
    Step 4. Open AOL, log on, go to your FTP space.
    Step 5. Upload all files modified to the AOL FTP space.

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    Step 1. Edit the page in AOL Press.

    This should be easy. Do what you have done all along. Start AOL, Sign On, then start AOLPress, then access your Page with Press. The easiest way to do this is to type (or Copy and Paste) the URL for the Page on the 'Location:' in AOL Press. It is in the same place as the Browser line in AOL.
   Edit the page. If this is your first time going thru this manual Save process. don't mess with any pictures. It is possible to edit pictures later, once you are more familiar with the process. Later on, you will do this all off line and upload later. You're gonna love it.

    Step 2. Click 'Save As' instead of  'Save'.

  We are going to write the file to the hard drive of the computer. This is what a good webmaster should be doing anyway. In AOL Press, Click on File, click on Save As.
   **Note: The difference between Save and Save As: 'Save' tells the computer "I'm done making changes. Save the changes to this file and put it back where you found it using the same filename". 'Save As' tells the computer: "Don't change the file that I opened. Save all the changes but make a new file and put it in a new place." 'Save' no longer works in AOL Press 2.0 if the file was opened from the web, since AOL will no longer accept the Upload back to the Web. 'Save' works just fine if the file was opened from the hard drive. Opening the web page from the web, then editing it, only 'Save As' will allow it to be Saved to the hard drive on the computer and uploaded manually.

    Step 3. Choose C drive,

    Unfortunately, there are many ways to do this. Probably the best way is to go to the bottom of the window and open the 'Drives/Sites' line and scroll to the C:. Then click on it. Then use the other windows to select the Folder you made for this. Then name the file. It is best to use the same name as you will use in the FTP space. It is not critical, just easier.

    Just in case the above instruction was too brief, here is the step-by-step:
    In AOL Press, Click on 'File'.
    Click on 'Save As'.
    This gives the "Save As' dialog box.
    The top white line is 'Page Location'
    It should show your URL, 'http://members.aol.com/yourscreename/pagename.html'
   (Only because the Save & Save As functions default to the last thing they saw,
    in this case the URL of the page when it was opened from the FTP space.)
    On the left side of the Dialog Box is a box that says 'Files:' which lists all the files uploaded to your AOL FTP space.
    To the right of that is a box labelled 'Directory:'
    It should show 'your screen name' on the top line and in the bigger box '..' and 'private'
   
    At the bottom of the 'Save As' Dialog Box is the 'Drives / Sites:' which should show that you last tried to Save to
    'http://members.aol.com/'
    Click on the down arrow (black triangle) on the right of the 'Drives/Sites' line to bring up the Pull Down Menu of Drives and Sites.
    Use the Scroll Bar (click on it, hold the button down to drag it up or down) to find 'C:\'
    Click on 'C:\' to Highlight it, then click again to select it.

    Now all the content in all the boxes changes.
    In the 'Directory:' box use the Scroll Bar to select the Directory (Folder) where you have stored your web page files.
    Click 'Save'
    Now the file is stored on the hard drive. Remember where it is and what it is called for the next step.
   Writing it down helps.

    Step 4. Open AOL, log on, go to your FTP space.

    This is a great step. Everyone who has a page on AOL should know how to access and work in their FTP space.

    Go to your FTP Space:
Sign On to AOL if you aren't already.You must be Signed On to the Screename that will host the Page for the Upload to work. You cannot Upload to a Screename other than the one with which you are currently Signed On. On the Browser line at the top of your AOL window, type keyword < myftpspace >. Then click 'Go'. In the next window, (It also  sometimes coughs up a Join Hometown/ AOL Hometown Window . Just ignore that.), click on the second icon down: 'See My FTP Space'. This gives a window that lists all the files that you have uploaded to the AOL Server. This is your real web site.

    Step 5. Upload all files modified to the AOL FTP space.
    Okay, we are at our FTP space. Along the bottom of the window are 7 icons for various functions.

Click on the middle icon: 'Upload'

This pops up the Remote Filename dialog box. Under 'Remote Filename', type the filename exactly as it needs to appear in the FTP space. The filename typed here must match all links and code that refer to it. It is case sensitive. Select 'ASCII (Text documents)'. Click 'Continue'.

That brings up a dialog box called 'Upload File'. The options are 'Send File' and 'Select File'. Choose 'Select File'; This opens a standard Windows Open File dialog box. It defaults to the America Online Download folder. Navigate to the directory that has the file Saved in the Editing step above. Select the File. Double clicking it brings you back to the 'Upload File' dialog with the filename and path already entered on the 'File:' line. CLick 'Send' and the file will be uploaded to the FTP space.

This pops up a window that shows the Upload process.

**Note: The file selected for Upload need not have the same name that it will have in the FTP space. During the Upload process it will be renamed whatever was written in the Remote Filename dialog box.

Your changes are now on the site.

The changes are there even if you go to the page and it looks like the old one. If you go to it and it looks like the old one, your computer is reading the version it has stored in its cache, not the newly changed version. Right click it and click on 'Refresh'.

If you add a new picture to the page, the picture file will also need to be uploaded, separately, using the same procedure.

Other FTP stuff:     Your AOL FTP Space. Learn it. Love it. The only way to gain control of your web space is to learn to control your FTP space. AOL is stingy. Deleting a file in AOLPress 2.0 does not delete it in AOL. If you make a lot of changes and use Press to delete files, the files remain in the AOL FTP space. All of a sudden you are up against the 2 meg limit, but might have less than a meg actually being used by the page. The only way to truly delete a file is to use the Utility icon in the AOL FTP space.

    While we're on the subject:
    It is a really good idea to set up a Folder in Favorite Places in AOL for Web Stuff. It is a great way to store shortcuts to web info and places that you use a lot. When you get to your FTP space, click on the red Heart (or Check Mark, I can't tell ... ) at the top right of the window to save it in Favorite Places. Same thing with the AOLPress 2.0 Message Board. Any really great posts from the Board can be saved here too.

   The new 'Permission Denied' glitch: Haven't seen this since mid-summer 2002, but: If you do all of the above, and try to upload a modified file to a filename that already exists in the FTP space, AOL now (as of early April 2002) prevents you from overwriting an existing file. The safest work-around is to Upload the file using a slightly different name. I use filenameNEW.whatever. Some people have been using an .htm extension instead of .html to get the new file into the FTP space. After the new file is successfully Uploaded they use the Utilities option to delete the old file, then use the Utilities option to Rename the new file with the old name. Clunky, but effective.

A second option is to DELETE an existing file in the FTP space before overwriting it with a modified version. The downside of this is you lose the page if AOL still is not in the mood to allow an Upload. Go back thru Step 5 above to Upload the File.

    There is a interesting wrinkle: Adding pictures with AOL Press, it tends to insert part of the path (from the hard drive) as part of the file name. This way it can find the file to display in the AOL Press while editing on the hard drive. Unfortunately, the pictures don't then appear on the web page even after they are uploaded. It is a simple matter to go back in to AOL Press and select 'Tools' and 'Show HTML', and edit out the Path part of the File Name so only the File Name is there. Then the pictures show up on the page.

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Note: After using Save As the first time, AOL Press can be used off line to open page from the hard drive. In Press, under File click on Open Recent and the top option should be C:\web_page\pagename.html. Edit it, then use Save (not Save As) to Save the changes to the hard drive and upload later.
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Stuff I wish everyone knew about AOL Press.
   AOL Press 2.0 is a web editor. As Windoze is to DOS, so is AOL Press to HTML. We type something in Press, and little invisible hard working macros (miniature computer programs) go to work writing what we want to do in HTML. That is what Press does. Nothing more. It works completely independently of AOL.

Stuff I wish everyone knew about their web pages:
   1. They ain't in AOL Press. They are not in Publish 123 either. They are 'in' computers that belong to AOL.
       AOL Press 2.0 is just an Editor used to write and modify them.
   2. AOL Press 2.0 is not the only Editor that can be used to edit pages. HTML may be edited using Notepad or Wordpad. Notepad and Wordpad are low level, bare bones, word processors (actually, text editors) found in almost everyone's computers. Click Start, then Programs, then Accessories.
   3. HTML is not the Boogeyman. It is very straight forward code to learn. Especially with Press being such an easy to use 'point-and-click' Editor, Click on Tools, Click on 'Show HTML' and take a look. This is the easiest way to learn HTML. Use the 'point-and-click. version to do something, then go look at the code that made it happen.

Stuff I wish everyone knew about the AOL Message Boards:
   1. The folks that read the Board and help out with advice are all volunteers. They are people who faced the same struggles with AOL Press 2.0 that everyone else does. They are people who are investing their time to give something back. Go easy on them. They don't have to do it and nobody pays them to listen to the rants.
   2. It is a good idea to read the Board (List All Posts) and go back a few days and see how many times the question you want to ask has already been answered.
   3. Most of the folks on the Board know how to access your FTP space, download the raw code for your page, and see where the hiccup is.But it is hard for them to know where to start if they get to the FTP space and there are 20 pages there they need to sift thru. Help them help by always providing the URL for the page you're having problems with.

Stuff every Webmaster should know:
    First and foremost - SAVE A COPY OF THE AOLPRESS DOWNLOAD !!!
    Yes, it is too big to fit on a floppy. Yes, it is just a tad too big to host on an AOL page, since it is just over 3 meg.
    SAVE a copy on the hard drive. Back it up to tape or ZIP disk or CD.
    Stuff happens and when it does it will be very nice to have a backup to re-install AOL Press 2.0

    SAVE YOUR STUFF: Practice good file management. Make a Folder on your hard drive and save your hard won web files there so you can edit and save and then upload them to AOL's FTP space where your web pages really live.
    I make a Folder on the C drive called web_page. That way it is easier to find them to edit and save. It is best to have a Folder for each Screename (I use all 7 of the  AOL account screenames for web hosting) and then separate folders within each Screename Folder for each Site, then Folders within them for each page on the site. That way when it is time to back up to CD, it is only necessary to click on the C:\web_page Folder and my entire AOL Web Presence is backed up. I keep a copy of the AOL Press 2.0 download there also, and it gets burned onto every backup CD.

THE ELUSIVE AOLPRESS 2.0 DOWNLOAD:
    For a while, AOL hosted a site for downloading AOL Press. Going there now yields a dialogue box that says:
    "There are no released files." As of June 19, 2001, I found a site for downloads: http://www.daviestrek.com/software/aolpress/
    I don't know how long it will last, but there it is for now.
   Another place to download is from Bob Driver's AOL Press 2.0 page: http://www.bullseyecrosshairs.com/aolpress/aolpress.htm It is also a great place to find tutorials on how to make the best use of AOL Press 2.0.

It's a real good idea to have a copy of the AOL Press 2.0 User's Guide. As of 27 February 2002 it is still available for download at: aol://4401:14711:1957154

Authored and hosted by Gary Engvall