While I am personally not using Word 2010, I am sure that there are many bloggers who already relocated to this text editor platform. So, the question for those who use it: do you know that it is possible to write and publish a blog post using the same application you are using for anything else?
Device Magazine provides detailed review of this new Word feature I would like to present today.
It makes perfect sense that Microsoft should want their users to employ Word for all word processing tasks, not just the ones that take place on documents stored on their PC or laptop.
Microsoft have become more and more aware of the wider uses for their Office applications in recent years, and have even released an online version of Office which is free to use for domestic users and offers the ability to save work in the cloud.
Writing a blog post with Word 2010 is nothing more but an extension of this. You are probably thinking "so I can write a blog with Word, but I can do that anyway and paste it in" but this method allows you to connect Word directly to the blog software, removing the need for any desktop or browser based blog editors like Scribefire, and dispensing with any problems with Word formatting causing problems with the display of your blog post.
Write a Blog Post with Word 2010
You can easily create a new Word document for your post and have it ready to publish to your blog in minutes. There are several blog platforms supported by Word 2010:
- Windows Live Spaces
- Blogger
- SharePoint blog
- Community Server
- TypePad
- WordPress
…and if you don’t use any of these, you can enter manual configuration options by choosing “Other”.
To set this up, create a new document in Word 2010 (File > New) and choose Blog post under Available Templates.
You will then be prompted to setup an account – here you should choose from one of the options as listed above. For instance, if you're using a WordPress blog, you will be prompted to enter the Blog Post URL for the XMLRPC.php script that manages links from third party apps like Word. You will see something like this:
http://<Enter your blog URL here>/xmlrpc.php
If you use a private WordPress blog, simply enter the URL as instructed, and then add your username and password. Many WordPress users have blogs hosted at www.wordpress.com – they should enter
http://<blog account name>.wordpress.com/xmlrpc.php
For Blogger and TypePad accounts you need only enter your username and password, while SharePoint blogs require just the URL. Windows Live Spaces blogs require the space name and your “secret word”, while Community Server requires a special URL similar to that shown above (to the “metablog.ashx” script) as well as a username and password. Once you have configured the account for your blog, you’re ready to start posting!
Publish Your Blog with Word 2010
With your blog linked up to Word, you can then proceed to write a new post. Using the Blog Post and Insert tabs, you can visit the Home page, choose a Category for your blog, apply text formatting (if supported by your blog) and insert Tables, Pictures and Clip Art, Hyperlinks and other media options.
A few useful blog platform tools are missing, however – there is now way, for example, to split your post so that only a small portion of it appears on your blog’s home page. This would need to be added manually in your blog admin screen. Similarly, tags and labels cannot be added, but other than this, you can use Word as a great alternative to tools like Scribefire or your blogs own admin screen.
One word of warning: when your blog account username and password are used by from Word, they may not be encrypted. This will be down to the authentication method used by your blogging platform, so make sure you make regular backups of your blog and that you don’t employ a username and password that you might also use for other purposes.
