You fire up Microsoft Word and start writing.

Wait - Don't Do It!

Why? Because after you write your manifesto and spend all that time formatting it how you want it, you'll be in for a nasty surprise when you try to cut and paste it into your WordPress blog.

You WILL nuke your blog!

It's fine to write your blog post in MS Word, especially since it's much easier to read than if you used a plain text editor. But MS Word has an extensive set of XML tags that represents all of the content and formatting in your Word document.

If you cut and paste your blog post directly from MS Word into your WordPress visual post editor, it will generate something like this behind the scenes.

Microsoft Word Styling XML Codes

OK, so what will happen?

These XML codes will break style elements on your blog and ruin the look of it when viewing this post. After you spent all that work creating the perfect layout for your blog and crafting the perfect blog post, why risk ruining it all?

The Solution

There are three very simple solutions to avoid blowing up your blog.

#1: Write your post in MS Word, then copy and paste it into a plain text editor, such as Notepad, then copy and paste the Notepad version into your WordPress editor.

Sure, there are 3 steps here but how long does it take to copy and paste, really?

Then you format the subheadings and fonts to your liking, hit publish and voila!

Picture perfect blog post with no issues!

#2: Use the "Paste from Word" button that you'll find in your WordPress Visual Post Editor.

Paste from Word Button in WordPress

Click this button just once to bring up the following editing box.

Copy and paste your text from MS Word into this pop up box. Click Insert.

Wordpress Paste From Word Editor

Now you'll see that copy appear in The WordPress Visual Post Editor.

The WordPress Visual Post Editor

#3: Publish your blog post direct from MS Word 2007. Yes, it seems after years of having people blowing up their blogs, there's a fix direct from Microsoft!

First, open up MS Word 2007 and click New from the Office icon in the upper left corner. Instead of choosing Blank Document, choose New Blog Post.

New MS Word Blog Post

Next you'll be asked to register your blog so input your WordPress blog information as promted. This MS Word option also supports other blogging platforms but here at Expand2Web we highly recommend WordPress.

Once registered, start typing your post. The MS Word 2007 editor has the same essential look as when you create a blank document but notice the Blog Post tab where the Publish button is located.

MS Word Blog Post Editor

How To Check Your Blog Post HTML

Prior to publishing your blog post, click the button in your WordPress blog post editing screen that is labeled HTML.

You'll notice right away that all your formatting is gone. Don't panic…it's still there in the Visual Editor. But here in HTML is where you should look for those funky XML codes from the earlier photo.

You should see your basic formatting HTML codes but if there's anything that looks suspicious, delete it.

Switch back to the Visual Editor to check your formatting and then click Publish.

Now you can use Microsoft Word and WordPress together Without Nuking Your Blog!

Your only job now is to create quality content for your readers.