How to publish a document as a web page

A lot of documents end up needing a public address. A hiring brief for a role you’re advertising, a set of terms for a small business, application guidelines for a grant, a project overview for partners. The text is already written in Word or a Markdown editor, and the obvious options are emailing it as an attachment or rebuilding it as a page on a website.

This guide covers how people usually get a finished document onto the web, then walks through publishing one from Fabric: bringing the file in, creating the publish link, deciding whether it should appear in search results, and putting it on your own domain if you have one.

How people usually publish a document online

Google Docs has a Publish to the web option, and for a document already in Google Docs it’s a common answer. People coming from Word have to convert the file first, and the published page sits on a Google URL, which some organizations would rather not send to the public.

Notion public pages are the other popular route. They look clean and update as you edit. Getting a Word document in means importing and checking the formatting, and the page then lives in Notion rather than with the rest of your files.

Exporting a PDF and hosting it somewhere is the most portable option but turns every change into a new export and upload. Copying the text into a website builder such as WordPress or Squarespace gives the most control over presentation, at the cost of maintaining two versions of the same document, one in the editor and one on the site.

Step 1: Bring the document into Fabric

Drag the file into the Fabric web or desktop app, paste it, or click Upload a file. Fabric handles DOCX, TXT, Markdown, HTML and JSON documents. If you’re starting from scratch rather than from a file, write it directly in Fabric’s notes and docs editor instead.

Before publishing, it’s worth a final pass. The AI assistant can edit documents directly, showing each change for you to accept or reject, so you can ask it to tighten an introduction or check that dates are consistent without losing control of the wording.

If colleagues need to review it first, share the document with commenter permission. They can highlight text and add comments, and you mark each comment completed as you work through them. Collaboration covers the roles available.

Step 2: Create a publish link

Open the document or select it, click Share to open the share modal, open the Publish tab and click Create link. Publishing in Fabric is on every plan. Visitors can view the document, and download the file if you allow it; they can’t edit or comment.

Give the link a name that tells you where it’s used, such as “Careers page” or “Partner email”. You can make as many publish links for one document as you need, each with separate settings, which helps if one copy is public and another goes to a smaller group.

Step 3: Decide whether search engines should find it

Allow indexing by search engines is the setting that matters most for a public web page. Turn it on if you want the document to be found on Google, for example a published policy or a guide for customers. Leave it off for anything that should reach only the people you send it to. How to stop search engines indexing a shared file explains the trade-off.

Allow downloads decides whether visitors can save the original file, which is useful when someone needs the DOCX to fill in or print. Allow visitors to copy it to their Fabric lets Fabric users keep their own copy in their library.

To see whether the page is being read, turn on engagement analytics. Link analytics are on the Pro and Team plans and show visits over time, with the date, location and device of each. For a document that should stay private, password protection is also on Pro and Team.

Step 4: Put it on your own domain

Custom domains are on the Pro plan. In the publishing screen, open the domain selector, which shows fabric.so by default, and choose Add custom domain. Enter the domain, or choose to use a subdomain such as docs.yourcompany.com, and click Next. Fabric warns that any existing site at that domain will be replaced, which is why a subdomain is usually the safer choice; click Continue.

Fabric then shows the CNAME records to add at your DNS provider. Add them, tick the box to confirm, and click Next. Wait 15 minutes and click Validate. If it fails, wait longer, as DNS can take up to 24 hours to propagate. Once validated, the domain appears in the selector when you create a publish link. How to share files on your own domain has more on the setup.

Step 5: Edit it in place

Editing the source in Fabric updates the published version, so corrections go live at the same URL with no re-export. If the document grows into several pages, such as a handbook with separate sections, put them in a folder and publish the folder, which appears as a web page containing every document inside. How to turn a folder into a website covers that approach.

Frequently asked questions

How do I turn a Word document into a web page?

Upload the DOCX to Fabric, click Share, open the Publish tab and click Create link. The document is then available at that link in any browser.

Can I publish a Markdown or HTML file as a web page?

Yes. Fabric handles Markdown and HTML documents as well as DOCX and TXT, and they publish the same way.

Is publishing a document free?

Yes, publishing is on the free plan, including the download option. Analytics and password protection need Pro or Team, and custom domains need Pro. See pricing for the full comparison.

Will the web page update when I change the document?

Yes. Editing the source in Fabric updates the published version, and the link stays the same.

Can I stop a published document appearing on Google?

Yes. Leave Allow indexing by search engines turned off when you create the publish link.

Can I publish a document on my own website address?

Yes, on the Pro plan. Add a custom domain or subdomain from the domain selector in the publishing screen, set the CNAME records, then validate.

Can readers comment on a published document?

No. Published links are view and download only. To collect comments, share the document with commenter permission instead.

Can visitors download the original file?

Only if you turn on Allow downloads for that link. You can set it differently on each publish link.