To safely paste Word document content, you have two choices.

Paste the Word content into the HTML view of the WordPress Text Editor.

Just copy and paste. Word formatting code will not be pulled into the HTML view of the WordPress text editor.

Paste the Word content into the Visual view of the WordPress Text Editor with the “Paste from Word” toolbar Button.

In the Visual view of the WordPress text editor, locate the toolbar button panel just above the area where you type. You should see two rows of buttons.

NOTE: If you see only one row of buttons, click the Show/Hide Kitchen Sink button () near the end of row one to expand the toolbar panel.

In the second row of buttons, locate the Paste from Word button ().

Toobar in Visual Editing Mode (click to enlarge)

Click the Paste from Word button to open a lightbox that displays a clipboard area where you can paste your content. Paste in the content and click Insert.

Paste from Word dialog box (click to enlarge)

That’s it. The content and formatting will carry over, so if your Word document was formatted nicely (with lists formatted properly as lists, and headings formatted properly as headings, etc.), you shouldn’t need to clean it up at all.

BONUS ROUND: How to Paste Content as Plain Text into WordPress

Sometimes you want to paste copy from a document (Word or otherwise) but NOT include the formatting. In order to import text only and strip out all formatting, follow the instructions above, but use the Paste as Plain Text toolbar button () instead. This button is located right next to the Paste from Word button.
Happy editing!

Creating Links in the Visual Mode of the Text Editor

If you are editing in Visual Mode, type in the text that you want to hyperlink. Highlight that text with your cursor and notice that the Insert/edit Link toolbar button becomes activated.

Insert/edit Link Toolbar Button in Visual Editing Mode

Click the Insert/edit Link button. A dialog box opens where you can create your link.

Add your link

Manually add a link: You can type in a Web address (URL) and Title (to describe the link) under Enter the destination URL and click the blue Add Link button to add a link to any URL on the Web.

Link to existing content on your site: You can search for and select anything you have already published on your site in the Or link to existing content section of the dialog box. (If you do not see a listing of your pages in the dialog box, click the gray Or link to existing content link to expand the section.)

TIP: you can check the Open link in a new window/tab checkbox to open the link in a – you guessed it – new tab or window.

Creating Links in the HTML Mode of the Text Editor

If you are editing in Visual Mode, type in the text that you want to hyperlink. Highlight that text with your cursor and click the link toolbar button. The Insert/edit link dialog box opens. The process is the same as in the Creating Links in the Visual Mode of the Text Editor section.

Hand-coding a Hyperlink

If you find that you need to type a hyperlink directly into a page, post, widget, or whatever the case may be, you can use this code snippet. Type it directly into the spot where you want your link to go.

<a title="My Link that I Coded All By Myself" href="http://mysite.com">My link text</a>

Replace the contents of the HREF attribute with the destination link, replace the contents of the TITLE attribute with a description of your link, and replace My link text with your own link text.Want to open the link in a new window?

<a title="My Link that I Coded All By Myself" href="http://mysite.com" target="_blank">My link text</a>

Introducing the Magic Blue Button

There are Magic Blue Buttons all over your Dashboard. Leave the screen without clicking them, and you will probably lose your edits (unless you have saved a draft of your work).

Examples:

Click Publish to publish a new page or post.

Click Update to publish edits to a page or post.

Many widgets have settings you must save.

Your WordPress Dashboard lives right on your Web server, which means you can log in from any computer with an Internet connection to work on your site.

Your login page is http://yourwebsite.com/wp-login.php, where yourwebsite.com is your domain name.

TIP: If you think you won’t remember this address, bookmark it in your browser. But you will find that as you continue to develop your site, it will become second nature to type in that address.

Your WordPress Login Screen

This login screen will take you to your Dashboard. Once in your Dashboard, you can easily toggle back and forth between it and the “front end” (public view) of your Web site. Just click the Web site name in the top black menu bar.

Visit the Front End of Your Site

Adding pictures to your WordPress site is easy! You can add pictures in two places within your Dashboard:

1. Through the Media Library
2. While you are editing a page or post

The process is basically the same; when you add to the Media Library, you are saving the image for future use, not immediately attaching (associating) it to a specific article. When you add while editing a page, the image is attached to that page.

Adding an Image to the Media Library

1. Go to Media>>Add New in the left-hand vertical menu of your Dashboard.
2. Find the image on your machine you want to add, and drag it into the dotted box with your mouse.

Adding an Image to the Media Library (click to enlarge)

Now the image is saved to your Web site, and you can use it wherever you want in the future.

Adding an Image to a Page or Post

Let’s assume you are adding the image you just put into your Media Library.

1. Start editing a page or post. Place your cursor where you want the image to be inserted and then click the Add Media button, located just above the text editor.
   

   Add Media

2. The Insert Media dialog box will open. In the Media Library tab, find the image you want to add and click on it to select it.
3. Complete the details of the image before you insert it:
   • Title: The title tag for the image (not visible to the user; required)
   • Caption: Fill this in if you want text to appear below your image (visible to the user; optional)
   • Alt Text: Fill this in with a short description of your image; it will display for users who cannot view images in their browsers, and it will help search engine optimization (optional).
   • Description: A long description of the image (not visible; helps search engines and users who can’t view images; optional).
   • Alignment: Left, center, right, or none.
   • Link To: Choices are Media File (the image is linked to itself – if you click the image it will open that image file in a browser window); Custom URL (Type in any Web address); Attachment Page (clicking the image will open a page that contains the image; I never use this option); or None.
   • Size: WordPress automatically makes some resized versions of images you upload. I like to resize my photos before uploading, but you can choose any of the pre-made image sizes.
4. Click Insert Media.

Insert Media Dialog Box (click to enlarge)

Adding a Brand New image to your Page

If you were adding a brand new image (not already in your Media Library), you would choose the Upload Files tab instead of the Media Library tab, and then you would follow the directions in the Adding an Image to the Media Library section above.

Adding documents (PDFs, PowerPoint slides, Word docs, etc) to your WordPress site is easy! You can add documents in two places within your Dashboard:

1. Through the Media Library
2. While you are editing a page or post

The process is basically the same; when you add to the Media Library, you are saving the document for future use, not immediately attaching (associating) it to a specific article. When you add while editing a page, the document is attached to that page.

Adding a Document to the Media Library

1. Go to Media>>Add New in the left-hand vertical menu of your Dashboard.
2. Find the document on your machine you want to add, and drag it into the dotted box with your mouse.

(Yes, yes…this is my screenshot from the Adding an Image tutorial; it’s the same task!)

Adding an Image to the Media Library (click to enlarge)

Now the document is saved to your Web site, and you can use it wherever you want in the future.

Adding a Document to a Page or Post

Let’s assume you are adding the document you just put into your Media Library. You are going to be adding a text link that users can click on to view or download the document.

1. Start editing a page or post. Place your cursor where you want the document link to be inserted and then click the Add Media button, located just above the text editor.
   

   Add Media

2. The Insert Media dialog box will open. In the Media Library tab, find the document you want to add and click on it to select it.
3. Here is where the task of adding a document differs from adding an image. In the media details, you need to be mindful of two fields:
   • Title: The title text you fill in here will be the link text for your document.
   • Link To: Make sure you choose Media File. This way, when users click your link, the document will open.
4. Click Insert Media. The new text link will appear in your page.

Insert Document (click to enlarge)

The text link that appears links to your document.

Adding a Brand New Document to your Page

If you were adding a brand new document (not already in your Media Library), you would choose the Upload Files tab instead of the Media Library tab, and then you would follow the directions in the Adding a document to the Media Library section above.

NOTE: When you publish a post, it will be added to your blog page automatically. You would need to update a custom menu ONLY if you wanted to include a new post specifically as a menu link somewhere, but it does not affect the updating of a blog feed in general.

Creating a Custom Menu

1. Go to Appearance>>Menus.
2. In the main panel, click the tab with the + sign. Give the menu a name and click the blue Save button.
3. Add menu items to your new menu. you can add pages, posts, archives, custom posts, and even custom links that point anywhere on the Web.

   To the left of the main panel, you will see different boxes such as Pages, Posts, and Custom Links.

   For pages, posts archives, and custom posts: Check the box next to the menu item you want to add and click Add to Menu. The new item will be added to the last position of the menu.

   For Custom Links: Type in the URL of the destination address, and type in a menu label. Then click Add to Menu. The new item will be added to the last position of the menu.

   

   Add Different Kinds of Menu Items

4. If you want to reposition the menu item, mouse over it. The cursor will become a cross hair, indicating that you can drag and drop it. Drag it into the order you want. Nudge it a little to the left to indent it. this will create a dropdown menu (provided your theme has been set up to show dropdowns). If dropdown styles are not in your theme, the nested menu item will probably show as an indented list item.
5. Click the blue Save Menu button.

Don’t see the menu item you want to add?
Sometimes you will not see everything on a Dashboard view. If, for example, you want to add a post to your menu, but you don’t see Posts as an option, click the grey Screen Options tab at the top of the screen. Here you can show or hide various elements on the screen.

Show and Hide elements of your Dashboard in the Screen Options (click to enlarge)

Setting up your Primary and Top Menu with Theme Locations

The Theme Locations panel shows you which areas of your theme have been set up specifically to hold a custom menu. this is typically yourmain header menu and sometimes a top menu that goes across the whole top of the screen.

You will create a custom menu and then choose to add it to each theme location by selecting it in the pulldown menu.

Assign a Menu to Your Primary Menu Area via Theme Locations

Editing and Deleting Menu Items

To reorder a menu: If you want to reposition a menu item, mouse over it. The cursor will become a cross hair, indicating that you can drag and drop it. Drag it into the order you want.

To make a dropdown menu: Nudge yourmenu item a little to the left to indent it. this will create a dropdown menu (provided your theme has been set up to show dropdowns). If dropdown styles are not in your theme, the nested menu item will probably show as an indented list item.

To edit a menu label: Click the grey triangle on the menu item to expand it and change the text in the Navigation Label box. this will not change the title of that page, only the menu text. This is useful if you have a very long page title that you do not want showing in full in a menu.

To delete a menu item from a menu: Click the grey triangle on the menu item to expand it and click the red Delete link. Save the menu.

Expanding and Editing a Menu Item

Opening a Menu Item in a New Window

You can check the Open in a New Tab/Window checkbox inside any menu item to have it open in a new window. this is useful when you have links to other Web sites in your menu, and you don’t want visitors to be directed away from your site.

If you do not see this option in the Menu workspace, click Screen Options at the top of the dashboard screen and select its checkbox.

Using WP Custom Nav Widgets

You can create as many custom menus as you want and use them in widget areas, such as the sidebar.

More Information

General information on managing menus can be found in the WordPress Codex:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Appearance_Menus_SubPanel

After generating the embed code on YouTube (or whatever site), you will paste that code into a Text widget or into the HTML View of the page or posts’s Text Editor. (DO NOT paste embed code in the Text Editor’s Visual View – WordPress will not understand that you are adding code, and you will make a mess. )

Finding YouTube Embed Code:

Generating YouTube Embed Code (Click to Enlarge)

Finding Vimeo Embed Code:

Go to the page where the video lives and click the Share button in the top right corner of the video.

Vimeo Share Button

A lightbox will open where you can customize and copy your embed code.

You will mouse over the post title and look for the URL that pops up in your browser’s information bar toward the bottom of the screen. The number you see in that URL is your ID number. This works for any kind of page, post, or custom post type.

Find the Post ID