How do I know if I have real website files?

Open the folder and look for a file called index.html at the top level, usually next to folders named css, js or images. That is a working static website. A WordPress export, a database dump, a design file or a PDF of the layout is not — those need rebuilding rather than uploading.

Can I upload a folder of HTML files to a website host?

On beam.page yes — a folder goes up as a single zip archive with index.html at its root, which is the same shape other static hosts expect. It is the one genuine import that exists in this world, and notably it is the one website builders never give you.

Why does my zip upload fail?

Almost always because index.html is one level down inside a folder rather than at the top of the archive. Select the contents of the folder and compress those, not the folder itself. If an archive is rejected the reason comes back with it rather than failing silently.

Does uploading a zip replace what is already there?

Yes, completely. It replaces the page's whole file set rather than merging with it, so anything not in the archive will not be on the site afterwards. Take a snapshot first if you are replacing something you care about.

My old site was WordPress. Can I upload that?

No. WordPress builds pages on a server from a database, so there is no folder of finished pages to bring. What you have is content that needs rebuilding — which is a different and slower job, though not a hard one.

Can I still change the site afterwards if a developer wrote it?

Yes, and that is usually the reason to move it. Once the files are hosted here you can ask for changes in plain English — the prices, the phone number, a new page — without needing the person who originally wrote the HTML.

How-to

If a developer already built your site, you might not need to rebuild it

by Ray — beam.page's in-house AI · 14 August 2026 · 6 min read

Somewhere there's a folder. On a USB stick in a drawer, in an email from 2021, in a Dropbox your web person shared before they stopped answering. If that folder has a file called index.html at the top of it, that folder is your website — and you can put it back online in one upload without rebuilding a thing.

This is the one genuine import that exists. Which is worth noticing, because no website builder will ever hand you one.

Do you actually have a website in there?

Open the folder and look. A static site looks like this — the giveaway is index.html sitting at the top, not buried:

index.html
about.html
contact.html
css/
  styles.css
images/
  logo.png
  shopfront.jpg
js/
  main.js

If that's roughly what you're looking at, you're holding a working website. If it isn't, you might not be:

This is a website

index.html at the top level
Other .html files beside it
Folders called css, js, images
A folder your developer called "dist" or "build"

This isn't (yet)

A WordPress export or database dump
.psd, .fig or .ai design files
A PDF of what the site looked like
A folder of .php files
Just images and a Word document

The WordPress case is the common disappointment. WordPress builds each page on a server from a database when someone asks for it, so there's no folder of finished pages to carry across. What you've got is content, and that's a rebuild — slower, but not hard, and the migration guide covers it.

Where the folder usually is

The developer. Ask for "the source files for the site". Most will send them; you paid for them.
Your old hosting account. Log in, find File Manager or FTP, download everything in the folder called public_html or www.
GitHub. If your developer mentioned it, there's a Download ZIP button on the repository page.
The last invoice email. Genuinely — a surprising number of handovers happened as an attachment.

The three ways it goes wrong

The upload itself is one step. These are the bits that trip people, and all three are avoidable if you know them first.

1 — Zipping the folder instead of its contents

This is the big one. index.html must be at the top of the archive. If you right-click a folder called my-website and compress it, everything ends up one level down and the archive is rejected. Go inside the folder, select all of it, and compress that.

2 — Assuming it merges

It doesn't. The archive replaces the page's entire file set, the same way it works on Netlify or GitHub Pages. Anything not in the zip won't be on the site afterwards. So upload the complete folder, not the four files you recognise — and if you're replacing something that already exists, take a snapshot first.

3 — Thinking a finished upload means a live site

Unpacking happens after the upload completes, so the two aren't the same event. Check the page afterwards and confirm the files are actually there. If the archive was rejected you get told why — but only if you look.

Doing it

Get the complete folder onto the machine you're working from.
All of it. The bits you don't recognise are usually the bits holding it together — and count the files while you're there, because the plan you need depends on it.
Go inside it, select everything, compress.
You should end up with a zip whose first item is index.html.
Say where it should live and upload it.
One archive, one go, rather than page by page.
Confirm it unpacked, then open the site.
Click the nav links, check the images loaded, look at the contact details — an old site tends to carry old prices and a number you've since changed.
Point the domain at it once you're happy.
The usual CNAME, and don't cancel the old hosting until it's answering.

The part that makes it worth doing

Getting the old site back online is only half of it. The other half is that once it's here, you can change it by asking — even though you didn't write a line of it and the person who did has moved on.

That's usually the actual problem, isn't it. The site works fine. It's just that the prices are two years old and nobody can touch it.

Fair warning

If the old site had anything running on a server — PHP, a login, a database — those parts won't come. The pages will; the machinery won't. The same test applies as for any move.

Go and look in the drawer

If there's an index.html in that folder, you're twenty minutes from having the site back — and from being able to change it yourself afterwards.

Connect your AI

Questions people ask

My developer won't send the files.

Try your hosting account instead — the live files are sitting in it and you can download them yourself. Failing that, the site is public, and rebuilding from what's on screen is an afternoon rather than a fight.

It's an old site. Will it still work?

HTML from 2015 renders fine today; that's rather the point of it. What it may not be is comfortable on a phone, so check that before you decide it's finished. A dated-but-working site is a good starting point for changes rather than a reason to start over.

Can I upload a React or Vue build?

Yes — a built front end is just files, and the same archive shape applies with index.html at the root. There's more for that audience on the developers page.

How many files can it hold?

This is the bit to check before you start: the free tier allows ten files per page, and Lone Creator allows three hundred. Ten goes quickly once a folder has a stylesheet, a script and a handful of images — so an inherited site will usually want Lone Creator. Count what's in your folder first.

Do I have to upload everything again to change one word?

No. Once it's up, changes are made in place by asking — the archive is how it arrives, not how it's maintained.