---
title: Change a site in plain English
type: how-to
section: drive
summary: A site's editor takes a plain-English instruction, makes the edit, shows the result in Preview, and publishes only after validation passes and you arm Publish.
sources:
  - evolve-front-end/app/[lng]/drive/minisites/[minisiteId]/edit/page.tsx
  - evolve-front-end/components/content-platform/content-platform-minisite-editor-page-client.tsx
verified:
  at: 2026-09-04
  env: code
  by: content-lane-drive
ttl_days: 45
related: [drive/upload-a-site, drive/link-access, drive/publish-an-item]
---

Open the site and choose its edit view. Type what you want changed under **Describe the change you want**, in ordinary words. The change is made for you, shown in **Preview**, and goes live only when you choose **Publish**.

## Make a change

1. Open the site from **Sites** and go to its edit view.
2. Type the instruction into **Describe the change you want**. The field's own example reads: change the hero title to Welcome to our department.
3. Wait for the edit. Publishing is held while it runs.
4. Open **Preview** to see the result. **Refresh** re-reads the preview, the difference and the validation result.

The header counts the unpublished changes and shows the validation state as **Validation checking**, **Validation passing** or **Validation needs attention**. A passing site reports **No problems found. Your site is ready to publish.**

You can also edit a file directly and choose **Save file**. Saving reports the path it wrote.

## Publish the change

1. Choose **Publish**. The card explains: **Publish makes your latest saved changes live on your site.**
2. Add a **Note for this publish (optional)**.
3. Tick the confirmation that you want to publish these changes and make them live.
4. Confirm the prompt asking whether to publish these changes and make them live on your site now.

**Publish** is available only when validation passes, nothing is in flight, and you have ticked the confirmation. The success message reads **Your changes are live.**

## If it did not work

- **Someone else published a change to this site while you were editing. Refresh the page and try again.** means another editor published first. Reload, check the difference and reapply your change.
- **We couldn't publish your changes. Try again.** is a service failure. Nothing went live; try again.
- **Validation needs attention** blocks publishing. Open the validation card, fix what it names, then **Refresh**.
- To replace the whole site rather than edit it, upload the bundle again: see [Upload a site](/help/drive/upload-a-site).