google sites liberator!

Have you ever worried as you add more and more valuable content to your Google Sites, "What if I need a backup copy of this some day?" Not that we expect Google to disappear off the map any time soon... but if you are a natural worry-wart risk manager like myself you tend to think in all sorts of scenarios. For example, "What if another person with edit rights makes a major screw-up and deletes stuff we need? What if a disgruntled person does damage to the site?"

For months I've been searching for a way to back up Google Sites. Not sure what I did differently in today's web search, but I found a great tool on the Google Code site called ... Google Sites Liberation!

"google-sites-liberation" is a little java app. Worked flawlessly on my Mac (Leopard, Java 6). It just consists of one little form you fill in and click Export. There is also an Import option for lossless uploading of the backed up content to a google site. The home page for the project shows an example of a filled in form that applies to sites created under a regular Google account. Here is my form filled in to access a client's Google Apps sites:

• in the "Host" field, this will always say sites.google.com
• domain is self-explanatory
• "webspace" means the final portion of the URL for the homepage of the particular site.
• for username do not enter the "@ourdomain.org" portion of your Google Apps account
• TIP: the Java app does not allow creation of new export target directories on the fly. Create the target directory directly on your computer first, and then use the "Choose Target Directory" button in this app.