No WordPress? Use the Desk anyway. Squarespace, Wix, Shopify or no site at all.

Yes. You can use the Desk without WordPress. It works with other kinds of website, such as Squarespace, Wix and Shopify. It also works if you have no website at all and your readers find you through a newsletter, social media or print.

This guide explains how to use the Desk without WordPress. It's based on the Desk's own explainer, published on 4 October 2026, which describes how it works and doesn't announce a change. It covers which setup to choose and how each one works. It also covers how to get an approved piece from the Desk onto your page, your newsletter or your printed sheet with its credits intact.

Which setup should you choose?

There are two routes for anyone who doesn't publish on WordPress.

• Another kind of website. This is for sites built on Squarespace, Wix, Shopify and other platforms.
• No website. This is for organisations whose writing reaches people through a newsletter, social media or print.

The way to decide is to ask where your writing is actually read. If people visit a web address and read pages you edit, you have a website, whatever it's built on. Choose "Another kind of website". If your words reach people in their inbox, in a social feed or on paper, and there's no site you update, choose "No website".

A shop on Shopify or a members' site on Wix is still a website. Set it up as "Another kind of website" so the Desk can look at the site itself.

Many organisations publish in more than one place: a Squarespace site and a monthly email, say. In that case, set up the place where most of your news lives. As the last section explains, the Desk can also write pieces for newsletters and social posts, so you don't lose those channels by picking one setup.

Setting up a Squarespace, Wix or Shopify site

When you add your site as "Another kind of website", the Desk scans it and proposes a voice. That proposal is the starting point for how your pieces read, so look at it before you go further.

Publishing works differently from WordPress. On these sites, approved pieces are copied or downloaded and then pasted into your site. You stay in your own page editor, in the platform you already know, and you decide where each piece goes and when it goes live.

In practice, setup looks like this:

1. Add your site and choose "Another kind of website".
2. Let the Desk scan the site and look at the voice it proposes.
3. When a piece is approved, copy it or download it from the Desk.
4. Open a new page or post in Squarespace, Wix, Shopify or whichever platform you use, and paste it in.

The last two steps are the ones you'll repeat. The next section covers which export to choose for each kind of editor.

Setting up with no website

If your readers know you through a newsletter, social media or print, add your organisation as "No website". There's no site to scan, so you paste in a few samples of your own writing instead. The Desk proposes a voice from those samples.

The samples do the job a website scan would do, so choose them with care. Pick writing that sounds the way you want to sound to your readers. A recent newsletter you were pleased with is a good choice, and so is a post that drew replies or a printed notice your members read. Leave out anything written in a hurry, or in a tone you'd rather move away from. If someone else wrote a piece in a style that isn't yours, leave that out too.

It also helps if the samples are written for the same readers you'll be writing for through the Desk. Writing for members and writing for funders can sound quite different.

Getting an approved piece onto your page

Once a piece is approved, you have two ways to take it out of the Desk: copy it or download it.

You can copy a piece as:

• formatted text
• HTML, the underlying code for the piece

You can download a piece as:

• Word
• PDF
• Markdown
• plain text

You can also download the header image, so you can add it to your page, email or printed layout yourself.

The right choice depends on where the piece is going. Here's how to match them up.

If you're pasting into a visual page editor, where you type and format text on screen, copy as formatted text.

If your platform has a block or section that accepts code, copy as HTML. This is useful when you want the structure exactly as the Desk produced it, or when formatted text doesn't paste cleanly into a particular editor.

If the piece is going into print, such as a member bulletin, a parish-style newsletter or a printed handout, download it as Word or PDF. Word is easier if someone will lay it out or edit the length to fit a page. PDF is a fixed copy you can share with a printer or a colleague as it stands.

If you're using an email tool that strips formatting, or you want full control over how the email looks, download as plain text and format it inside the email tool. Markdown suits anyone whose site or tool is written in it.

Whichever format you choose, sources are credited at the end of each copy. Keep them. Those credits tell your readers where the facts came from, and they're part of what makes the piece trustworthy. If you need to shorten something, cut elsewhere.

Why nothing leaves the Desk before it's approved

Nothing can be copied or downloaded before it's approved. There's no way around this, in any format.

Without WordPress, you're the one moving each piece from the Desk to your page or your inbox. The approval step means only finished, signed-off pieces can make that journey. A draft can't end up on your Shopify blog or in your newsletter by accident, because the copy and download options aren't there until the piece is approved.

When a piece does arrive on your page, it carries its credits with it. You get an approved piece, ready to paste, with its sources at the end.

Writing for LinkedIn, Facebook, newsletters and press releases

The Desk doesn't only write for web pages. Pieces can also be written for:

• a LinkedIn article or post
• a Facebook post
• an email newsletter
• a press release
• another blog

This suits organisations that publish in several places. A trade body might keep news on a Wix site, send members an email newsletter and share updates on LinkedIn. A small business with no website at all might rely on Facebook and a printed flyer. Either way, you can ask for a piece in the shape that fits the channel, then copy or download it once it's approved.

For organisations set up as "No website", the newsletter, the social post and the press release are the publications.

The same rule holds for every format. Each piece is approved before it can be copied or downloaded, and you paste it in yourself. Nothing is published by itself.

Ready to try the Desk with your own site or newsletter? See the plans and what each one includes.