I joined office live basics. In the help it says
Activate your own Web design tools
- On the left navigation bar, click WebSite. In Page Manager, click Site Actions, and then click Activate third-party design tools.
- On the next screen, click Activate now.
- Select the check box and then click OK
Problem is that I don't have "Activate third-party design tools" under Activate (see screen shot).
Does anybody know why and what I can do to upload my own HTML pages Thanks.
BTW I'm using the latest version of IE7 on Windows XP.

Cannot activate third party dev tools
Singersinger
dreameR.78
If you are a current paying Essentials or Premium customer and you are not seeing the "Activate 3rd Party Design Tools" option, please post your domain name and I will try and look into why this might be happening. Trial accounts unfortunately do not get the option, however fully upgraded accounts should be seeing this option.
Brian Blomquist
Microsoft Corporation
Haroonm
So basically, if you want to use your existing website or pages that you have already created, you have to use the Office Live Essentials or Office Live Premium.
Bummer, I was kinda hoping to create a website in my own time, using my own html editor and tools, and then just upload it when I was ready, but I guess not.
Aw well, when you're getting something for free, there must be a catch somewhere.
c_shah
I was just wondering when they changed their minds about that. I received an e-mail saying that FTP uploading would be available to all subscribers, even Basics. The e-mail had a link to the following page:
Thanks to feedback we received from valued Microsoft Office Live Small Business customers, you’ll soon see some exciting enhancements to your service.
Complete details appear below, but here are just a few highlights:
You’ll see improvements throughout the entire Office Live Small Business service – we’re making tools easier to use, adding new functionality, plus we’re sprucing up site navigation. And during this upgrade process we’re also preparing for some exciting new services. (So stay tuned!)
Service alert
Important While we implement these changes there will be brief periods when service is unavailable. During these periods of service interruption, Web site traffic data will not be collected and will not be reflected in Reports. Rest assured that we are working hard to minimize the impact to our customers, but we want you to be prepared. If you have any problems during the upgrade process, please contact our Customer Support Team.
Changes at a glance …
Office Live Basics
Here’s how we’re improving your service:
Web site design and management
E-mail accounts
Reporting
Note The reporting system will experience a service interruption when the application is upgraded
Office Live Essentials
You’ll get all the Office Live Basics improvements, plus these:
Contact Manager
Team Workspaces
Office Live Premium
You’ll get all the Office Live Basics and Office Live Essentials improvements, plus these:
Business Applications
We hope you’ll take full advantage of these latest service enhancements. And as always, we welcome your feedback.
If you notice, it includes custom html in the Basics thing. I actually just copied and pasted that today (2/2/08) from a link.
So, if this is true, why am I unable to access it
Malik Faisal
Mr Cai
The feature to activate third party dev tools is not available from a Basics subscription. In order to use this feature you must have either an Essentials or Premium subscription. I will send a message to the owners of the Microsoft Office Live help and ask if there is anything that they can do to make this more apparent in the documentation.
Brian Blomquist
Microsoft Corporation
M. Houy
The menu looks the same as the screen shot when I open it too.
Does a setting have to change from a new account to enable the ability to enable 3rd party tools
heyram
Thank you very much, Jason. Everything Works just fine now.
Theo
A fish
I have upgraded to Essentials in order to get this function but do not have that option on the drop-down menu