Download Google Sites as HTML: Takeout vs. Offline ZIP

There are two ways to download Google Sites as HTML. If you own the site and can sign in, Google Takeout exports it from your Drive. That export is a content archive, not a working website. If you want a copy that opens offline and looks like the live site, or you don't have the owner account at all, you can crawl the published site into a ZIP file instead. Below you'll find both methods, what each one gives you, how embedded Docs, Forms and Maps behave, and what to do if the site has been deleted.

Two ways to download Google Sites as HTML: Takeout vs. crawling the public site

Google Sites has no "Download" or "Export to HTML" button. Google's route is Takeout, its general data export tool. The other route ignores the editor completely and copies what visitors see at the public address. The two methods answer different needs:

If you just want the safest possible backup of a site you own, do both. Takeout preserves what Google holds, and a crawl preserves what the site actually looked like.

Why can't I download my Google Site directly from Google Drive?

A new Google Site shows up in Drive as a file, but it is a Google-native format, like a Doc or a Sheet. Docs and Sheets can be converted to Word or Excel on download. Sites has no equivalent conversion, so Drive simply doesn't offer a Download option for it. Google sends you to Takeout instead, and Takeout only exports Drive folders, which is why every guide starts by moving the site into one.

Method 1: Export Google Sites to HTML with Google Takeout

This is the official way to back up Google Sites you own. It works for new Google Sites only (classic Sites is covered further down).

1. Put the site in its own folder. In Google Drive, create a new folder at the top level of My Drive, for example site-export, and move the Site file into it. Takeout lists folders, not individual Sites files, and a dedicated folder keeps the export small.
2. Open Takeout. Go to takeout.google.com while signed in to the account that owns the site. Click Deselect all, then tick only Drive.
3. Limit it to your folder. Click All Drive data included, untick Include all files and folders in Drive and select only the folder you just created.
4. Choose delivery. Click Next step and pick how you want the file: a download link by email, or a copy added to Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or Box. Choose .zip as the file type.
5. Choose the frequency. "Export once" is the norm. Takeout also offers repeated exports every two months for a year, which is the closest thing Google offers to scheduled backups.
6. Create the export and wait. For a single site the email usually arrives fairly quickly, but it can take hours. The download link expires after a limited number of days, so save the file when it arrives.

Three things commonly block this route. A site that is only shared with you doesn't live in your My Drive, so it can't be exported. School and work accounts may have Takeout disabled by the Google Workspace administrator. And if you have lost access to the account, Takeout is out of reach entirely.

What the Google Takeout Sites export contains, and its limits

Unzip the Takeout archive and you'll find your folder with the site's pages as HTML files. What you won't reliably get is the site as visitors know it. The theme, the navigation and the layout may be missing or simplified. Images can still point at Google's servers instead of sitting in the archive. Embedded content may survive only as references. Google also offers no way to import a Takeout export back into Google Sites, so you can't use it to restore a site with one click.

None of the ranking guides mention this, but it matters: the Takeout export is a record of your content, not a site you can open offline or upload to another host as it is. Unzip it right after downloading and click through a few pages, so you know what you actually have before you rely on it.

Method 2: Download the published Google Site as a ZIP without logging in

If you want a copy that looks and navigates like the real site, download the published version. Because this only needs the public address, it works whether you're the owner, a former editor who lost the account, or a teacher saving a colleague's class site before it's taken down.

1. Open the published site in your browser and copy the address. It looks like sites.google.com/view/your-site-name or a custom domain.
2. Paste it into the download form on the Website Downloader home page and start the download. You can watch the page count go up while it runs, and you can close your laptop in the meantime because the crawl happens on the server.
3. Download the finished ZIP, unzip it and open index.html. Every subpage, image, stylesheet and font the crawl found is inside, linked so it works offline.

Most Google Sites are small, and the free plan covers up to 100 subpages without an account. Free archives are kept for only one day, so download yours promptly. Larger sites, such as a school site with a page per class, fit the one-time Single Site plan (7.99 EUR, up to 5000 subpages); the details are on the pricing page. For a general walkthrough of how the archive is organised, see Download a Website as ZIP Online.

The limits are honest ones. A site published only to people in your organisation, for example a Workspace school domain, needs a login, and pages behind a login are not downloaded. A crawl also only finds pages that are linked from somewhere. A page you've hidden from navigation and never linked to won't be in the copy.

Because the result is plain static HTML, it's also the practical way to migrate Google Sites to another host. Upload the unzipped folder to any web host, Netlify or GitHub Pages, then point your custom domain at it. Search, forms and other features that need a server won't work there, but a typical Google Site rarely relies on those.

Do embedded Google Docs, Sheets, Forms and Maps come along in the download?

Mostly not as content, and this is the part people discover too late. When you embed a Doc, a Sheet, a Form, a Calendar, a Map or a YouTube video in Google Sites, the page only contains a frame that loads the item from Google's servers. A downloaded copy, whether from Takeout or a crawl, keeps that frame but not the document behind it.

• Docs, Sheets and Slides display only while you're online and the file is still shared. If the file is deleted or its sharing is changed, the frame breaks. Export the files themselves from Drive (as .docx, .xlsx, .pdf) and keep them with your backup.
• Google Forms need Google's servers to accept answers, so they never work offline. The responses live in the form or its linked Sheet. Download them from there.
• Maps and Calendars are live services. Offline you'll see an empty frame. If a map matters, take a screenshot or note the address.
• YouTube videos stay on YouTube. The copy plays them only with an internet connection and only while the video is online.

Text, images and files you uploaded directly to the site (not embedded from Drive) are part of the page and do come along in a crawl.

Can I download a Google Site I don't own, or one that was deleted?

You're not the owner, or you lost the account

Takeout can't help you here, because it only exports the signed-in account's own Drive. A crawl of the public site needs no account at all, which makes it the realistic option for former employees, students whose school account was closed, or anyone archiving someone else's public page.

Being technically able to copy a site doesn't settle whether you may reuse it. The content is generally protected by copyright, and keeping a private copy for reference is treated differently from republishing it. The rules depend on your country and the situation. If you plan to put someone else's content online again, ask the owner or a lawyer first. This article isn't legal advice.

The site was deleted

Check the owner's Drive trash first. A deleted Site file stays in the trash for 30 days and can be restored from there. Workspace administrators can also recover deleted Drive files for a limited period after the trash has been emptied.

After that, the Internet Archive is your best chance. If the Wayback Machine captured the published site, the Wayback Machine downloader can rebuild it from a chosen capture as a ZIP. The archive.org toolbar and the links back to archive.org are removed. A restore of up to 100 pages is free. Larger sites take a one-time Wayback Restore at 14.99 EUR (up to 5000 subpages). Bear in mind the Wayback Machine never captures embedded Docs or Forms the way they looked inside your site, and some pages may never have been captured at all. The full process is in Restore Website from Wayback Machine.

Classic Google Sites, wget and other approaches: when they still fit

Classic Google Sites export. Google retired classic Sites. Classic sites were converted to new Sites or archived, and old tools such as Sites Liberation, which relied on an API that no longer exists, no longer work. If your classic site was converted, treat it as a new Google Site and use either method above. If it was archived, check whether Google's Classic Sites Manager still lists it with a download option. If it was never converted or saved, the Wayback Machine is likely the only remaining copy.

wget. The wget advice that still ranks dates back to classic Sites. It can still work on new Google Sites, but the pages pull images, fonts and scripts from several Google domains. A plain wget --mirror --convert-links --page-requisites --adjust-extension --no-parent therefore misses them unless you also allow those hosts with --span-hosts and --domains. Expect some trial and error on the command line. For a side-by-side look at the trade-offs, see wget vs HTTrack vs Online Website Downloader.

"Save page as" in the browser. This is fine for one page, but it saves pages one at a time and doesn't rewrite links between them, so it doesn't scale beyond a handful of pages.

FAQ

Why are pages missing from my Google Sites export?

In Takeout, check that the site really sits in the folder you selected and that it's in your own My Drive rather than shared with you. In a crawl, missing pages are usually ones hidden from navigation and not linked anywhere, or pages restricted to signed-in users. Linking hidden pages from a visible page before downloading fixes the first case.

Can I host a downloaded Google Site on another host or on GitHub Pages?

Yes, if you use the crawled copy. It's static HTML, CSS and images, which GitHub Pages, Netlify or any ordinary web host can serve as it is. The Takeout export usually needs too much rework to be worth hosting. Remember that embedded Forms and Drive files will still depend on Google.

Can I download a Google Site on my phone?

Takeout works in a mobile browser, and since Website Downloader runs in the browser you can start a crawl from a phone or tablet too. Opening a ZIP of HTML files on a phone is the awkward part, so many people start the download on mobile and open it later on a computer. The iPhone and Android guide covers the details.

Can I schedule automatic Google Sites backups?

Takeout can repeat an export every two months for a year, which is the only built-in schedule. For crawled copies, set yourself a reminder and download a fresh ZIP after major edits. Keep the archives somewhere other than the Google account that hosts the site.