Q: Restoring iweb from time machine backup on OS X Yosemite

The domain file you need is located in your Home/Library/Applications Support/iWEb folder.  You may have to use a 3rd party app to make all invisible files/folder visible before going into Time Machine and going back to the latest backup that contains the Domain.sites or Domain.sites2 file in that location.

You could download and run Find Any File to search for a file with "domain.site" in the file name on your TM hard drive. FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages.

If you were working with iWeb 3 than make the search Name equals Domain.sites2 as that will search faster than Name contains Domain.sites2.  Once you find the latest version of the domain file in the search window drag it to your Desktop.

Place it wherever you want on your HD, in the Documents folder is a good choice, and do the following to open it the first time:

To open your domain file in Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite for the first time or to switch between multiple domain files Cyclosaurus has provided us with the following script that you can make into an Applescript application with Script Editor. Open Script Editor, copy and paste the script below into Script Editor's window and save as an application.

do shell script"/usr/bin/defaults write com.apple.iWeb iWebDefaultsDocumentPath -boolean no"

delay 1

tell application "iWeb" to activate

You can download an already compiled version with this link: iWeb Switch Domain.

Just launch the application, find and select the domain file in your Home/Library/Application Support/iWeb folder that you want to open and it will open with iWeb. It modifies the iWeb preference file each time it's launched so one can switch between domain files.

WARNING: iWeb Switch Domain will overwrite an existing Domain.sites2 file if you select to create a new domain in the same folder.  So rename your domain files once they've been created to something other than the default name.

NOTE: In Lion and later the Home/Library folder is now invisible. To make it permanently visible in Lion or Mt. Lion enter the following in the Terminal application window: chflags nohidden ~/Library and press the Return key - 10.7: Un-hide the User Library folder.

 

 

For Mavericks and Yosemite go to your Home folder and use the View ➙ Show View Options menu to bring the this window:

Note where the domain file is located via FAF and enter Time Machine, go back, select it and try using the Restore button to restore it.  Keep going back in time till one restores properly.

Your domain file should not be located in your Documents folder.

By default and this has always been the case, your domain file resides in your User Library/Application Support/iWeb/domain.sites and if you restore a domain file from TimeMachine, then you must restore it to your User Library under iWeb and not the Documents folder.

Try looking in your User Library/Application Support/iWeb/domain.sites and this by default is where iWeb domain files are stored.

The website will not disappear just because you cannot access domain files - if the site is published it is still visible on the web, but you may end up having to re-build the site from scratch with more up to date software and software that is actually supported, such as EverWeb.  Try taking a look at that as an alternative to iWeb.

The file that EverWeb uses is next to the location where iWeb stores its file :

~/Library/Application Support/EverWeb/

~/Library/Application Support/iWeb/

Just in case.