SharePoint Master page and html equivalent

Question

I just joined a team using SP 2016 and I notice that for the current master page, it has an equivalent html page that is a duplicate of the .master file. Both are in sync with each other and reflect the same changes when a change is made to the .html file. I was told that it is created by sharepoint for every master page file and that we should make changes to the .html equivalent. I noticed that on another SharePoint 2016 site in a different environment, none of the master pages have an equivalent .html file. Any ideas why or am I missing something? Also, how do I create this equivalent .html master page file and keep it in sync with the master page?

Thanks for any enlightenment.

Answer 1

The Publishing site feature is what makes the .html files (part of Design Manager). Check to make sure you have the Publishing site feature enabled in the site that does not have the .html files.