How to save Word documents as HTML to be viewed in Firefox

Question

I'm in need for saving a Word document as HTML. It has some background images, other images, texts, ... It opens correctly in Internet Explorer, but how can I save a word doc as HTML so that Firefox and other current browsers render it correctly?

All images are missing in the document. I looked through the generated html document, but the paths for the images appear to be correct.

Any idea?

Things like "Don't save docs as html" won't be helpful here.

Edit: To make myself clear, the normal "Save as HTML" doesn't cut it, the result is broken in any browser other than Internet Explorer.

Edit 2: What I'm using is Word 2010 and Firefox 4. I also tried rendering it in the latest Chrome version, which failed as well. I used different compatibility settings for saving as html, it did not help

Answer 1

I encountered the same issue. It seems that for some reasons Word does export regular HTML for some documents.

Usually Word exports graphics with two codes: a special one for rendering in IE, and regular HTML for the other browsers.

The code looks like below (I removed a lot of the code for readability)

<p ...><span ...><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype...>
 [code for IE]
</v:shapetype>
<v:shape id="Picture_x0020_2" ... alt="...png" ...>
 <v:imagedata src="...docx_files/image001.png".../>
</v:shape><![endif]-->
<![if !vml]><img width=169 height=119
src="..."... ><![endif]></span></p>

Notice the conditional?

<!--[if gte vml 1]> IE Code <![endif]--> <![if !vml]> Non IE HTML <![endif]>

For some documents I see that Word stops being bilingual and exports only the IE part.

I do not have the solution for these cases yet. Still investigating

Answer 2

I have a hack that involves modifying HTML code directly. I am using MS-Office 2007 and FF 10.0.4.

The trick is to remove the <v:imagedata src = ...> crud that Word generates when you save a file into HTML and replace that with the standard <img src = ...>. The former (imagedata ...) can only be rendered by IE while the latter is standard and can be handled by all browsers.

Example:

Remove the following -

<span style='mso-no-proof:yes'><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_2" o:spid="_x0000_i1026"
 type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:282.75pt;height:207.75pt;visibility:visible;
 mso-wrap-style:square'>
 <v:imagedata src="dcsl_overview_files/image006.png" o:title=""/>
</v:shape> </span>

With:

<img src="dcsl_overview_files/image006.png" alt="overview figure">

Answer 3

When using Word Save As Web Page(htm html), just prior to clicking Save, notice the "Tools" drop down to the left of the Save button. Go into this drop down, click the Web Options. In the options box that comes up, UNCHECK the box labeled "Rely on VML..." This worked great for me. Good luck.

Answer 4

I've only tried a simple document, rendered in Chrome, so YMMV - but have you tried to save as Web Page, Filtered (available in my copy of Word 2010, and I assume in all versions).

This should strip out a lot of the worst stuff, but still, the output may not always be perfect, browser-neutral HTML.

Answer 5

As apparently nothing else worked, it became one of these damn "IE only" solutions.

Answer 6

See Link below for suitable answer if you are using Word 2010

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-word/word-2010-save-as-html-can-one-force-export-of/11aec36d-e987-4519-a37c-7ac5d0bff61e?msgId=444c9157-6092-4b13-ae8d-0b3fc83b7854

Answer 7

In Word, in the Save As dialog, in the Save as type: list, select Web Page (*.htm; *.html).