Microsoft Knowledge Base
WD97: Limitations of Converting from Word 97 to HTML
Article ID: Q157086
- Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
SUMMARY
When you save a Microsoft Word 97 document as a Web page, Word closes the document and then reopens it in HTML format. Word displays the Web page similar to the way it will appear in a Web browser. Formatting and other items that aren't supported by HTML or the Web page authoring environment are removed from the file.
MORE INFORMATION
The following table shows the elements that Word changes or removes upon conversion.
Element Word to HTML Comments
------- ------------ --------
Comments See Comment Comments you insert with the Comments
command on the Insert menu are removed.
After saving the document in HTML format,
however, you can enter comments and apply
the Comments style. The comments will not
appear when the Web page is displayed by a
Web browser.
Font sizes See Comment Fonts are mapped to the closest HTML size
available, which ranges from size 1 to 7.
These numbers are not point sizes but are
used as instructions for font sizes by
Web browsers. Word displays the fonts in
sizes ranging from 9 to 36.
Emboss, shadow, No These character formats are lost, but the
engrave, all text is retained.
caps, small caps, double strikethrough, and outline text effects
Bold, Yes Some special underline effects, such as strikethrough, dotted underlines, are converted to a italic, and single underline, and some underline underline effects aren't converted.
effects
Animated text See Comment Animations are lost, but the text is
retained. For an animated effect, insert
scrolling text into your page in the Web
page authoring environment.
Graphics See Comment Graphics, such as pictures and clip art,
are converted to GIF (.gif) format,
unless the graphics are already in JPEG
(.jpg) format. Drawing objects, such as
text boxes and shapes, are not converted.
Lines are converted to horizontal rules.
Tabs Yes Tabs are converted to the HTML tab
character, represented in HTML source as
	. Tabs may appear as spaces in some
web browsers, so you may want to use
indents or a table instead.
Fields See Comment Field results are converted to text;
field codes are removed. For instance, if
you insert a DATE field, the text of the
date converts, but the date will not
continue to update.
Tables of See Comment The information is converted, but indexes
contents, and tables of contents, figures, and
tables of authorities can't be updated automatically
authorities, after conversion because they are based on
and indexes field codes. The table of contents
displays asterisks in place of the page
numbers; these asterisks are hyperlinks
that the reader can click to navigate
through the Web page. You can replace the
asterisks with text that you want to have
displayed for the hyperlinks.
Drop caps No Drop caps are removed. In the Web page
authoring environment, you can increase
the size of one letter by selecting it
and then clicking Increase Font Size. Or,
you can use a graphic image in place of
the letter.
Frames No The frame and the text or objects
contained in the frame, are lost when the
document is saved as HTML.
Drawing objects No Drawing objects are not retained. You can
(AutoShapes, use drawing tools in the Web page
text effects, authoring environment by inserting Word
text boxes, Picture Objects. The object is converted
and shadows to GIF format.
Equations, See Comment These items are converted to GIF images.
charts, and The appearance is retained, but you won't
other OLE be able to update these items.
objects
Tables Yes Tables are converted, although settings
that aren't supported in the Web page
authoring environment are lost. Colored
and variable width borders are not
retained.
Table widths See Comment By default, tables are converted with a
fixed width. To convert a table with a
percentage width (so that the table is
sized relative to the browser window),
set the option PercentageTableWidth=1 in
the following Windows 95 Registry
location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\
Shared Tools\Text Converters\Export\
HTML\Options
Highlighting No Highlighting is lost.
Revision marks No Changes entered with the track changes
feature are retained, but the revision
marks are removed.
Page numbering No Because an HTML document is considered a
single Web page, regardless of its
length, page numbering is removed.
Margins No To control the layout of your page, you
can use a table.
Borders around No You can place borders around a table,
paragraphs and and you can use horizontal lines to
words help emphasize or separate parts of
your Web page.
Page borders No There isn't an HTML equivalent for a page
border. You can make your pages more
attractive by adding a background using
the Background command on the Format
menu. You can also place borders around a
table, and you can use horizontal lines to
help emphasize or separate parts of your
Web page.
Headers and No There aren't equivalents for headers and
footers footers in HTML.
Footnotes and No
endnotes
Newspaper No For a multicolumn effect, use tables.
columns
Styles See Comment User-defined styles are converted to
direct formatting, provided the
formatting is supported in HTML. For
instance, if you convert a style that
includes bold and shadow formatting, the
bold formatting is retained as a direct
formatting, but the shadow formatting is
lost.
Hyperlink TARGETS No Hyperlink Targets allow users to populate
a single frame with a new HTML document.
Because of Word's limitation on converting
frames, Word 97 also strips out the TARGET
tag in HTML Documents.
