Convert Word to HTML

A Word document as one web page, pictures and all, that opens complete in any browser.

or drop your Word file anywhere on this page

Takes DOCX and DOC files · DOCX → HTML

What you get when Word becomes HTML

This Word to HTML converter turns a .docx or .doc file into one .html file that opens in any browser and edits in any text editor, with the pictures inside it. The DOCX to HTML step runs once on our server and is graded Very good rather than Exact, because a web page has no pages to keep.

The page keeps your file's name, so report.docx comes back as report.html. Its title, the words on the browser tab, is the title saved in the Word file's properties, or the file name when there is none. The structure comes through as real web markup:

Word's Heading 1, Heading 2 and Heading 3 styles become h1, h2 and h3 headings.
Bulleted lists become bulleted web lists, and numbered lists stay numbered.
Tables stay tables, with their borders.
Bold and italic text stay bold and italic, and links stay clickable.

HTML is for browsers and websites. To keep the document editable in another word processor, save Word as RTF; to keep its pages exactly as they print, convert Word to PDF. Slides take a longer road: convert PowerPoint to HTML goes through a PDF and a Word file, so expect more of the layout to move.

How to convert DOCX to HTML

1
Select or drop your Word file
Nothing uploads until you press convert.
2
Choose your options
We show the route and its fidelity grade up front.
3
Download your HTML file
Then it is deleted after 24 hours, automatically.

What you are starting with

Modern Word. The default way the working world writes things down.

What you are getting

A document as markup. Opens in a browser, edits in anything.

Worth knowing

A web page has no pages, so the document flows as one: the header shows once at the top and the footer once at the end. Text, tables, links and pictures come through, with the pictures inside the file.

Good to know about converting DOCX to HTML

Pictures are put inside the HTML file itself, so the page opens complete on its own, with no folder of images to keep beside it.
Pictures stored inside the file take about a third more space than on their own: a document with 3.9 MB of photos gave a 5.2 MB HTML file.
If the pictures add up to more than 50 MB, you get a ZIP instead: the HTML file and its pictures side by side, linked by name. Unzip them into one folder.
A web page has no pages, so the header shows once at the top and the footer once at the end.
Shapes drawn in Word come through as pictures. Text typed inside a shape is placed next to its picture, not on top of it.

Pictures, fonts and what to check

Each picture goes into the page exactly as it is stored in the Word file, not saved again: a JPEG photo stays a JPEG, a PNG stays a PNG, and a 1600-pixel photo keeps all 1600 pixels. It is shown at the size it had in the document, so a picture 4 inches wide in Word is 384 pixels wide on the page. To make the file lighter, shrink large photos in Word before you convert.

Alt text is the one thing to add by hand. The description you give a picture in Word did not come through in our tests, so the pictures arrive without alt text. Screen readers and search engines rely on it, so write it in your site's editor.

Where the Word file sets a font on the text, the HTML names it, Calibri for example. A browser can only draw a font that the reader's device has, and picks a stand-in when it is missing, so line lengths and spacing can look a little different from Word. Text left in the document's default font may come through with no font named, and then shows in the browser's or your site's own font.

Putting the HTML on a website or in a CMS

The file is a whole web page, with its own title and style rules at the top. For a CMS or a site builder, open it in a text editor, copy only what sits between the opening and closing body tags, and paste that into the editor's HTML or code view, not the visual one.

Word's header text arrives as a block at the top and the footer text as a block at the end. Delete them if the web page should not show them.
Paragraphs carry small inline styles for spacing, and text with a set font or size is wrapped in old-style font tags that name them.
The heading sizes from Word stay behind in the top part you did not copy, so your site's own heading styles take over.

Tip: Text that only looks like a heading, typed big and bold in the Normal style, stays an ordinary paragraph. Apply Word's Heading styles before converting and your headings become real ones.

Starting from notes with no formatting at all? Turn plain text into HTML instead. Only have the PDF? Convert PDF to HTML, which rebuilds it as a Word file first. Need to edit a web page in Word? Convert HTML back to Word.

Old .doc files work too

You can convert DOC to HTML here as well: the page takes Word 97 .doc files alongside .docx, in the same single step. We saved our test document as a .doc, and its headings, lists, table and both pictures came out just as they did from the .docx.

Questions people ask

How do I convert a Word document to HTML?

Press Select Word file, or drop your .docx or .doc on this page, then press Convert to HTML and download the .html file. Both files are deleted from our server after 24 hours. The free plan takes one file at a time, up to 25 MB, three conversions a day.

Can I convert an old .doc file to HTML?

Yes. Word 97 .doc files go to HTML in the same one step as .docx, with their pictures inside the file.

Will my headings, lists and tables come through?

Yes, when they are made with Word's own tools. Heading styles become real web headings, bulleted and numbered lists become web lists, and tables keep their rows, columns and borders. Text that is only made big and bold stays a normal paragraph.

Will the pictures still show when I send the HTML file to someone?

Yes. The pictures are inside the HTML file, so it shows them on any computer, with no images folder to send along. If the pictures add up to more than 50 MB, you get a ZIP of the HTML and its pictures instead: unzip them into the same folder.

Can I paste the HTML into my website?

Yes, it is plain HTML. Each picture is written into it as a long run of text (a data URI), so big pictures make the code long. If your site's editor does not accept pictures written that way, upload them to its media library instead.

Is converting Word to HTML free?

Yes. Up to 25 MB and three conversions a day are free, with no account. Pro and Business lift the file limit to 100 MB and remove the daily cap.

What happens to my files?

Both your Word and the HTML we produce are deleted 24 hours after each conversion, automatically. Try again and Continue to another tool start a new conversion, with its own 24 hours. Nothing is used for training and no human looks at your documents.

Will the HTML look exactly like the Word?

This pair grades as “Very good”. We show the exact route and that grade before you convert, so there are no surprises about what survives the trip.

Do I need to install anything?

No. Nothing to install. Pick or drop a file here, it's converted on our servers, and you download the result.

How large can my file be?

25 MB on the free plan, and 100 MB on Pro and Business.

Can I convert several files at once?

On Pro and Business, yes: add up to 100 files before converting. The free plan converts one file at a time.