Limitations of Word HTML Converter

ID: q126793

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

This article provides information about limitations of converting from Word to HTML format. Many of the items listed as N/S are not currently supported in the HTML Specification.

MORE INFORMATION

"N/S" indicates the conversion is not supported.

                       Convert
Word Feature           to HTML  Comments
------------           -------  --------

Character Formatting

   Effects               yes    Bold, Italic, Underline, and Strikethrough
                                are all converted to equivalent HTML
                                elements. All other effects are not
                                features of HTML and are not supported by
                                the converter.

   Fonts, Font Size      yes    Only monospace fonts (such as Courier) are
                                converted to the HTML element, <TT>..</TT>,
                                which specifies the font to displayed in a
                                fixed-width typewriter font.

   Character Mapping     yes    All character entities (extended ANSI
                                characters) above 128 are mapped to
                                "&ddd;" (without the quotation marks),
                                where ddd represents the ASCII code
                                or a named entity.

   Color                 N/S

   Superscript/Subscript N/S

   Condense/Expand       N/S

   Kerning               N/S

Document Properties

   Margins               N/S

   Layout                N/S

   Line Numbering        N/S

   Summary Information   yes    The following elements are converted to
                                <META NAME> elements within the <HEAD>
                                element: subject, author, keywords,
                                creation date, and document comments.
                                The Title is converted to the <TITLE>
                                element.

   Language              N/S

Paragraph Properties

   Indent                N/S    Paragraphs that are formatted with
                                bullets or numbering convert to <ol> or
                                <ul>; otherwise, indents are ignored.

   Spacing               N/S

   Text Flow             N/S

   Alignment             N/S

   Outline level         N/S

   Styles                yes    Word 6.0 paragraph styles are interrogated
                                and converted to HTML paragraph styles as
                                specified in the [StyleMapping] section
                                of the WORDHTML.INI file. Character
                                styles\HTML styles to HTML style mapping
                                is not supported by the export converter.

   Bullets/Numbering     yes    Bullets are converted to an HTML Unordered
                                List (<UL>). Numbering is converted to an
                                HTML Ordered List (<OL>). These lists can
                                be nested.

   Tabs                  N/S

Borders and Shading

   Lines                 yes    A top or bottom paragraph border will
                                convert to the equivalent horizontal
                                rule element (<HR>). Vertical borders are
                                not supported.

   Fill                  N/S

   Columns               N/S

Other

   Bookmarks             yes    Bookmarks are converted to HTML Anchors
                                with the following limitations:

                                - Nested bookmarks are not supported.

                                - Bookmarks in subdocs (n/s) are not
                                  supported.

                                - Bookmarks that mark unsupported
                                  elements are converted to the location
                                  of the unsupported element.

                                - Bookmark references are converted to
                                  HTML hyperlinks

   Heading Numbering     N/S

   Drawing Objects/OLE   N/S

   Tables                N/S    Tables are not supported in HTML Level 2.

   SubDocuments          N/S

   Headers/Footers       N/S

   Annotations           N/S

   Footnotes             N/S

   Section/Page Breaks   N/S

   Fields                N/S    Only the field result is converted.

   Symbols               N/S

   Form Field            yes    All three form fields are supported by
                                the HTML Export Converter.

                                - Text Boxes are supported with the
                                  following attributes: regular text,
                                  unlimited maximum length or n
                                  characters, bookmark=legal(n)d,
                                  Fill-in Enable/Disable.

                                - Check Boxes are supported with the
                                  following attributes: Autosize, not
                                  Checked/Checked, bookmark=legal(n)d.

                                - Drop Down fields are supported with the
                                  following attributes: list items;
                                  bookmark=legal(n)d, Dropdown
                                  Enable/Disable.

Captions                 N/S

Index and
Table of Contents        N/S

Frames                   N/S

Picture                  N/S

Language                 N/S

For more information on a converting Word documents to HTML, choose "Internet Assistant for Word Help" from the Help menu, type "Converting a Word document to HTML" (without the quotation marks), then highlight the "What Is Lost When Word Documents Are Converted to HTML" topic and choose the GoTo button.

KBCategory: kbinterop KBSubcategory: Additional reference words: 1.00 iaword 6.00a 6.00c winword internet assistant limitation convert conversion converted converting HTML ia

Last Reviewed: September 22, 1995