Convert Word to HTML

Four methods for converting Word document to HTML are presented below. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and the number of tags that are retained varies. At times there are unexpected results that may be related to how a Word file was created.

Do Features Set in Word Transfer to HTML in the Conversion Process?
Supported Feature	Paste as Plain Text	Word–Clear Formatting	Word2HTML Online Tool	HTML-Cleaner (with default settings)
Bullets/Enumerations	No	No	Yes (DS) Adds a <p> tag	Yes
Headings	No	No	Yes	Yes
Bold	No	No	Yes	Yes
Images	No	No	The path copies.	No
Links	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Table Layout	No	*Yes	*Yes	**Yes
Table Headers	No	No	No	No (unless assigned in Source screen.

*Tables transfer with a tag for each row; it adds vertical space. If you want a table to display without tne vertical space, you may want to re-create the table in D2L or use the HTML-Cleaner website. See Instructions under Method 4 (for tables) in this document.

**Tables can be copied separately to the HTML-Cleaner and tags that cause double-spacing removed. See Method 4 (for tables) below.

Method 1: Paste as Plain Text

This is probably the simplest and quickest way to clean up Word files; however, it strips "all" formatting, including images and tables. They will have to be re-created.

Open the Word file. Select all text with CTRL + A; copy all text with CTRL + V. Go to D2L and Create a New File. Click the Browse for Template and select a template. Click in the document window and choose Paste as Plain Text.

Paste as Plain Text in D2L

A dialog box displays indicating the paste feature is in plain text mode.

Message that paste as plain text mode is set

The icon changes to an icon with a "T."

Go to the document screen and paste using CTRL + V or right-click and paste. Generally use the following keystrokes: IE (right-click and paste); Firefox (CTRL + V); Chrome (CTRL + V or right-click and paste).

Method 2: Word – Clear Formatting

To convert a Word file to HTML using Word Clear Formatting,

Open the file in Word.
Click inside the document and select all of the content. Use Ctrl + A or use the menu. With the Home tab slected, click on Select then Select All.
With the text selected, Click the More option from the drop-down list for the Styles group. Select Clear Formatting.

NOTE: At this point, you can save the Word file as an HTML file, then go back and apply the headings to the document. Copy the content to an HTML page and the "heading" tags will copy along with the table. Following this step does not add table heading tags nor does the image copy.

The text should still be selected. Click on CTRL + C to copy or click on Copy from the menu.
Go to D2L. Click on Content. If you do not have a module, create a module then click on the New button and select Create a File.
Name the file and Browse for a Template, if desired. Paste the text in the editing area.
Select the file path to go to the desired folder. Click on Publish.
Select Edit HTML to add accessibility features to the file. See "Make HTML Accessible in D2L."

Method 3: Word2Clean HTML

You may want to try the Word2CleanHTML online conversion tool (new window).

To convert a Word file to HTML using Word2CleanHTML,

Open the Word file. In this illustration, a tagged file is used. The tags can be added before or after the conversion. It makes little difference.
Select all using CTRL + A; copy all using CTRL + C.
Go to the Word2Clean tool and paste the text using CTRL + V.
Click the Convert to Clean HTML button.
After the file is converted, click on Copy HTML to Clipboard.
Click Control + C to copy the cleaned-up HTML.
Go to the location where you plan to create the HTML file: D2L or an editor such as Dreamweaver. In this example the code is copied to the HTML editor in D2L.
Create a Module if one is not available for the topic you plan to post. Click on the module title. Click the New button and select Create a File.
At the next screen, enter a name for the new file. If desired, select a template. There is a style named D2LBasicTemplate.html that is available in the Shared Files > Styles folder. In this illustration, that template is selected. If you wish to use that template, see How to Use the D2L Stylesheet
Go to the code view by selecting the HTML Source Editor icon . Paste the HTML code (CTRL + V) between the <body></body> tags. Click on Save.
Edit the content in D2L. The text is preserved and does not have to be re-keyed. Because the document was tagged in Word, the headings transferred. The image file will need to be uploaded and inserted. Two of the bullets didn't transfer cleanly, so they will need to be added to the unordered (bulleted list), and headers with scope will need to be added to the table.

Method 4: HTML-Cleaner

This tool cleans Word code as well as outdated HTML code. The process is to assign tags to the Word document, save it as HTML. From the HTML file, copy the content and paste it into the HTML-Cleaner source screen, clean the code, copy the content from the source window, and paste it into the D2L HTML Source Editor then Publish.

Step 1:

In Microsot Word, open the Word file. In this illustration, a tagged file is used. The tags can be added before or after the conversion or can be added in the HTML-Cleaner window. NOTE: Tables with tabs need to be converted using the table feature in Word. Also assign headings, lists (bullets or numbers). If the multi-level (outline) list has been used, it will not translate accurately to HTML. Try using enumerations (bullets or numbers).
Save the file as HTML. The code still needs to be cleaned.
In the HTML file, select all using CTRL + A; copy all using CTRL + C.

Step 2:

Go to the HTML-Cleaner tool (http://www.html-cleaner.com) (new window) and paste the text into the Source window using CTRL + V.
Click the Clean HTML button below the right (code) pane.
From the Source (left) window, select and copy all of the text.

Step 3:

Go to the D2L Content area and create a new file. Enter the title and select a template. (Please keep in mind that we can create styles to display the way you want them to look.) Select one of the Simple or Basic templates from the Styles folder inside the Shared folder.
Paste (CTRL + V) the copied text into the HTML editor window.
Publish.
You may need to do some clean-up on the document, but that can be done using the tools in the D2L editor.

Method 4: HTML-Cleaner (for Tables)

This tool is useful if you have a table and wish to remove the tags so it will not display double-spaced. Copy and paste the table and clean the HTML. Using the Find and Replace option, enter in the first Find box; add another Find box and enter then clean the code again. It removes the tags that will cause extra spacing in your table.

Step 1: Copy the table from Word then go to the HTML-Cleaner and paste it in the Source window at the left side of the screen.

HTML-Cleaner paste table to source.

Step 2: Below the HTML code window, enter in the "Find textbox." Click the plus button to add another box and enter in the "Find" box. Leave the "Replace with" boxes blank. Click on the Clean HTML button.

Enter paragraph tags in the Find and Replace boxes.

Step 3: Click the Clean HTML button at the lower right of the HTML code window.

Click the Clean HTML button.

Step 4: Select the table (CTRL + A) from the Source window and "Copy." Go to D2L and paste the HTML code in the HTML editor. Save the file and Publish it.

NOTE: If you paste an entire document including a table that has been cleaned with the HTML-Cleaner tool into the D2L editor, you can copy the table from the D2L editing screen, paste it to the source screen of the HTML-Cleaner tool, then remove the and tags. You can also assign table headers and scope by selecting the header cells and clicking on Table > Cell > Cell Properties. Choose the header cell option and the appropriate scope.

HTML-Cleaner with header selected to assign header and scope.

Copy the table from the "Source" window of the HTML-Cleaner then paste it to the appropriate location in the D2L editor window.