MS Word is more
powerful than you think. The popular word processing tool is used for all sorts
of tasks. Not everyone knows this but it can also be used to open web pages in
HTML format.
In this post,
you’ll discover how you can open HTML files in Word and save them in one of the
supported file formats.
Saving
Web Pages to Word
First, open your
browser and go to the webpage you want to save. In the example below, we’re
using Google Chrome but the process should work for any web browser.
Right-click
anywhere on the page and click Save As.
This will prompt
the Save As box to pop up. Edit the filename to your liking. Under Save As Type, select Webpage, HTML Only. Click Save.
Launch MS Word
then open the HTML file you want to edit.
The HTML file
will open on Word. However, the document itself will not display as it does
online. For starters, the formatting will be ruined. The navigation bar, for
example, will be broken up and menus are displayed in separate lines.
You will have to
edit the document manually to make the page more cohesive.
Removing useless
links and web elements will make articles easier to read. Using Word’s Web Layout view makes the cleanup
process that much easier.
After some edits,
your document should somewhat resemble its source.
When you’re
satisfied with your edits, go to File
> Save As. Select .docx as your file format.
You should now be
able to open the file in Microsoft Word.
Using
Alternative Solutions
If you’re not
satisfied with the first solution, know that there are other methods available
for saving web pages and opening them in Word.
There are Google Chrome extensions like Save Webpage As Word Document that lets you download the HTML file as a Word document.
While the end
product looks exactly the same, this tool spares you from having to download
the webpage as an HTML file.
Install the
extension and activate it. Go to the page you want to convert. Click the
extension and select Complete Page.
The tool will
then download the entire webpage as a Word document.
Tip: You can also highlight a
section of the page and click Current
Selection. This will allow you to download a specific section instead of
the whole page.
You can also try
copying the entire webpage and pasting it in Word.
But instead of
pasting the file as normal, you’d have to use Paste Special. Right-click on
Word. Under Paste, there should be
several options. Select Keep Source
Formatting.
This paste option
lets you copy the HTML code while keeping most of the formatting intact.
Do note however
that there is no perfect solution. Once the document is in Word, you’d likely have
to make a couple of edits to make the document resemble the source material.
Once you’re
finished making all the necessary changes, go to the file menu and save the
document as .docx.