As you manage your business, learning a complicated Web authoring tool may just be one ball too many. If you are a Microsoft Word user, you can still edit HTML files in Word, just as you would any other text-based file. This permits you to directly edit and change a HTML file without the use of a more expensive Web authoring tool.
Opening an HTML FileStep 1
Open Word. Click the “File” tab on the ribbon. Click “Options” at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
Click "Advanced" in the left pane. In the right pane, scroll down to the General area. Select the "Confirm File Format Conversion on Open" check box and then click "OK."
Click the “File” tab and then click “Open.” Browse to the Web page file to open and double-click the file name.
Click "Plain Text" from the Convert File dialog box and click "OK." Your Web file opens as a plain text file showing the HTML code. Once you open the file, you can edit it and save the file as an HTML file.
Editing an HTML FileStep 1
Open Word and your HTML file. Make any file edits you need. Use the Styles pane located on the Home tab to apply styles such as headings.
Click the “Insert” tab and then click “Picture” or “Clip Art” to add graphics. If you add graphics, remember to resize them in a program outside of Word since you can end up with two graphics instead of one when you upload the file to the Web.
Click the “Insert” tab and click the “Hyperlink” button in the Links group to add hyperlinks in your document. You can add links to email, Web pages and other documents you plan to upload.
Right-click the Quick Access Toolbar at the top left of the window and select "Customize Quick Access Toolbar." Click the “Choose Commands From” drop-down arrow and select “All Commands.” Select “Web Page Preview,” click “Add” and then click “OK.” The button appears on your Quick Access Toolbar. Click the “Web Preview” button to see how your HTML file will look as a Web page.
Save your Web page by clicking “File” and then “Save.” Be sure to save the file as a Web page. The file extension needs to be HTM or HTML.
Transfer the edited Web page and its folder to the server. If you do not transfer its folder, you may not get graphics included.
- You can always save the file as a Web page by clicking “File” and then “Save As.” Click the “Save as Type” drop-down list and select either “Web Page” or “Web Page, Filtered.” If you plan on editing the file again in Word, choose “Web Page” since it will keep codes Word understands to open the file again. If you plan on putting the file on the Internet, choose “Web Page, Filtered.” This makes the file smaller.
- Microsoft TechNet: Changes in Office Word 2007
- Temple University: Saving a Microsoft Word Document as a Web Page
- Georgia Gwinnett College: Saving a Word as Web Page Filtered
- Microsoft: Learn Where Menu and Toolbar Commands Are In Office 2010 and Related Products
- The Site Wizard: Is it Possible to Use Microsoft Word or Office to Create a Website? If So, How?
- Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images