Limitations when you save a Word document as a Web page

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This article was previously published under Q212270

SUMMARY

When you save a Microsoft Word document as a Web page (on the File menu, click Save as Web Page), Word automatically converts the page to HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), the language used by Web browsers to read Web pages.

Because Word displays the Web page similar to the way the page would be displayed in a Web browser (Microsoft Internet Explorer), certain types of formatting and other items that are not supported by HTML or by the Web page authoring environment, are not displayed in Word (or in Web browsers).

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MORE INFORMATION

When you save a Word 2000 document as a Web page, Word warns you with the message "Some of the features in this document aren't supported by Web browsers" and shows you a summary of the features that are not supported and how they appear in a Web browser.

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, the features listed in the following tables also behave the same as listed if you do either of the following:

In Word 6.0 or Word 95, you open a Web page document that was created (saved as Web page) in Word 2007, Word 2003, Word 2002, or Word 2000. You resave it as HTML (*.htm, *.html, *.htx), and then reopen the file in one of these later versions of Word.

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In Word 2007, Word 2003, Word 2002, and Word 2000, you open a Web page document that was created in Word 2000 and saved as a Web page.

The following tables list the elements that Word changes or removes when it saves a file as a Web page.

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Character Formatting

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Text with character border	No character borders on Web pages.
Text with In-margin drop caps	Text with In-margin drop caps becomes text with initial capital letters. NOTE: This feature is incorrectly documented in Word Help. Please see the article listed in the "References" section of this article.
Text is animated	Animated text becomes italic on Web pages.
Text is Double strikethrough	Double strikethrough text becomes single strikethrough on Web pages.
Text with Emboss effect	Embossed text becomes gray text on Web pages.
Text with Engrave effect	Engraved text becomes gray text on Web pages.
Text with Outline effect	Outlined text becomes bold text on Web pages.
Text with Shadow effect	Shadow text becomes bold text on Web pages.
Text with character underline style	Character underline style becomes single underline on Web pages.
Horizontally scaled characters	Horizontally scaled characters become regular text on Web pages. NOTE: This does not affect text that has spacing applied between characters. On the Format menu, click Font. On the Character Spacing tab, change the Spacing setting from Normal to either Expanded or Condensed.
Raised and lowered text	Raised and lowered text becomes superscript and subscript text on Web pages.
Text with underline color different from text	Underline color becomes the same as the text color on Web pages.
Small caps	Small caps become All caps on Web pages.
Kerned text	Kerned text becomes regular text on Web pages.

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Paragraph Formatting

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Text with patterned character shading	Patterned character shading becomes solid color on Web pages.
At least line height	At least line height becomes exactly on Web pages.
Decorative border styles	Decorative border styles become single-line border styles on Web pages. NOTE: This feature is incorrectly documented in Word Help. Please see the article listed in the "References" section of this article.
Paragraphs with negative left indent	Paragraph indent is set to zero on Web pages.

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Page Layout

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Framed text	Framed text becomes right-aligned or left-aligned text with wrapping on Web pages.
Margins	Margins do not appear or print on Web pages.
Columns	Columns become a single column on Web pages.
Headers and footers	Headers and footers do not appear or print on Web pages.
Fields	Fields (for example, MACROBUTTON or EQ fields) do not appear or print in a Web browser.
Footnotes	Footnotes are moved to the end of the page on Web pages.
Page numbers	Page numbers do not appear or print on Web pages.
Page border	Page borders do not appear on Web pages.
Tabs	Tabs may not align correctly on Web pages.

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Editing

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Versioning	No versions on Web pages.
Password protection	Password is lost on Web pages.
Document protection	Password is lost on Web pages.
Double underline change marks	Double underline change marks become single underline change marks on Web pages.

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Graphic Formatting

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Floating graphic	Floating graphic becomes right-aligned or left-aligned with wrapping on Web pages.

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Asian Text Formatting

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Combined characters	Combined characters become regular text on Web pages.
Enclosed characters	Enclosed characters become regular text on Web pages.
Horizontal in Vertical	Horizontal in Vertical becomes horizontal text on Web pages.
Phonetic Guide	Phonetic Guide becomes regular text on Web pages (Internet Explorer 4.0 only).
Two lines in one	Two lines in one becomes one regular line on Web pages.
Emphasis dot	Emphasis dot is removed, and text is underlined on Web pages.
Document Grid (vertical and horizontal)	Document Grid (vertical and horizontal) becomes regular text on Web pages (Internet Explorer 4.0 only).
Compress leading punctuation	Compress leading punctuation becomes full width on Web pages.
Hanging punctuation	Hanging punctuation is removed. Last word in line wraps to next line on Web pages.
First and last line break control characters	Line breaks do not respect these character settings on Web pages.
Distributed text	Distributed text is ignored on Web pages.

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Table Formatting

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Automatically resize to fit contents turned off	Automatically resize to fit contents is turned on, on Web pages.
Absolute row height	At least row height on Web pages.
Diagonal cell borders	No diagonal cell borders on Web pages.
Decorative cell borders	Decorative border styles become box border styles.
Text-wrapped table	Text-wrapped table becomes left-aligned on Web pages.
Vertical text direction	Vertical text direction becomes horizontal text direction on Web pages.
Indent from left	Table with a negative indent from left appears cut off or cropped. NOTE: Please see the article listed in the References section of this article.

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Web Page Formatting

This formatting in Word	Looks like this in a Web browser
Don't use HTML paragraph spacing	Use HTML paragraph spacing on Web pages.

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REFERENCES

For additional information about incorrectly documented features that describe saving as a Web page, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

216692 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216692/EN-US/ ) WD2000: Doc Err: Save a Word 2000 Document as a Web Page

For additional information about the "Indent from left" setting causing the table to be cut off or cropped, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

253968 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/253968/EN-US/ ) WD2000: Table Appears Cropped or Cut Off When Displayed or Printed

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