How to export HTML from emacs org-mode that can be opened in Microsoft Word?

Question

I created an HTML file using Emacs (org-mode export), which I want to open in Microsoft Word. However, Word says it cannot open the file. In the details of the error message, it says: > Reference to undefined entity 'hellip'.For lack of a better fix, I go in to the file and replace all occurrences of "&hellip ;" with "...", but then I get a similar error message for 'nbsp', and so on. What is the simplest way to get emacs to output an org-mode file in a form that can be opened in Microsoft Word, without losing formatting?

Answer 1

To export your Org-mode file from Emacs to HTML that can be opened in Microsoft Word without errors related to undefined HTML entities (like …,  , etc.), you can modify the export process to ensure that the HTML entities are correctly represented and the file is in a format that Word can read.

Here is a simple step-by-step solution to get your Org-mode file into a format that Microsoft Word can open:

1. Ensure Correct Encoding and Entities in HTML Export:

You can use Emacs' built-in ox-html export functionality, but you should customize the export to ensure that the file uses standard HTML entities that Word recognizes.

Open your Org-mode file and add the following line at the top of your file:

#+OPTIONS: toc:nil num:nil

#+EXPORT_OPTIONS: html-postamble:nil

#+EXPORT_FILE_NAME: output.html

These options disable the table of contents and page numbers in the export, as they are not needed for this case.

2. Export to HTML Using Org-mode:

Once the file is ready with your desired formatting, you can export the Org-mode file to HTML using the following keybinding:

1. Press C-c C-e to invoke the export menu.
2. Then press h for HTML export.

Alternatively, you can export from the command line using:

M-x org-html-export-to-html

This will create an output.html file.

3. Ensure HTML Entities Are Correctly Escaped:

In case Emacs Org-mode's HTML export generates special characters like …,  , etc., which Word has trouble with, you can replace them with their appropriate character representations. To automate this replacement, you can use a small Emacs Lisp function to remove these problematic HTML entities:

(defun clean-html-for-word ()

"Fix HTML entities for compatibility with Word."

(interactive)

(let ((entities '(("&hellip;" . "…") ("&nbsp;" . " ") ("&lt;" . "<") ("&gt;" . ">")

("&amp;" . "&") ("&quot;" . "\""))))

(save-excursion

(goto-char (point-min))

(dolist (pair entities)

(while (search-forward (car pair) nil t)

(replace-match (cdr pair)))))))

This will automatically replace problematic entities with their appropriate characters.

You can then call this function from M-x clean-html-for-word after exporting.

4. Convert HTML to Word Format (Optional):

After the HTML file is cleaned, you can either:

1. Open the HTML file directly in Microsoft Word by simply double-clicking it (if Word supports HTML).
2. Alternatively, convert it to Word's .docx format. You can do this using free tools like pandoc:

pandoc output.html -o output.docx

This will convert the cleaned HTML into a Word-compatible .docx file.

5. Open in Word:

After the HTML file is cleaned (or converted to .docx), you should be able to open the file in Microsoft Word without receiving the error message about undefined HTML entities.

By following this process, you will get a file that maintains formatting and can be opened seamlessly in Microsoft Word without having to manually replace characters every time. Let me know if you need any further assistance!