When I use Microsoft Word to make web pages, why is the resulting code so long?

In earlier versions of Microsoft Word, the Save as HTML command created basic HTML documents based on your Word formatting commands.

In Word 2000 and later, however, this option is replaced with a Save as Web Page option. Rather than using pure HTML, the new command adds special tags designed for Microsoft Office, as well as XML (Extensible Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) tags. These can almost double the length of your document.

Microsoft provides an HTML filter that you can download, install, and use alone or with Microsoft Word to strip Office-specific codes from HTML documents, creating much cleaner coding. Word 2002 and later incorporate this filter as an option by default; from the File menu (or Office Button menu in Word 2007), select Save As... to save your document. Then, under "Save as type:", select Web Page, Filtered. For Word 2000, the filter is available from the Microsoft Download Center.

Note: No HTML filter currently exists for Macintosh versions of Word.

After you have installed the filter, whenever you use Word to convert your file to HTML, be sure to use Export to HTML instead of Save as Web Page. You can also use Export to HTML to convert existing files. This can be particularly helpful if you have old files containing Office-specific codes you wish to clean up.

Comments/Questions/Corrections