# MS Word and webpages...can I make 2002 save like 97?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-and-webpages-can-i-make-2002-save-like-97/263566>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 8, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-and-webpages-can-i-make-2002-save-like-97/263566 "2004-09-08T00:20:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-and-webpages-can-i-make-2002-save-like-97/263566/1 "2004-09-08T00:20:20Z")

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I know that many people like [insert webpage builder] better for creating webpages, but I’ve always liked using MS Word 97 on my old computer, since it’s quick to save a document that way, then edit it in an HTML editor to suit my needs. It certainly beats the hell out of adding 3000 \<br\> and \<b\>\</b\> by hand.

But none of the three options for MS Word 2002 save webpages the way 97 did.

What I mean is this

This is how MS Word 97 saves a document as a webpage:  
\</head\>  
\<body\>  
\<P\>" Just take good care of my grandson for me. I want lots of pictures." \</P\>  
\<P\>" I will. And you’d better get an e-mail account, so I can fill your inbox  
with pictures." \</P\>\<BR\>

This is how MS Word 2002 saves a document as webpage:

after a bunch of crap like this  
\<html xmlns:v=“urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml”  
xmlns:o=“urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”  
xmlns:w=“urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word”  
xmlns:st1=“urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”  
xmlns=“[http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40](http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40)”\>  
\<head\>  
\<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content=“text/html; charset=windows-1252”\>  
\<meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document\>  
\<meta name=Generator content=“Microsoft Word 10”\>  
\<meta name=Originator content=“Microsoft Word 10”\>  
\<link rel=File-List href=“Navajo%20Reservation\_files/filelist.xml”\>  
\<title\>Navajo Reservation\</title\>  
\<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=“urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”  
name=“PlaceType”/\>  
\<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=“urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”  
name=“PlaceName”/\>  
\<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=“urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”  
name=“stockticker”/\>

You finally get to the document which saves like this

\<p class=MsoNormal\>\<o:p\>&nbsp;\</o:p\>\</p\>  
\<p class=MsoNormal\>\<span class=GramE\>" What\</span\> happened?"\</p\>  
\<p class=MsoNormal\>\<o:p\>&nbsp;\</o:p\>\</p\>  
\<p class=MsoNormal\>\<span style=‘mso-spacerun:yes’\>\</span\>\<span class=GramE\>"  
There\</span\> were men." \<span class=SpellE\>Hosteen\</span\> says simply. \<span  
class=GramE\>" They\</span\> were looking for your husband."\</p\>

What the hell is that? All I want is a way to get it to put in the simple tags for paragraphs and lines, bold/italic/underline and text font/size/color. That’s it, because anything else I’d rather do the codes for on my own. Is there a way to make the newer version of word save like the old one does? Even the “filtered webpage” option still produces all that _stuff_ that obscures the text.

Failing that, I have the cd for Word 97 still. Can I have two versions of Word on the same computer? (I have XP) Maybe under a different desktop?

I am not intrerested in buying/downloading another program. I just want to make this one do what I want if possible.

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**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-and-webpages-can-i-make-2002-save-like-97/263566/2 "2004-09-08T00:59:12Z")

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I read something recently to the effect that the purpose of Word’s HTML output is not to create a web page, but to be a fully-featured format that Word itself can read :smack: unlike "Word format’ itself, at times…

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**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-and-webpages-can-i-make-2002-save-like-97/263566/3 "2004-09-08T02:28:56Z")

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> [@iwakura43](#):
>
> I read something recently to the effect that the purpose of Word’s HTML output is not to create a web page, but to be a fully-featured format that Word itself can read :smack: unlike "Word format’ itself, at times…

So the templates for making webpages and stuff are just to throw people off? :dubious:

I figured out how to get rid of all the “smart tag” stuff. Anyone know of a way to get rid of what’s left, mainly things that catogorize what type of paragraph like \<p class=MsoNormal\>&nbsp;\</p\> ? I guess I can live with it if not, because now you can actually find the text.

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**Author:** ![moi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@moi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moi)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-and-webpages-can-i-make-2002-save-like-97/263566/4 "2004-09-08T03:30:53Z")

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> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> So the templates for making webpages and stuff are just to throw people off? :dubious:
> 
> I figured out how to get rid of all the “smart tag” stuff. Anyone know of a way to get rid of what’s left, mainly things that catogorize what type of paragraph like \<p class=MsoNormal\>&nbsp;\</p\> ? I guess I can live with it if not, because now you can actually find the text.

If you’re gung ho about using Word (insert all the reasons why this is a terrible idea), you could always open up the code after you save as HTML and do a find/replace (find \<p class=MsoNormal\>, replace with \<p\>). Tedious, but it’ll get the job done.

As far as I know, there’s no way to prevent Word from doing this.

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-and-webpages-can-i-make-2002-save-like-97/263566/5 "2004-09-08T12:52:03Z")

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Save the file as rtf and then use a free rtf to html convertor. Most of your formatting should be preserved as long as your doing pretty much text only stuff.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-and-webpages-can-i-make-2002-save-like-97/263566/6 "2004-09-14T03:16:09Z")

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Update:

If anyone was wondering, you **can** have both Word 2002 and Word 97 on your computer at the same time. The one you install second replaces the icon in your programs list, but if you do a search you can find the icon then rename and replace it. I’m glad I decided to try, since I tested them out and both versions work 🙂

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**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-and-webpages-can-i-make-2002-save-like-97/263566/7 "2004-09-14T03:30:07Z")

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> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> So the templates for making webpages and stuff are just to throw people off? :dubious:
> 
> I figured out how to get rid of all the “smart tag” stuff. Anyone know of a way to get rid of what’s left, mainly things that catogorize what type of paragraph like \<p class=MsoNormal\>&nbsp;\</p\> ? I guess I can live with it if not, because now you can actually find the text.

On the Microsoft Support page, you will find an add-on that will remove smart tag when you convert word to web.