How to Export HTML to Word Document with JavaScript

by Vincy. Last modified on July 4th, 2023.

Exporting an HTML page as a Microsoft Word document can be done differently. Plugins are available in jQuery and JavaScript for implementing this on the client side.

When the HTML file is simple without any complex markup, exporting the HTML content to a Word document is simple. I don’t even need any third-party libraries. If you want to convert HTML to a Word document, without plugins or libraries but with simple JavaScript, continue reading this article.

A simple few lines of JavaScript code is enough to export the HTML. The source HTML is constructed with the header and footer in this JavaScript code.

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The XML namespaces will be specified in the header section. This source HTML will be encoded and appended with the data URI linked with a download element created dynamically.

HTML-Data-Source-Screenshot

Source HTML with Export Control

The landing page will show the formatted HTML content with an export button control. The exportHTML() JavaScript function will be called by clicking this button. The HTML portion to be exported into a Word document will be identified with the ID selector. The content of the DIV element specified with the id source-HTML is used to build the source of the HTML export in the JavaScript function.

<div id="source-html">
    <h1>
        <center>Artificial Intelligence</center>
    </h1>
    <h2>Overview</h2>
    <p>
        Artificial Intelligence(AI) is an emerging technology
        demonstrating machine intelligence. The sub studies like <u><i>Neural
                Networks</i>, <i>Robatics</i> or <i>Machine Learning</i></u> are
        the parts of AI. This technology is expected to be a prime part
        of the real world in all levels.

    </p>
</div>
<div class="content-footer">
    <button id="btn-export" onclick="exportHTML();">Export to
        word doc</button>
</div>

JavaScript Function to Convert HTML Document

The below code shows the JavaScript function used to construct the HTML source data with header, body, and footer. The header portion is to specify the required namespace and the charset.

The source HTML will be encoded with these specifications to form the URI. Then, a download link element will be created dynamically, and the URI will be hyperlinked with this element. Then, the click event is programmed to download the Word document with the exported HTML data.

<script>
    function exportHTML(){
       var header = "<html xmlns:o='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' "+
            "xmlns:w='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word' "+
            "xmlns='http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40'>"+
            "<head><meta charset='utf-8'><title>Export HTML to Word Document with JavaScript</title></head><body>";
       var footer = "</body></html>";
       var sourceHTML = header+document.getElementById("source-html").innerHTML+footer;
       
       var source = 'data:application/vnd.ms-word;charset=utf-8,' + encodeURIComponent(sourceHTML);
       var fileDownload = document.createElement("a");
       document.body.appendChild(fileDownload);
       fileDownload.href = source;
       fileDownload.download = 'document.doc';
       fileDownload.click();
       document.body.removeChild(fileDownload);
    }
</script>

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Vincy
Written by Vincy, a web developer with 15+ years of experience and a Masters degree in Computer Science. She specializes in building modern, lightweight websites using PHP, JavaScript, React, and related technologies. Phppot helps you in mastering web development through over a decade of publishing quality tutorials.

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