Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual

Word as HTML Reader

According to legend, once upon a time a few people actually used Word as a Web browser. Earlier versions of Word had the ability to open Web pages; there was even a Web Toolbar with forward and back buttons and a Favorites menu. But there haven’t been any confirmed sightings of these individuals for years, and in Word 2008, Microsoft quietly deleted its Web-browsing abilities. Word’s ability to read documents written using the HTML Web-design language, however, is unaffected.

Opening Web Pages from Your Hard Drive

Documents written using the HTML Web-design language aren’t confined to the Internet anymore. Because they’re relatively small, include formatting, and open with equal ease on Macs, Windows PCs, and every other kind of computer; HTML documents are now a common exchange format for Read Me files, software user manuals, and the like. (You know when you have one because its file name ends with .htm or .html.)

Tip

When you open any kind of HTML document—like a Web page you’ve saved to your hard drive or a Word document you’ve saved as a Web page—in Word, it automatically opens in Web Layout view. If you can’t see images, background colors, or other Web features in your document, you’ve probably somehow gotten into the wrong view. Choose View → Web Layout.

Word can open such documents directly: Just launch Word and choose File → Open, make sure that you have All Documents selected in the Enable pop-up menu (if you don’t, Word won’t let you select and open HTML ...