How to convert Excel file to HTML?

There comes a time where you need to convert an Excel based tools into HTML. Here is a guide of possible, existing solutions.

Excel is the most widely used software tool. It allows to create very powerful tools without having any programming knowledge. There is a time where the desktop tool has some limitation and you would like to share what you have done online. It is time to create an HTML file from it.

Save as… HTML

If you need to share a static version of your work, the most easy is to save your spreadsheet as HTML. This is actually possible with LibreOffice, the Open Source equivalent of Excel. The software is able to open and event edit XLS or XLSX files. Once your spreadsheet opened, go to the menu File > Save as. The application will offer you several supported format like CSV, ODS or event HTML. Select the last one, give a name to your file and hit the Save button. That’s it! Your document is now converted to HTML.

You can download LibreOffice for free from the editor website. The software is developed by an international community. A donation, which is purely optional, supports this community. If you like the software, please consider a donation.

Collaborate with cloud based spreadsheet editor

The limitation of the first solution is that you lost all the interaction. Formulas, inputs, everything dynamic is gone. It looks much more like a PDF version of your table. If your goal is to collaborate on your Excel spreadsheet, then there is another possibility: cloud based editor.

Over the last 10 years this tools have become very popular and powerful. They now compete easily with Desktop editor. One of the most famous examples is Google Spreadsheet. Facing the growing competition, Microsoft also adapted Excel to collaborate online with the all Office 360 suite.

To start with Google Spreadsheet, you need a Google account. Then go to File > Import and select your Excel workbook on your computer. Within a few seconds your file is uploaded and converted. You are ready to start collaborating. You can share your file with people using Google by sending a link. This link allows everyone with access to view, comment, and even edit the file depending on the option you selected.

Be careful though: if you give the editing right to all user, it might happen that someone untrusted receives this link and he/she can change or even erase the data. Another limitation is that everyone shares the same data. But what if you want to share an online tool but not the underlying data among users ?

Create a web app with Appizy

Appizy started with the idea of having the best of all two worlds: an application developed with Excel that turns into a web application that anyone can access independently on a Desktop browser, tablet or mobile phone.

Appizy is a code generator. The algorithm automatically reads the content of your workbook and writes the corresponding HTML code. But it goes even further: all cells containing formulas are shown only as output fields. The cells depending on these formula are turned into input fields. Finally, Appizy adds the JavaScript, which is required to wire everything together. The outcome is an interactive web application or web calculator. The end user gets an HTML interface where he or she can fill out the form and directly sees the results of the calculations. Each user gets a fresh new instance of the webapp. And, the data are kept private.

Why don’t you give it a try ? We offer free trial and templates to get a better idea what Appizy can offer. You can even test the conversion of your tool in case you have already developed it.