Convert Excel to Web Tables

Note: Since I wrote this page many years ago, I found a website that will do the same thing if you don't have Dreamweaver. Check out Mr. Data Converter, which converts Excel data into several different formats, including HTML, JSON, MySQL, & XML. Best of all, it's open source, so you can run it on your own server if you'd like!

You've got an Excel spreadsheet, and you want it to become a table in a Web page. How do you do it?

Whatever you do, do NOT export from Excel to HTML—the 'HTML' it produces is a godawful mess. In fact, it only works with Internet Explorer on Windows. There's no technological reason for this; during the antitrust trial, Microsoft executives testified that they made this decision in order to further force people to use IE instead of alternative browsers.

There's a much better way to do this.

1. Save the Excel file as a CSV (comma-delimited) file (or tab-delimited—whatever floats your boat). Excel will complain that you're going to lose formatting. Go ahead and let it know that you are a human with a brain, and yes, you really want to do this.

2. Open Dreamweaver & go to the File menu > Import > Import Tabular Data.

3. Follow the instructions in the dialog box. Hit OK.

You're done. Your Excel spreadsheet is now a table on a Web page. And, best of all, your HTML is not a godawful, proprietary mess.

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