[vba] HTML Text with tags to formatted text in an Excel cell

Is there a way to take HTML and import it to excel so that it is formatted as rich text (preferably by using VBA)? Basically, when I paste to an Excel cell, I'm looking to turn this:

<html><p>This is a test. Will this text be <b>bold</b> or <i>italic</i></p></html>

into this:

This is a test. Will this text be bold or italic

This question is related to vba excel html-parsing

The answer is


To put HTML/Word in an Excel Shape and locate it on an Excel Cell:

  1. Write my HTML to a temp file.
  2. Open temp file via Word Interop.
  3. Copy it from Word to clipboard.
  4. Open Excel via Interop.
  5. Set and Select a cell to a range.
  6. PasteSpecial as a "Microsoft Word Document Object"
  7. Adjust the excel row to the Shape height.

In this way, even HTML with tables and other stuff does not get split over multiple cells.

    private void btnPutHTMLIntoExcelShape_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        var fFile = new FileInfo(@"C:\Temp\temp.html");
        StreamWriter SW = fFile.CreateText();
        SW.Write(hecNote.DocumentHtml);
        SW.Close();

        Word.Application wrdApplication;
        Word.Document wrdDocument;
        wrdApplication = new Word.Application();
        wrdApplication.Visible = true;

        wrdDocument = wrdApplication.Documents.Add(@"C:\Temp\temp.html");
        wrdDocument.ActiveWindow.Selection.WholeStory();
        wrdDocument.ActiveWindow.Selection.Copy();

        Excel.Application excApplication;
        Excel.Workbook excWorkbook;
        Excel._Worksheet excWorksheet;
        Excel.Range excRange = null;

        excApplication = new Excel.Application();
        excApplication.Visible = true;
        excWorkbook = excApplication.Workbooks.Add(Type.Missing);
        excWorksheet = (Excel.Worksheet)excWorkbook.Worksheets.get_Item(1);
        excWorksheet.Name = "Work";
        excRange = excWorksheet.get_Range("A1");
        excRange.Select();

        excWorksheet.PasteSpecial("Microsoft Word Document Object");

        Excel.Shape O = excWorksheet.Shapes.Item(1);

        this.Text = $"{O.Height} x {O.Width}";
        ((Excel.Range)excWorksheet.Rows[1, Type.Missing]).RowHeight = O.Height;
    }

You can copy the HTML code to the clipboard and paste special it back as Unicode text. Excel will render the HTML in the cell. Check out this post http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2005/02/23/html-in-cells-ii/

The relevant macro code from the post:

Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range)

   Dim objData As DataObject
   Dim sHTML As String
   Dim sSelAdd As String

   Application.EnableEvents = False

   If Target.Cells.Count = 1 Then
      If LCase(Left(Target.Text, 6)) = "<html>" Then
         Set objData = New DataObject

         sHTML = Target.Text

         objData.SetText sHTML
         objData.PutInClipboard

         sSelAdd = Selection.Address
         Target.Select
         Me.PasteSpecial "Unicode Text"
         Me.Range(sSelAdd).Select

      End If
   End If

   Application.EnableEvents = True

End Sub

I know this thread is ancient, but after assigning the innerHTML, ExecWB worked for me:

_x000D_
_x000D_
.ExecWB 17, 0_x000D_
'Select all contents in browser_x000D_
.ExecWB 12, 2_x000D_
'Copy them
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_

And then just paste the contents into Excel. Since these methods are prone to runtime errors, but work fine after one or two tries in debug mode, you might have to tell Excel to try again if it runs into an error. I solved this by adding this error handler to the sub, and it works fine:

_x000D_
_x000D_
Sub ApplyHTML()_x000D_
  On Error GoTo ErrorHandler_x000D_
    ..._x000D_
  Exit Sub_x000D_
_x000D_
ErrorHandler:_x000D_
    Resume _x000D_
    'I.e. re-run the line of code that caused the error_x000D_
Exit Sub_x000D_
     _x000D_
End Sub
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


Nice! Very slick.

I was disappointed that Excel doesn't let us paste to a merged cell and also pastes results containing a break into successive rows below the "target" cell though, as that meant it simply doesn't work for me. I tried a few tweaks (unmerge/remerge, etc.) but then Excel dropped anything below a break, so that was a dead end.

Ultimately, I came up with a routine that'll handle simple tags and not use the "native" Unicode converter that is causing the issue with merged fields. Hope others find this useful:

Public Sub AddHTMLFormattedText(rngA As Range, strHTML As String, Optional blnShowBadHTMLWarning As Boolean = False)
    ' Adds converts text formatted with basic HTML tags to formatted text in an Excel cell
    ' NOTE: Font Sizes not handled perfectly per HTML standard, but I find this method more useful!

    Dim strActualText As String, intSrcPos As Integer, intDestPos As Integer, intDestSrcEquiv() As Integer
    Dim varyTags As Variant, varTag As Variant, varEndTag As Variant, blnTagMatch As Boolean
    Dim intCtr As Integer
    Dim intStartPos As Integer, intEndPos As Integer, intActualStartPos As Integer, intActualEndPos As Integer
    Dim intFontSizeStartPos As Integer, intFontSizeEndPos As Integer, intFontSize As Integer

    varyTags = Array("<b>", "</b>", "<i>", "</i>", "<u>", "</u>", "<sub>", "</sub>", "<sup>", "</sup>")

    ' Remove unhandled/unneeded tags, convert <br> and <p> tags to line feeds
    strHTML = Trim(strHTML)
    strHTML = Replace(strHTML, "<html>", "")
    strHTML = Replace(strHTML, "</html>", "")
    strHTML = Replace(strHTML, "<p>", "")
    While LCase(Right$(strHTML, 4)) = "</p>" Or LCase(Right$(strHTML, 4)) = "<br>"
        strHTML = Left$(strHTML, Len(strHTML) - 4)
        strHTML = Trim(strHTML)
    Wend
    strHTML = Replace(strHTML, "<br>", vbLf)
    strHTML = Replace(strHTML, "</p>", vbLf)

    strHTML = Trim(strHTML)

    ReDim intDestSrcEquiv(1 To Len(strHTML))
    strActualText = ""
    intSrcPos = 1
    intDestPos = 1
    Do While intSrcPos <= Len(strHTML)
        blnTagMatch = False
        For Each varTag In varyTags
            If LCase(Mid$(strHTML, intSrcPos, Len(varTag))) = varTag Then
                blnTagMatch = True
                intSrcPos = intSrcPos + Len(varTag)
                If intSrcPos > Len(strHTML) Then Exit Do
                Exit For
            End If
        Next
        If blnTagMatch = False Then
            varTag = "<font size"
            If LCase(Mid$(strHTML, intSrcPos, Len(varTag))) = varTag Then
                blnTagMatch = True
                intEndPos = InStr(intSrcPos, strHTML, ">")
                intSrcPos = intEndPos + 1
                If intSrcPos > Len(strHTML) Then Exit Do
            Else
                varTag = "</font>"
                If LCase(Mid$(strHTML, intSrcPos, Len(varTag))) = varTag Then
                    blnTagMatch = True
                    intSrcPos = intSrcPos + Len(varTag)
                    If intSrcPos > Len(strHTML) Then Exit Do
                End If
            End If
        End If
        If blnTagMatch = False Then
            strActualText = strActualText & Mid$(strHTML, intSrcPos, 1)
            intDestSrcEquiv(intSrcPos) = intDestPos
            intDestPos = intDestPos + 1
            intSrcPos = intSrcPos + 1
        End If
    Loop

    ' Clear any bold/underline/italic/superscript/subscript formatting from cell
    rngA.Font.Bold = False
    rngA.Font.Underline = False
    rngA.Font.Italic = False
    rngA.Font.Subscript = False
    rngA.Font.Superscript = False

    rngA.Value = strActualText

    ' Now start applying Formats!"
    ' Start with Font Size first
    intSrcPos = 1
    intDestPos = 1
    Do While intSrcPos <= Len(strHTML)
        varTag = "<font size"
        If LCase(Mid$(strHTML, intSrcPos, Len(varTag))) = varTag Then
            intFontSizeStartPos = InStr(intSrcPos, strHTML, """") + 1
            intFontSizeEndPos = InStr(intFontSizeStartPos, strHTML, """") - 1
            If intFontSizeEndPos - intFontSizeStartPos <= 3 And intFontSizeEndPos - intFontSizeStartPos > 0 Then
                Debug.Print Mid$(strHTML, intFontSizeStartPos, intFontSizeEndPos - intFontSizeStartPos + 1)
                If Mid$(strHTML, intFontSizeStartPos, 1) = "+" Then
                    intFontSizeStartPos = intFontSizeStartPos + 1
                    intFontSize = 11 + 2 * Mid$(strHTML, intFontSizeStartPos, intFontSizeEndPos - intFontSizeStartPos + 1)
                ElseIf Mid$(strHTML, intFontSizeStartPos, 1) = "-" Then
                    intFontSizeStartPos = intFontSizeStartPos + 1
                    intFontSize = 11 - 2 * Mid$(strHTML, intFontSizeStartPos, intFontSizeEndPos - intFontSizeStartPos + 1)
                Else
                    intFontSize = Mid$(strHTML, intFontSizeStartPos, intFontSizeEndPos - intFontSizeStartPos + 1)
                End If
            Else
                ' Error!
                GoTo HTML_Err
            End If
            intEndPos = InStr(intSrcPos, strHTML, ">")
            intSrcPos = intEndPos + 1
            intStartPos = intSrcPos
            If intSrcPos > Len(strHTML) Then Exit Do
            While intDestSrcEquiv(intStartPos) = 0 And intStartPos < Len(strHTML)
                intStartPos = intStartPos + 1
            Wend
            If intStartPos >= Len(strHTML) Then GoTo HTML_Err ' HTML is bad!
            varEndTag = "</font>"
            intEndPos = InStr(intSrcPos, LCase(strHTML), varEndTag)
            If intEndPos = 0 Then GoTo HTML_Err ' HTML is bad!
            While intDestSrcEquiv(intEndPos) = 0 And intEndPos > intSrcPos
                intEndPos = intEndPos - 1
            Wend
            If intEndPos > intSrcPos Then
                intActualStartPos = intDestSrcEquiv(intStartPos)
                intActualEndPos = intDestSrcEquiv(intEndPos)
                rngA.Characters(intActualStartPos, intActualEndPos - intActualStartPos + 1) _
                    .Font.Size = intFontSize
            End If
        End If
        intSrcPos = intSrcPos + 1
    Loop

    'Now do remaining tags
    intSrcPos = 1
    intDestPos = 1
    Do While intSrcPos <= Len(strHTML)
        If intDestSrcEquiv(intSrcPos) = 0 Then
            ' This must be a Tag!
            For intCtr = 0 To UBound(varyTags) Step 2
                varTag = varyTags(intCtr)
                intStartPos = intSrcPos + Len(varTag)
                While intDestSrcEquiv(intStartPos) = 0 And intStartPos < Len(strHTML)
                    intStartPos = intStartPos + 1
                Wend
                If intStartPos >= Len(strHTML) Then GoTo HTML_Err ' HTML is bad!
                If LCase(Mid$(strHTML, intSrcPos, Len(varTag))) = varTag Then
                    varEndTag = varyTags(intCtr + 1)
                    intEndPos = InStr(intSrcPos, LCase(strHTML), varEndTag)
                    If intEndPos = 0 Then GoTo HTML_Err ' HTML is bad!
                    While intDestSrcEquiv(intEndPos) = 0 And intEndPos > intSrcPos
                        intEndPos = intEndPos - 1
                    Wend
                    If intEndPos > intSrcPos Then
                        intActualStartPos = intDestSrcEquiv(intStartPos)
                        intActualEndPos = intDestSrcEquiv(intEndPos)
                        With rngA.Characters(intActualStartPos, intActualEndPos - intActualStartPos + 1).Font
                            If varTag = "<b>" Then
                                .Bold = True
                            ElseIf varTag = "<i>" Then
                                .Italic = True
                            ElseIf varTag = "<u>" Then
                                .Underline = True
                            ElseIf varTag = "<sup>" Then
                                .Superscript = True
                            ElseIf varTag = "<sub>" Then
                                .Subscript = True
                            End If
                        End With
                    End If
                    intSrcPos = intSrcPos + Len(varTag) - 1
                    Exit For
                End If
            Next
        End If
        intSrcPos = intSrcPos + 1
        intDestPos = intDestPos + 1
    Loop
Exit_Sub:
    Exit Sub
HTML_Err:
    ' There was an error with the Tags. Show warning if requested.
    If blnShowBadHTMLWarning Then
        MsgBox "There was an error with the Tags in the HTML file. Could not apply formatting."
    End If
End Sub

Note this doesn't care about tag nesting, instead only requiring a close tag for every open tag, and assuming the close tag nearest the opening tag applies to the opening tag. Properly nested tags will work fine, while improperly nested tags will not be rejected and may or may not work.


I ran into the same error that BornToCode first identified in the comments of the original solution. Being unfamiliar with Excel and VBA it took me a second to figure out how to implement tiQU's solution. So I'm posting it as a "For Dummies" solution below

  1. First enable developer mode in Excel: Link
  2. Select the Developer Tab > Visual Basic
  3. Click View > Code
  4. Paste the code below updating the lines that require cell references to be correct.
  5. Click the Green Run Arrow or press F5
Sub Sample()
    Dim Ie As Object
    Set Ie = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")
    With Ie
        .Visible = False
        .Navigate "about:blank"
        .document.body.InnerHTML = Sheets("Sheet1").Range("I2").Value
             'update to the cell that contains HTML you want converted
        .ExecWB 17, 0
             'Select all contents in browser
        .ExecWB 12, 2
             'Copy them
        ActiveSheet.Paste Destination:=Sheets("Sheet1").Range("J2")
             'update to cell you want converted HTML pasted in
        .Quit
    End With
End Sub

If the IE example doesn't work use this one. Anyway this should be faster than starting up an instance of IE.

Here is a complete solution based on
http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2005/02/23/html-in-cells-ii/

Note, if your innerHTML is all numbers eg '12345', HTML formatting dosen't fully work in excel as it treats number differently? but add a character eg a trailing space at the end eg. 12345 + "& nbsp;" formats ok.

Sub test()
    Cells(1, 1).Value = "<HTML>1<font color=blue>a</font>" & _
                        "23<font color=red>4</font></HTML>"
    Dim rng As Range
    Set rng = ActiveSheet.Cells(1, 1)
    Worksheet_Change rng, ActiveSheet
End Sub


Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Range, ByVal sht As Worksheet)

    Dim objData As DataObject ' Set a reference to MS Forms 2.0
    Dim sHTML As String
    Dim sSelAdd As String

    Application.EnableEvents = False

    If Target.Cells.Count = 1 Then

            Set objData = New DataObject
            sHTML = Target.Text
            objData.SetText sHTML
            objData.PutInClipboard
            Target.Select
            sht.PasteSpecial Format:="Unicode Text"
    End If

    Application.EnableEvents = True

End Sub

Examples related to vba

Copy filtered data to another sheet using VBA Better way to find last used row Check if a value is in an array or not with Excel VBA Creating an Array from a Range in VBA Excel: macro to export worksheet as CSV file without leaving my current Excel sheet VBA: Convert Text to Number What's the difference between "end" and "exit sub" in VBA? Rename Excel Sheet with VBA Macro Extract Data from PDF and Add to Worksheet Quicker way to get all unique values of a column in VBA?

Examples related to excel

Python: Pandas pd.read_excel giving ImportError: Install xlrd >= 0.9.0 for Excel support Converting unix time into date-time via excel How to increment a letter N times per iteration and store in an array? 'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.16.0' provider is not registered on the local machine. (System.Data) How to import an Excel file into SQL Server? Copy filtered data to another sheet using VBA Better way to find last used row Could pandas use column as index? Check if a value is in an array or not with Excel VBA How to sort dates from Oldest to Newest in Excel?

Examples related to html-parsing

PHP: HTML: send HTML select option attribute in POST Read a HTML file into a string variable in memory Parsing HTML using Python Parse an HTML string with JS HTML Text with tags to formatted text in an Excel cell How do I parse a HTML page with Node.js Regex select all text between tags How to extract string following a pattern with grep, regex or perl How to strip HTML tags from string in JavaScript? How do you parse and process HTML/XML in PHP?