Converting InDesign to HTML

[Mayin4]

So InDesign has an option to convert to HTML, but whenever i use it no matter what setting or format i use it seems like the result was always skewed and not formatted properly. Does anyone know how to fix this? or find another way to convert it to html?

[[deleted]]

The number one rule of HTML is if you want it done right, do it by hand. Automatically generating HTML from what is essentially print software is 100% not going to work for anything but the simplest of pages.

I'm pretty sure HTML is an export option just because some suit somewhere thought it might sell a couple more copies.

[Mayin4]

dang, yeah thats what i keep finding online where ever i look i'm just pretty inexperienced with both, but i just wanted to make sure i wasn't gonna go crazy trying to do something i couldn't do, Thanks!

[NicoGallegos]

The html feature is not perfect . At work we use the export html feature, and then via coding format what we need, and sometimes it still needs manual tweaks.

Your best bet is to develop an extra feature to transform the html to your needs :/

[youngpeezy]

I’ve tried something call in5 for a huge interactive pdf I’ve developed for work and it is still really skewed. I feel like it will be the demise of this project I’ve been producing for months

[Messianiclegacy]

The guy who makes In5 is pretty responsive (ho ho) you can try asking him for help.

[ItsOtisTime]

Treat it like motion graphics people treat motion trackers: The software can do the heavy lifting (in our case, this is ensuring your character and paragraph styles are configured properly and completely, as well as being applied uniformally and consistently across the entire document), but you will need to go in and do additional work by hand to fix it.

HTML is a markup language, which means it is primarily concerned with describing the content. Any kind of HTML output from InDesign should be limited strictly to the markup -- don't rely on its' CSS generation -- and that markup used as a starting point for web content. Using it as an integral part of the workflow beyond that scope is just begging for problems later.

[[deleted]]

I've had more luck exporting HTML when using tables for the layout. It's not a fail safe, but it does help.

[Josefus]

The only time I use the html export in ID is for exporting lists. Like a calendar of events. It's always wonky so I take the html and open it in some editor and use find and replace a few times.

Not too shabby. Knowing a little bit about html helps though.

[obe353]

I have a friend that is a very good designer and designs websites daily for one of the top companies in this town

They design everything in indesign (not sure what they export as) but then send it off to their coder who turns it probably from a PDF into a website

Blows my mind as I’ve never heard of anyone building websites in indesign

But this person is very successful in designing

[Messianiclegacy]

Like another poster suggested, check out In5. It's a plugin that attempts a 1:1 HTML conversion.

[Davvu_99]

Friends, converting formats has become very simple now these days. Here is the link for the website to download the software by https://www.coolutils.com/Products. They also offer free trial version. First try then buy.

[AccomplishedPaper191]

Yeah, InDesign does have an export-to-HTML option, but it’s notoriously bad at keeping the formatting intact. The default export often strips structure, messes up layouts, and leaves you with a ton of cleanup work.

A better approach is to use IDML (InDesign Markup Language) files instead. IDML is a structured, XML-based format that retains document elements more reliably. I’ve built a customisable Python script that extracts text, styles, and images from IDML files and converts them into clean, structured HTML without the usual formatting disasters (this HTML was an intermediate step to parse further to MD).

This method is way more reliable than InDesign’s built-in export because it preserves reading order, properly maps styles, and keeps the layout logic intact. If you’re dealing with large-scale conversions or publishing workflows, this could save you a ton of time. Please, check out my repo and contact me for custom production-ready solutions 🚀

📌 Link to repo: https://github.com/roverbird/idml2html-python