Using the Batch Converter

The WordToWeb Batch Converter provides a visual interface which makes it easy to create and manage batch scripts. There is also a command line interface for running conversions.

To run the WordToWeb Batch Converter

Select the Batch Converter icon from the WordToWeb 2.5 group under the Start menu.

The Batch Converter's Visual Interface

The Batch Converter consists of a dialog box with two tabs: Settings and Files to Convert.

Within the Settings tab, the following options are available:

This is the path to a WordToWeb batch script file (.wbt file). The batch script file keeps track of all projects/documents you want to convert and other settings. Once you have set up a batch script file, you can re-run the full conversion at any time simply by opening the file and clicking the Run button.

The Batch Converter can run two types of conversions:

• Convert Multiple Documents, each into a separate HTML Publication With this option, you select a number of Word documents and specify a WordToWeb project to govern the conversions. Each document is converted into a separate publication (each with its own table of contents, index, etc.). The documents are not linked together. If you choose this option, you also need to select a project file which specifies how the documents will be converted and an output directory where the HTML files will be created. This option makes it easy to convert a large number of documents without the need to first create a WordToWeb project for each document.

This option is used only to convert multiple documents into separate publications. If you want to convert multiple documents and link them together as part of the same publication, you do not need to use the Batch Converter—simply create a new WordToWeb project and add all the documents in the first Wizard panel.

• Convert Multiple WordToWeb Projects With this option, you can automatically convert multiple projects, each of which may reference one or more source files. The projects must have been previously defined using the WordToWeb wizard.

Microsoft Word Location allows you to specify the path to Microsoft Word. This setting is optional and is primarily useful if you have more than one version of MS Word installed on your computer. If no path is specified, the Batch Converter will use the default location. The Batch Converter must interface with Word 97 or later to work properly.

The Files to Convert Tab allows you to specify the files to be converted by the batch script.

The type of file to be converted depends on the conversion type you selected in the Settings tab. If you choose to convert documents, then you will specify source (usually .doc or .rtf) files here. If you choose to convert projects, you will specify .w2w project files.

Use the directory controls on the left to locate the files you want and then press the Add >> and << Remove buttons to list the files in the list box on the right.

You can also specify wildcards (* and ?) using the button at the top center. For example, to convert all Word documents in a particular directory, specify "*.doc".

Click the Run button. This will save any changes to the batch script file, start Microsoft Word and begin the conversion. We recommend that you close any running Windows applications, including Microsoft Word, before running a batch conversion.

Click the Close button. You will be asked if you want to save changes to the batch script.

When you use the Batch Converter, the table of contents and index HTML files created by WordToWeb will be prefixed by the project name. This is necessary because the Batch Converter may place the HTML files for more than one project in the same directory.

Running the Batch Converter from the Command Line

You can run the WordToWeb Batch Converter from the command line using the following syntax:

<path1>\w2wbatch.exe <path2>\myscript.wbt

Where myscript.wbt is a batch script file created previously using the Batch Converter.

<path1>\w2wbatch.exe <path2>\myproj.w2w

Where myproj.w2w is a WordToWeb project file.