To convert a Microsoft Word .doc document or a Webpage to wiki markup format or wikitext (the special syntax or code used to format a page when editing a wiki), the conversion tools linked to on Wikipedia are the easiest way, though I've found that some tools are easier than others, and various links there are broken.
For me, the two ways which worked the best were:
- Convert Word to HTML via Gmail, then convert the Webpage's HTML to wikitext with Emiliano Bruni's excellent HTML2Wiki Converter (where you paste the raw HTML code into the top box, and the wiki code appears in the bottom box which you can copy and paste into your wiki). Or (less good in its conversions, I found) -
- Convert Word to wiki direct using a Word macro - Word2MediaWikiPlus worked OK, though nowhere near as well as the above, for a MediaWiki wiki and PBWiki wiki that I tried them on (and those are probably two of the more popular wiki software platforms around); the results needed quite a lot of tidying. This installs a new toolbar in Word, which I've outlined in red in the pic below.
I'm posting about both methods as it may depend on which wiki you're using, the syntax may be slightly different (it doesn't seem to be fully standardised yet) - so a converter which works for one type of wiki may not work so well for another, you need to figure out which one works for you and there are more tools on the Wikipedia tools page you can try.
Tips for beginners:
- If installing Word2MediaWikiPlus, you may need to download it from another mirror ("Select another mirror?") if the first download or the direct link don't work. To install it after you've unpacked the download, open the Word2MediaWikiPlus_Installer.doc (click Enable macros if necessary to access it). Follow the instructions about changing the settings in Word's Tools, Macro, Security options before you try to click the "Install or update macro" button in that document and, although it's in their diagram it's not in their written instructions so I'm just adding this: be sure to tick "Trust access to Visual Basic Project" as well as "Trust all installed add-ins and templates", or it won't work.
- To convert a Webpage you need to view its source (menu View, Source or Page Source to open it in Notepad etc), then copy just the bit between the <body> and </body> bits (but excluding those tags themselves) and convert that with HTML2Wiki.
Tags:
4 comments:
I did a double take when I saw this article pop up in my feed reader. I was just wondering if there was a tool for this! Great minds think alike I suppose :)
I'd love to hear how people organize there wikis. I think there is great potential for moving all my random notes and documents into a structured wiki format.
Hey Scott! Thanks for the comment, glad the post was timely!
Yeah, great minds... ;D
I agree, I'm still looking for the ideal note-taking software (what do you use?). May try WikidPad.
I found this post very useful too, thanks for putting it up.
As for notetakers, try Surfulater, I find it very useful. Its a combo url bookmarker/notetaker.
The folks at webworks.com have a desktop software solution that converts one or more word documents into wiki pages and publishes it automatically to the selected wiki server.
Post a Comment