I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to use Apps Script to add HTML-formatted text to a Google Doc while keeping the formatting intact. For instance, if I have some HTML like this:
<p><b>Hey there!</b> How's it <i>going</i>?</p>
Is there a way to make it show up in the Google Doc as bold and italic text, just like it would in a web browser? I’ve looked around but haven’t found any clear answers. Does anyone know if there’s a built-in function or maybe a library that can handle this kind of HTML-to-Google Docs conversion? It would be super helpful for a project I’m working on. Thanks for any tips!
While there’s no direct method to convert HTML to Google Docs formatting via Apps Script, a workaround can be developed by parsing the HTML and applying the corresponding formatting. One approach is to use regular expressions to identify HTML tags and extract their content. Then you can add the text to the document using methods like appendParagraph() and apply formatting using functions such as setBold() or setItalic(). This strategy works for basic HTML, though more complex structures may require sophisticated techniques like an HTML parsing library or the XmlService. Testing with your specific case is recommended.
I’ve actually tackled this issue before in one of my projects. While there’s no direct built-in function to convert HTML to Google Docs formatting, you can achieve this with a bit of custom scripting. What worked for me was parsing the HTML string and then using the appropriate Google Docs methods to apply formatting.
For example, you can use DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getBody().appendParagraph() to add text, and then apply bold or italic formatting with methods like setBold() or setItalic(). It takes some work to set up, but once you have the parsing logic in place, it’s quite powerful.
One caveat: complex HTML with nested elements or extensive CSS might be tricky to replicate exactly. But for basic formatting like bold, italic, underline, and simple structures, it’s definitely doable. If you’re dealing with a lot of HTML, you might want to look into using an HTML parsing library to make the process easier.
yea, i’ve done something similar before. you can use regex to find the html tags and then use apps script to apply the formatting. it’s not perfect but works for basic stuff. you might need to tweak it for more complex html. good luck with your project!