How to save a file as HTML (and actually send it to someone)

Saving an HTML file is easy. Sending one so the other person sees a web page, and not a screen of code or a "this file type may be harmful" warning, is where it goes sideways.

First: what is an HTML file?

It's a plain text file that a browser reads and turns into a web page. The text includes tags like <h1> and <p> that say "this is a heading," "this is a paragraph." Name it something ending in .html and every browser on earth knows what to do with it.

How to save an HTML file

From a text editor (Notepad, TextEdit, VS Code):

1. Paste or write your HTML.
2. File > Save As.
3. Name it something.html. Not .txt. Not something.html.txt, which Windows will do to you if "Save as type" is set to Text Documents. Set it to All Files.
4. On a Mac in TextEdit, first do Format > Make Plain Text, or it saves rich text with HTML inside it, which is as useful as it sounds.

From a web page in your browser:

• Press Ctrl+S (Windows) or Cmd+S (Mac).
• Pick Webpage, Complete if you want the images too. You'll get an .html file and a folder. Keep them together, they're a couple.

From ChatGPT, Claude or another AI:

• Claude: if the page shows up as an artifact (the preview panel next to the chat), use the download option in the menu at the top of that panel. You get a ready-made .html file. Button names move around now and then, but it's always up there.
• ChatGPT: ask it "give me this as a downloadable .html file." It replies with a link. Click it and the file lands in your Downloads folder.
• Any other AI: copy the code block (there's usually a copy button on it), paste it into a text editor and save it as .html, as above.
• Then double-click the file to check it opens as a page, not as code. If it opens as code, see how to open an HTML file.

How to send an HTML file

Here's where it gets annoying.

Email attachment. Works, sometimes. Gmail and Outlook may block it or flag it. The person then has to download it, find it, open it in a browser (and see how to open an HTML file when it opens in Notepad). On a phone, they'll mostly see code.

Zip it. If the page has images or other files, zip the whole folder. Better, but now you're asking someone to unzip a thing to look at a thing.

Send a link instead. Upload the file and send the web address. The other person clicks, sees the page, on any device. This is the one that doesn't generate follow-up questions. Kenso's free HTML to link tool does exactly this, no account.

Why you shouldn't email versions back and forth

If you're sending an HTML file to get feedback, you'll get it back as: an edited copy (index-final-v2-SAM.html), a screenshot, a WhatsApp message, and a comment in a meeting nobody wrote down. Then you merge it all by hand. Ask anyone who's done it, it's a hobby nobody chose.

Kenso keeps one shared version that everyone comments on. When you make changes, you upload a new version and the comments stay with it.

Quick recap: save as .html with "All Files" selected. Send a link, not an attachment.