There is no magic button to flawlessly convert documents to EDGAR HTML. It is true; the tools now available have greatly reduced the time and increased the accuracy of the conversion process, but these tools still need help along the way.
If your document is primarily for EDGAR filing purposes, here are a few tips to use to help us speed up the conversion process, keep your documents looking professional, reduce the page count, and save your company money.
The Basics
Wide Margins…ditch them.
Standard EDGAR HTML documents don’t use page margins, because they technically aren’t pages and aren’t designed for printing. So while your word document may look nice with a one inch margin (or larger), it limits the amount of words on the page, thus creating more pages. The conversion result usually is that the HTML page on your screen consists of only a few paragraphs with a lot of page break markers in between. Typically, our EDGAR conversion specialists change these Word page margins to half inch or sometimes even a quarter inch (for covers) to help reduce the page count. A reduced page count helps reduce the cost to you.
For Microsoft Word 2007, margin adjustment can be found under the “Page Layout” tab. Just select “Narrow” when you are ready to start a new document and you are good to go.
Why the large font?
For EDGAR HTML documents, we use 10pt, or HTML font size 2, for standard text. This helps ensure that content flows properly and again reduces the page count.
Hey, don’t leave me hangin’!
Because pages in MS Word are a fixed size, it’s easy to flow content onto the following page and have it look natural. EDGAR HTML is different in that it is fluid according to the browser window and screen size. A Word page ending mid-sentence can look strange and out of place in EDGAR HTML. If you do not intend to use your Word document for printing, try ending the page at the end of a paragraph. This will create a cleaner look and helps ensure that content stays together.
The easiest way to achieve this is to highlight the text you wish to keep together and then select the “Keep with next” option under the “Line and Page Breaks” tab in the Paragraph settings.
Section Breaks vs. Page Breaks.
We often come across documents that contain section breaks at the end of each page, with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Section breaks are a great way to end specific formatting for headers, footers and margins, but if your document is consistent throughout in this regard, page breaks are preferred. It will save you the headache of having to go back and format particular pages to match the style of the document should there be any style changes.
Check back soon for part 2, where we delve into more helpful tips and tackle financial tables.