File Format & Compatibility

How to Convert Access Rich Text HTML to RTF for VB.NET RichTextBox

Ayan Masood Sep 30, 2026 870 views

Question details

The user needs to display Microsoft Access rich text, which is stored natively as HTML, in a VB.NET RichTextBox that requires RTF format, typically after migrating the database to SQL Server.

Convert Access Rich Text HTML to RTF for a VB.NET RichTextBox

Product: Microsoft Access, SQL Server, VB.NET
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Migrating an MS Access database with rich-text Long Text fields to SQL Server and attempting to display the migrated text in a VB.NET desktop application.
Observed behavior: The data appears as raw HTML tags (e.g., div, font, strong) in the SQL Server varchar(max) field, which the VB.NET RichTextBox cannot natively render without being converted to standard RTF.

Before you start

Ensure you have a reliable backup of your SQL Server database before running batch conversions, and familiarize yourself with third-party .NET HTML-to-RTF library options.

Solution 1Recommended

Use a Dedicated HTML-to-RTF Conversion Library

The most robust method is to utilize a specialized .NET library that handles the complex mappings between HTML tags and RTF headers.

Access rich text is inherently stored as HTML. Directly porting it to a VB.NET RichTextBox requires translating HTML tags into RTF syntax, which involves defining fonts and color tables in the RTF header.

Avoid using the deprecated WebBrowser document.execCommand approach as it is unsupported and prone to rendering issues.

Select a library

Choose a reputable third-party HTML-to-RTF library compatible with your VB.NET project framework (e.g., via NuGet Package Manager).

Implement the conversion routine

Pass the retrieved SQL Server varchar(max) HTML string into the library's conversion method to generate standard RTF.

Assign to RichTextBox

Set the output string directly to the Rtf property of your VB.NET RichTextBox, rather than the Text property.

Use a Dedicated HTML-to-RTF Conversion Library

RTF Header Definitions: Ensure your conversion logic successfully builds the RTF header to include usable fonts and colors, referencing them by their sequence number in the markup.

Solution 2

Develop a Custom HTML to RTF Parser

If you want to avoid third-party dependencies and your stored HTML is relatively simple, you can build a custom string manipulation or RegEx-based parser.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Microsoft Access store rich text as HTML instead of RTF?

Microsoft Access uses HTML to format rich-text Long Text fields to ensure web compatibility and ease of integration with modern web-based applications, diverging from older RTF standards.

Can I use the VB.NET WebBrowser control to handle the HTML to RTF conversion?

It is highly discouraged to rely on the deprecated WebBrowser document.execCommand approach. It can be unreliable, poses security risks, and may lack proper support in newer Windows environments.

How do I correctly display the converted text in my VB.NET RichTextBox?

Once your HTML string is properly converted to RTF syntax, you must assign the result directly to the RichTextBox.Rtf property rather than the RichTextBox.Text property to ensure the formatting renders correctly.

Does WPS Office support saving files as RTF or HTML?

Yes, WPS Writer allows you to open, edit, and save documents in both RTF and HTML formats, making it easy to inspect or manually convert rich text files outside of programmatic .NET environments.

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