Convert a design straight from its URL

The URL tab in the converter is for designs you've already put online. If your design is still a file on your computer — or it lives inside Claude or ChatGPT — use the File tab instead. Here's how to tell which you need, and how to host a design so the URL tab works.

How the URL tab works

Open the converter, switch to the URL tab, paste a public https:// link to your .html design, and hit Convert. idmly opens the page in a real browser, measures the rendered layout, and builds the .idml — the exact same engine as the file drop. Same two-pages-free trial, same one-time $49 license, same privacy: the page is converted, then deleted.

What works, and what doesn't

The short version: a link that ends at the HTML file works; a link that opens an app or a website doesn't.

idmly keeps the design, not just the text. It rebuilds your layout as editable InDesign frames at their real coordinates, so a fixed-layout design comes through looking like itself. Tools that "import HTML" by reflowing content do the opposite — they pour the text and styles into InDesign and drop the layout. That's the difference, and it's why idmly wants a design, not a web page: a help doc or article has no fixed layout to preserve, so it comes through rough.

Using a design from Claude, ChatGPT, or another AI tool

Claude Designs, Claude artifacts, and ChatGPT canvases are the most common source for idmly — but their share and published links are app pages, not files. A claude.ai link (Design or artifact) opens behind a login and Cloudflare bot protection, so neither idmly nor anything else can pull the raw file from it — and the same goes for ChatGPT and most published-app links. (Paste one into the URL tab and idmly tells you so right away.)

The reliable path takes ten seconds: open the design, download or export the .html, then drop that file into the File tab. That's the same self-contained design the URL tab wishes it could reach — so you get an identical, native .idml.

One catch — idmly needs HTML. Tools that only export PDF, PNG or PowerPoint (Canva and Gamma, for example) can't be converted by idmly at all, by URL or file. Anything that hands you an .html design — Claude, ChatGPT, Figma Make, v0, or hand-coded — works through the File tab.

How to host a design so the URL tab works

If you'd rather paste a link than a file, put the .html somewhere public first. Any of these gives you a direct URL in a minute or two:

• GitHub Pages — commit the .html to a repo, turn on Pages, and use the published URL.
• Vercel, Netlify or Cloudflare Pages — drag the .html in and get an instant public link.
• Any web host, S3 or static bucket — upload the file and link straight to the .html.

Then paste that link into the URL tab. No hosting set up? Skip all of this and use the File tab — no link needed.

After it converts

You get the same native .idml as a file conversion (a zip with a Links folder if the design has images). If idmly couldn't find any page structure — usually because the link pointed at a website rather than a design — it still hands back a file, but pops a heads-up that the result may be rough so you know what happened.

Frequently asked questions