I learned these by studying email viruses that had come my way, and by picking around Microsoft's spotty documentation. To run them, I think you will need to install Microsoft's Windows Script Host program. Of course it only works on Windows.
For other, cross-platform, resources on exporting MS documents, look for the following: antiword, wv, and the jakarta POI project.
Export excel spreadsheet to html. Export powerpoint presentation to a series of gif images, even a html/javascript slideshow. Export word document to html.
