okay--i think i have solved this. convoluted but doable and sharing because this might help someone else.
save the file as a filtered web page.
go to notepad, open the file, add the line <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">, save
then go word, save (which will return it to a regular word web page). the meta name remains in the file so it will work on cell phones with the right size text and you won't have to hit the confirm you know the filtered page removes office tags.