docx

# DOCX creation, editing, and analysis

Overview

A user may ask you to create, edit, or analyze the contents of a .docx file. A .docx file is essentially a ZIP archive containing XML files and other resources that you can read or edit. You have different tools and workflows available for different tasks.

Workflow Decision Tree

Reading/Analyzing Content

Use "Text extraction" or "Raw XML access" sections below

Creating New Document

Use "Creating a new Word document" workflow

Editing Existing Document

Use "Basic OOXML editing" workflow

Use **"Redlining workflow"** (recommended default)

Use **"Redlining workflow"** (required)

Reading and analyzing content

Text extraction

If you just need to read the text contents of a document, you should convert the document to markdown using pandoc. Pandoc provides excellent support for preserving document structure and can show tracked changes:

# Convert document to markdown with tracked changes

pandoc --track-changes=all path-to-file.docx -o output.md

# Options: --track-changes=accept/reject/all

Raw XML access

You need raw XML access for: comments, complex formatting, document structure, embedded media, and metadata. For any of these features, you'll need to unpack a document and read its raw XML contents.

#### Unpacking a file

`python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <office_file> <output_directory>`

#### Key file structures

* `word/document.xml` - Main document contents

* `word/comments.xml` - Comments referenced in document.xml

* `word/media/` - Embedded images and media files

* Tracked changes use `<w:ins>` (insertions) and `<w:del>` (deletions) tags

Creating a new Word document

When creating a new Word document from scratch, use **docx-js**, which allows you to create Word documents using JavaScript/TypeScript.

Workflow

Editing an existing Word document

When editing an existing Word document, use the **Document library** (a Python library for OOXML manipulation). The library automatically handles infrastructure setup and provides methods for document manipulation. For complex scenarios, you can access the underlying DOM directly through the library.

Workflow

The Document library provides both high-level methods for common operations and direct DOM access for complex scenarios.

Redlining workflow for document review

This workflow allows you to plan comprehensive tracked changes using markdown before implementing them in OOXML. **CRITICAL**: For complete tracked changes, you must implement ALL changes systematically.

**Batching Strategy**: Group related changes into batches of 3-10 changes. This makes debugging manageable while maintaining efficiency. Test each batch before moving to the next.

**Principle: Minimal, Precise Edits**

When implementing tracked changes, only mark text that actually changes. Repeating unchanged text makes edits harder to review and appears unprofessional. Break replacements into: [unchanged text] + [deletion] + [insertion] + [unchanged text]. Preserve the original run's RSID for unchanged text by extracting the `<w:r>` element from the original and reusing it.

Example - Changing "30 days" to "60 days" in a sentence:

# BAD - Replaces entire sentence

'<w:del><w:r><w:delText>The term is 30 days.</w:delText></w:r></w:del><w:ins><w:r><w:t>The term is 60 days.</w:t></w:r></w:ins>'

# GOOD - Only marks what changed, preserves original <w:r> for unchanged text

'<w:r w:rsidR="00AB12CD"><w:t>The term is </w:t></w:r><w:del><w:r><w:delText>30</w:delText></w:r></w:del><w:ins><w:r><w:t>60</w:t></w:r></w:ins><w:r w:rsidR="00AB12CD"><w:t> days.</w:t></w:r>'

Tracked changes workflow

```bash

pandoc --track-changes=all path-to-file.docx -o current.md

```

**Location methods** (for finding changes in XML):

- Section/heading numbers (e.g., "Section 3.2", "Article IV")

- Paragraph identifiers if numbered

- Grep patterns with unique surrounding text

- Document structure (e.g., "first paragraph", "signature block")

- **DO NOT use markdown line numbers** - they don't map to XML structure

**Batch organization** (group 3-10 related changes per batch):

- By section: "Batch 1: Section 2 amendments", "Batch 2: Section 5 updates"

- By type: "Batch 1: Date corrections", "Batch 2: Party name changes"

- By complexity: Start with simple text replacements, then tackle complex structural changes

- Sequential: "Batch 1: Pages 1-3", "Batch 2: Pages 4-6"

- **MANDATORY - READ ENTIRE FILE**: Read [`ooxml.md`](ooxml.md) (~600 lines) completely from start to finish. **NEVER set any range limits when reading this file.** Pay special attention to the "Document Library" and "Tracked Change Patterns" sections.

- **Unpack the document**: `python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <file.docx> <dir>`

- **Note the suggested RSID**: The unpack script will suggest an RSID to use for your tracked changes. Copy this RSID for use in step 4b.

- Makes debugging easier (smaller batch = easier to isolate errors)

- Allows incremental progress

- Maintains efficiency (batch size of 3-10 changes works well)

**Suggested batch groupings:**

- By document section (e.g., "Section 3 changes", "Definitions", "Termination clause")

- By change type (e.g., "Date changes", "Party name updates", "Legal term replacements")

- By proximity (e.g., "Changes on pages 1-3", "Changes in first half of document")

For each batch of related changes:

**a. Map text to XML**: Grep for text in `word/document.xml` to verify how text is split across `<w:r>` elements.

**b. Create and run script**: Use `get_node` to find nodes, implement changes, then `doc.save()`. See **"Document Library"** section in ooxml.md for patterns.

**Note**: Always grep `word/document.xml` immediately before writing a script to get current line numbers and verify text content. Line numbers change after each script run.

```bash

python ooxml/scripts/pack.py unpacked reviewed-document.docx

```

- Convert final document to markdown:

```bash

pandoc --track-changes=all reviewed-document.docx -o verification.md

```

- Verify ALL changes were applied correctly:

```bash

grep "original phrase" verification.md # Should NOT find it

grep "replacement phrase" verification.md # Should find it

```

- Check that no unintended changes were introduced

Converting Documents to Images

To visually analyze Word documents, convert them to images using a two-step process:

```bash

soffice --headless --convert-to pdf document.docx

```

```bash

pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 document.pdf page

```

This creates files like `page-1.jpg`, `page-2.jpg`, etc.

Options:

Example for specific range:

pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 -f 2 -l 5 document.pdf page # Converts only pages 2-5

Code Style Guidelines

**IMPORTANT**: When generating code for DOCX operations:

Dependencies

Required dependencies (install if not available):