Office DOCX

Office DOCX Skill

Create, edit, and format DOCX documents via CLI tools or direct C# scripts built on OpenXML SDK (.NET).

Setup

First operation in session: run scripts/env_check.sh. Do not proceed if it prints NOT READY.

scripts/setup.sh and scripts/setup.ps1 are explicit environment setup helpers. They may install system packages or modify user-level tool configuration, so run them only after the user has approved environment changes. Use bash scripts/setup.sh --install-deps or powershell scripts/setup.ps1 -InstallDeps.

Quick Start: Direct C# Path

When the task requires structural document manipulation (custom styles, complex tables, multi-section layouts, headers/footers, TOC, images), write C# directly instead of wrestling with CLI limitations. Use this scaffold:

// Use this pattern in a temporary Console project or targeted repo code.
// For bundled commands, use the CLI section below.
// Add the DocumentFormat.OpenXml package before compiling.

using DocumentFormat.OpenXml;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;
using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing;

using var doc = WordprocessingDocument.Create("output.docx", WordprocessingDocumentType.Document);
var mainPart = doc.AddMainDocumentPart();
mainPart.Document = new Document(new Body());

// --- Your logic here ---
// Read the relevant Samples/*.cs file FIRST for tested patterns.
// See Samples/ table in References section below.

Before writing any C#, read the relevant Samples/*.cs file — they contain compilable, SDK-version-verified patterns. The Samples table in the References section below maps topics to files.

CLI shorthand

All CLI commands below use $CLI as shorthand for:

dotnet run --project scripts/dotnet/OfficeDocx.Cli --

Pipeline routing

Route by checking: does the user have an input .docx file?

User task
├─ No input file → Pipeline A: CREATE
│   signals: "write", "create", "draft", "generate", "new", "make a report/proposal/memo"
│   → Read references/scenario_a_create.md
│
└─ Has input .docx
    ├─ Replace/fill/modify content → Pipeline B: FILL-EDIT
    │   signals: "fill in", "replace", "update", "change text", "add section", "edit"
    │   → Read references/scenario_b_edit_content.md
    │
    └─ Reformat/apply style/template → Pipeline C: FORMAT-APPLY
        signals: "reformat", "apply template", "restyle", "match this format", "套模板", "排版"
        ├─ Template is pure style (no content) → C-1: OVERLAY (apply styles to source)
        └─ Template has structure (cover/TOC/example sections) → C-2: BASE-REPLACE
            (use template as base, replace example content with user content)
        → Read references/scenario_c_apply_template.md

If the request spans multiple pipelines, run them sequentially (e.g., Create then Format-Apply).

Pre-processing

Convert .doc → .docx if needed: scripts/doc_to_docx.sh input.doc output_dir/

Preview before editing (avoids reading raw XML): scripts/docx_preview.sh document.docx

Analyze structure for editing scenarios: $CLI analyze --input document.docx

Scenario A: Create

Read references/scenario_a_create.md, references/typography_guide.md, and references/design_principles.md first. Pick an aesthetic recipe from Samples/AestheticRecipeSamples.cs that matches the document type — do not invent formatting values. For CJK, also read references/cjk_typography.md.

Choose your path:

• Simple (plain text, minimal formatting): use CLI — $CLI create --type report --output out.docx --content-json content.json
• Structural (custom styles, multi-section, TOC, images, complex tables): write C# directly. Read the relevant Samples/*.cs first.

CLI options: --type (report|letter|memo|academic), --title, --author, --page-size (letter|a4|legal|a3), --margins (standard|narrow|wide), --header, --footer, --page-numbers, --toc, --content-json.

Then run the validation pipeline (below).

Scenario B: Edit / Fill

Read references/scenario_b_edit_content.md first. Preview → analyze → edit → validate.

Choose your path:

• Simple (text replacement, placeholder fill): use CLI subcommands.
• Structural (add/reorganize sections, modify styles, manipulate tables, insert images): write C# directly. Read references/openxml_element_order.md and the relevant Samples/*.cs.

Available CLI edit subcommands:

• replace-text --search "X" --replace "Y" with optional --regex
• list-placeholders with optional --pattern
• fill-placeholders --mapping values.json with optional --pattern
• fill-table --table-index 0 --csv rows.csv with optional --append
• insert-paragraph --text "..." with optional --style and --after-paragraph
• update-field --field TITLE --value "New Title"

$CLI edit replace-text --input in.docx --output out.docx --search "OLD" --replace "NEW"
$CLI edit fill-placeholders --input in.docx --output out.docx --mapping values.json
$CLI edit fill-table --input in.docx --output out.docx --table-index 0 --csv rows.csv

Then run the validation pipeline. Also run diff to verify minimal changes:

$CLI diff --before in.docx --after out.docx

Scenario C: Apply Template

Read references/scenario_c_apply_template.md first. Preview and analyze both source and template.

$CLI apply-template --input source.docx --template template.docx --output out.docx

For complex template operations (multi-template merge, per-section headers/footers, style merging), write C# directly — see Critical Rules below for required patterns.

Run the validation pipeline, then compare against the template:

$CLI validate --input out.docx --business
$CLI validate --input out.docx --gate-check template.docx

The --gate-check argument is a template DOCX, not an XSD file. Do NOT deliver until validation passes. If it fails: diagnose, fix, re-run.

Also diff to verify content preservation: $CLI diff --before source.docx --after out.docx

Validation pipeline

Run after every write operation. For Scenario C the full pipeline is mandatory; for A/B it is recommended (skip only if the operation was trivially simple).

$CLI merge-runs --input doc.docx                                    # 1. consolidate runs
$CLI validate --input doc.docx --xsd assets/xsd/wml-subset.xsd     # 2. XSD structure
$CLI validate --input doc.docx --business                           # 3. business rules

If XSD fails, auto-repair and retry:

$CLI fix-order --input doc.docx
$CLI validate --input doc.docx --xsd assets/xsd/wml-subset.xsd

If XSD still fails, fall back to business rules + preview:

$CLI validate --input doc.docx --business
scripts/docx_preview.sh doc.docx
# Verify: font contamination=0, table count correct, drawing count correct, sectPr count correct

Final preview: scripts/docx_preview.sh doc.docx

Critical rules

These prevent file corruption — OpenXML is strict about element ordering.

Element order (properties always first):

Direct format contamination: When copying content from a source document, inline rPr (fonts, color) and pPr (borders, shading, spacing) override template styles. Always strip direct formatting — keep only pStyle reference and t text. Clean tables too (including pPr/rPr inside cells).

Track changes: <w:del> uses <w:delText>, never <w:t>. <w:ins> uses <w:t>, never <w:delText>.

Font size: w:sz = points × 2 (12pt → sz="24"). Margins/spacing in DXA (1 inch = 1440, 1cm ≈ 567).

Heading styles MUST have OutlineLevel: When defining heading styles (Heading1, ThesisH1, etc.), always include new OutlineLevel { Val = N } in StyleParagraphProperties (H1→0, H2→1, H3→2). Without this, Word sees them as plain styled text — TOC and navigation pane won't work.

Multi-template merge: When given multiple template files (font, heading, breaks), read references/scenario_c_apply_template.md section "Multi-Template Merge" FIRST. Key rules:

• Merge styles from all templates into one styles.xml. Structure (sections/breaks) comes from the breaks template.
• Each content paragraph must appear exactly ONCE — never duplicate when inserting section breaks.
• NEVER insert empty/blank paragraphs as padding or section separators. Output paragraph count must equal input. Use section break properties (w:sectPr inside w:pPr) and style spacing (w:spacing before/after) for visual separation.
• Insert oddPage section breaks before EVERY chapter heading, not just the first. Even if a chapter has dual-column content, it MUST start with oddPage; use a second continuous break after the heading for column switching.
• Dual-column chapters need THREE section breaks: (1) oddPage in preceding para's pPr, (2) continuous+cols=2 in the chapter HEADING's pPr, (3) continuous+cols=1 in the last body para's pPr to revert.
• Copy titlePg settings from the breaks template for EACH section. Abstract and TOC sections typically need titlePg=true.

Multi-section headers/footers: Templates with 10+ sections (e.g., Chinese thesis) have DIFFERENT headers/footers per section (Roman vs Arabic page numbers, different header text per zone). Rules:

• Use C-2 Base-Replace: copy the TEMPLATE as output base, then replace body content. This preserves all sections, headers, footers, and titlePg settings automatically.
• NEVER recreate headers/footers from scratch — copy template header/footer XML byte-for-byte.
• NEVER add formatting (borders, alignment, font size) not present in the template header XML.
• Non-cover sections MUST have header/footer XML files (at least empty header + page number footer).
• See references/scenario_c_apply_template.md section "Multi-Section Header/Footer Transfer".

References

Load as needed — don't load all at once. Pick the most relevant files for the task.

The C# samples and design references below are the project's knowledge base ("encyclopedia"). When writing OpenXML code, ALWAYS read the relevant sample file first — it contains compilable, SDK-version-verified patterns that prevent common errors. When making aesthetic decisions, read the design principles and recipe files — they encode tested, harmonious parameter sets from authoritative sources (IEEE, ACM, APA, Nature, etc.), not guesses.

Scenario guides (read first for each pipeline)

C# code samples (compilable, heavily commented — read when writing code)

Note: Samples/ path is relative to scripts/dotnet/OfficeDocx.Core/.

Markdown references (read when you need specifications or design rules)