Paper2tex

paper2tex — Academic Paper Word-to-LaTeX Converter

Converts academic .docx papers into publication-ready, compiling LaTeX documents tailored to any conference or journal theme (IEEE, ACM, Springer LNCS, Elsevier, NeurIPS, ICML, CVPR, MDPI, Nature).

Mandatory Step 0: Figure Source Clarification

Before executing the extraction pipeline, the agent MUST ALWAYS ask the user:

"Do you have a dedicated figures/ folder with high-resolution or vector images (e.g., ./figures), or should I extract the embedded images directly from the Word document? (Reply with your folder path or simply 'extract')"

• If the user replies 'extract': Run python -m scripts.extract input.docx work_dir/. The pipeline will automatically extract, normalize, and auto-rotate all embedded drawings from .docx.
• If the user provides a folder path (e.g., ./figures or C:/assets/figs): Run python -m scripts.extract input.docx work_dir/ --figures-dir <path>. The pipeline will match your high-res vector (.pdf, .svg) and raster (.png, .jpg >= 300 DPI) files to document figures.

Quick Start

Run the end-to-end extraction and assembly pipeline:

# 1. Verify system toolchain
python -m scripts.preflight

# 2. Extract content, math (OMML), tables, figures, and bibliography
python -m scripts.extract input.docx work_dir/ [--figures-dir <path>]

# 3. Apply target conference theme (or analyze custom template zip)
python -m scripts.template_spec "ieee-conference" work_dir/

# 4. Assemble main.tex with template-aware subfigures & seamless float flow
python -m scripts.assemble work_dir/

# 5. Compile and run visual QA verification
python -m scripts.compile work_dir/main.tex
python -m scripts.visual_qa work_dir/main.pdf work_dir/

Workflow Stages

STAGE 0: FIGURE INQUIRY  → Ask user for figures/ folder or "extract" confirmation
STAGE 1: PREFLIGHT       → Check pandoc, tectonic/latexmk, lxml, Pillow, pymupdf
STAGE 2: PREPROCESS      → Strip tracked changes, fix Symbol font trap, map field codes
STAGE 3: EXTRACT         → Parallel extractors for OMML math, tables, figures, bib
STAGE 4: THEME SPEC      → Match recipe (IEEE/ACM/LNCS) or research via Firecrawl
STAGE 5: AST ASSEMBLE    → Deterministic assembly with template-aware subfigures & subfloats
STAGE 6: COMPILE LOOP    → Engine selection (XeLaTeX/pdfLaTeX) + automated log auto-fix
STAGE 7: VERIFICATION    → Manifest diff + special character audit + Visual QA
STAGE 8: DELIVER         → submission/ folder (.tex, .bib, figures/, .pdf, report.md)

Core Architectural Guarantees

1. 100% Verbatim Prose Preservation: Maps Markdown AST directly to LaTeX. Zero dropped paragraphs, zero paraphrasing, zero text alteration.
2. OpenXML Rotation & Flip Normalization: Accurately parses <a:xfrm rot="..."> to prevent sideways/rotated images.
3. Template-Aware Subfigures: Uses \usepackage[caption=false,font=footnotesize]{subfig} with \subfloat for IEEEtran and subcaption for acmart/llncs.
4. Subcaption Decomposition: Splits composite captions with (a), (b), (c) into individual panel captions.
5. Seamless Float Flow: Eliminates disruptive \FloatBarrier injections before sections. Floats place naturally ([!t], [b]) with zero blank page voids.
6. Deterministic OMML Math: Word equations convert directly to LaTeX via MathML XSLT — never through LLM text re-emission.

Documentation & References

• Layout & Float Rules: See LAYOUT_GUIDELINES.md for figure sizing, subfigure geometry, and table formatting.
• Themes & Firecrawl Research: See THEMES_AND_TEMPLATES.md for venue recipes and online template research.
• Technical Reference: See REFERENCE.md for extraction internals, symbol font mapping, and compiler auto-fix taxonomy.
• Agent Instructions: See AGENTS.md for step-by-step agent instructions.
• Setup Guide: See SETUP.md for platform-specific setup (Antigravity, Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode).