Documents

Documents Skill

The format-aware engine of the documents cluster. It routes an office-document task to the right bundled subskill — docx/, pdf/, pptx/, xlsx/ — each shipping its own guide and tooling, plus a Playwright-based consulting-report pipeline (HTML → PDF). Pick the format first, then the verb (create / edit / extract / convert). The cluster-wide editable-vs-rendered decision lives in documents-core; read it before choosing a tool.

When to Activate This Skill

Word Documents (DOCX)

• User wants to create, edit, or analyze Word documents
• User mentions "tracked changes", "redlining", "document review"
• User needs to convert documents to other formats
• User wants to work with document structure, comments, or formatting

PDF Files

• User wants to create, merge, split, or manipulate PDFs
• User mentions "extract text from PDF", "PDF tables", "fill PDF form"
• User needs to convert PDFs to/from other formats
• User wants to add watermarks, passwords, or extract images

PowerPoint Presentations (PPTX)

• User wants to create or edit presentations
• User mentions "slides", "presentation template", "speaker notes"
• User needs to convert presentations to other formats
• User wants to work with slide layouts or design elements

Excel Spreadsheets (XLSX)

• User wants to create or edit spreadsheets
• User mentions "formulas", "financial model", "data analysis"
• User needs to work with Excel tables, charts, or pivot tables
• User wants to convert spreadsheets to/from other formats

🔀 Document Type Routing

This skill organizes document processing across 4 document types plus specialized workflows:

Consulting Reports (HTML + Playwright PDF)

Reference Documentation:

• Workflows/ConsultingReport.md - Complete consulting report generation workflow

Routing Logic:

• "Create consulting report", "generate report PDF" → ConsultingReport workflow
• "Build assessment report", "strategic assessment" → ConsultingReport workflow
• "McKinsey-style report", "professional report PDF" → ConsultingReport workflow

Pipeline: Report Artifacts → Structured HTML → Playwright PDF

Key Capabilities:

• Parse report directories with mixed content (markdown, TypeScript data, images)
• Professional CSS typography (Georgia serif body, Inter sans headings)
• Color-coded callout boxes (red/amber/green) and severity badges
• Auto-generated linked Table of Contents
• Cover page with classification marking
• Headers/footers with CONFIDENTIAL and page numbers
• Image compression pipeline (PNG → JPEG, max 1200px)
• A4 format with Playwright for pixel-perfect PDF output

Reference Implementation: your-project/generate-pdf.mjs (Playwright HTML→PDF)

Word Documents (DOCX)

Reference Documentation:

• docx/SKILL.md - Complete DOCX processing guide
• docx/docx-js.md - Creating new documents with JavaScript
• docx/ooxml.md - Editing existing documents with OOXML

Routing Logic:

• "Create Word document", "new docx" → Create workflow (docx-js)
• "Edit Word document", "tracked changes", "redlining" → Edit workflow (OOXML)
• "Read Word document", "extract text from docx" → Read workflow (pandoc)
• "Document review", "track changes" → Redlining workflow

Supporting Resources:

• Scripts: documents/docx/Scripts/
• OOXML tools: documents/docx/ooxml/
• License: documents/docx/LICENSE.txt

Key Capabilities:

• Create professional documents with docx-js
• Edit with tracked changes (redlining workflow)
• Extract text/comments with pandoc
• Convert to images for visual inspection
• Work with raw OOXML for advanced features

PDF Processing

Reference Documentation:

• pdf/SKILL.md - Complete PDF processing guide
• pdf/forms.md - Filling PDF forms
• pdf/reference.md - Advanced features and troubleshooting

Routing Logic:

• "Create PDF" → Creation workflow (reportlab)
• "Merge PDFs", "split PDF" → Manipulation workflow (pypdf)
• "Extract text from PDF" → Extraction workflow (pdfplumber)
• "Fill PDF form" → Forms workflow (pdf-lib or pypdf)
• "Extract tables from PDF" → Table extraction (pdfplumber + pandas)

Supporting Resources:

• Scripts: documents/pdf/Scripts/
• License: documents/pdf/LICENSE.txt

Key Capabilities:

• Create PDFs with reportlab
• Extract text/tables with pdfplumber
• Merge/split with pypdf or qpdf
• Fill forms programmatically
• Add watermarks and password protection
• Extract images from PDFs

PowerPoint Presentations (PPTX)

Reference Documentation:

• pptx/SKILL.md - Complete PPTX processing guide
• pptx/html2pptx.md - Creating presentations from HTML
• pptx/ooxml.md - Editing existing presentations

Routing Logic:

• "Create presentation", "new slides" → Creation workflow (html2pptx)
• "Edit presentation", "modify slides" → Edit workflow (OOXML)
• "Use presentation template" → Template workflow
• "Extract slide text" → Read workflow (markitdown)
• "Create thumbnail grid" → Thumbnail workflow

Supporting Resources:

• Scripts: documents/pptx/Scripts/
• OOXML tools: documents/pptx/ooxml/
• License: documents/pptx/LICENSE.txt

Key Capabilities:

• Create presentations with html2pptx (HTML → PPTX)
• Professional design with color palettes and layouts
• Edit with OOXML for advanced features
• Work with templates (rearrange, inventory, replace)
• Generate thumbnail grids for visual analysis
• Convert to images for inspection

Excel Spreadsheets (XLSX)

Reference Documentation:

• xlsx/SKILL.md - Complete XLSX processing guide
• xlsx/recalc.py - Formula recalculation script

Routing Logic:

• "Create spreadsheet", "new Excel file" → Creation workflow (openpyxl)
• "Edit spreadsheet", "modify Excel" → Edit workflow (openpyxl)
• "Analyze data", "read Excel" → Analysis workflow (pandas)
• "Financial model", "formulas" → Financial modeling workflow
• "Recalculate formulas" → Recalculation workflow (recalc.py)

Supporting Resources:

• Recalc script: documents/xlsx/recalc.py
• License: documents/xlsx/LICENSE.txt

Key Capabilities:

• Create spreadsheets with formulas (openpyxl)
• Data analysis with pandas
• Financial modeling with color coding standards
• Formula recalculation with LibreOffice
• Error detection and validation
• Preserve formatting and formulas when editing

📋 Document Processing Principles

DOCX Best Practices

1. Tracked Changes - Use redlining workflow for professional document review
2. Minimal Edits - Only mark text that actually changes, preserve original RSIDs
3. Batch Changes - Group related edits (3-10 changes) for efficient processing
4. Verification - Always convert to markdown to verify changes applied correctly

PDF Best Practices

1. Library Selection - pypdf for basic ops, pdfplumber for text/tables, reportlab for creation
2. OCR for Scanned - Use pytesseract + pdf2image for scanned documents
3. Form Filling - Follow forms.md for programmatic form completion
4. Command Line - Use qpdf/pdftotext for simple operations

PPTX Best Practices

1. Design First - Analyze content and choose appropriate colors/layouts before coding
2. Web-Safe Fonts - Only use web-safe fonts (Arial, Helvetica, Times, etc.)
3. Visual Verification - Always generate thumbnails to inspect layout issues
4. Template Analysis - Create inventory before using templates to understand structure

XLSX Best Practices

1. Use Formulas - ALWAYS use Excel formulas, NEVER hardcode calculated values
2. Zero Errors - Deliver with zero formula errors (#REF!, #DIV/0!, etc.)
3. Recalculate - Run recalc.py after creating/editing to update formula values
4. Financial Standards - Follow color coding (blue inputs, black formulas, green links)

Examples

Example 1: Create proposal with tracked changes

User: "Create a consulting proposal doc with redlining"
→ Routes to DOCX workflows
→ Creates document with docx-js
→ Enables tracked changes for review workflow
→ Outputs professional .docx with revision marks

Example 2: Fill a PDF form programmatically

User: "Fill out this NDA PDF with my info"
→ Routes to PDF workflows
→ Reads form fields from PDF
→ Fills fields programmatically with pdf-lib
→ Outputs completed, flattened PDF

Example 3: Build financial model spreadsheet

User: "Create a revenue projection spreadsheet"
→ Routes to XLSX workflows
→ Creates workbook with openpyxl
→ Adds formulas (never hardcoded values)
→ Runs recalc.py to update calculations

Example 4: Generate professional consulting report PDF

User: "Create a consulting report from the assessment data"
→ Routes to ConsultingReport workflow
→ Parses report directory for data files, markdown, diagrams
→ Compresses images (PNG→JPEG, max 1200px)
→ Generates styled HTML with professional typography
→ Converts to PDF via Playwright with headers/footers
→ Outputs McKinsey-quality A4 PDF with TOC, diagrams, color boxes

🔗 Integration with Other Skills

Feeds Into:

• writing skill - Creating documents for blog posts and newsletters
• business skill - Creating consulting proposals and financial models
• research skill - Extracting data from research documents

Uses:

• media skill - Creating images for document illustrations
• development skill - Building document processing automation
• system skill - Command-line tools and scripting

🎯 Key Principles

Document Creation

1. Quality First - Professional formatting and structure from the start
2. Template Reuse - Leverage existing templates when available
3. Validation - Always verify output (visual inspection, error checking)
4. Automation - Use scripts for repetitive tasks

Document Editing

1. Preserve Intent - Maintain original formatting and structure
2. Track Changes - Use proper workflows for document review
3. Batch Processing - Group related operations for efficiency
4. Error Prevention - Validate before finalizing

Document Analysis

1. Right Tool - Choose appropriate library/tool for the task
2. Data Integrity - Preserve original data when extracting/converting
3. Format Awareness - Understand document structure (OOXML, PDF structure, etc.)
4. Performance - Use efficient methods for large documents

📚 Full Reference Documentation

Word Documents (DOCX):

• Main Guide: documents/docx/SKILL.md
• Creation Reference: documents/docx/docx-js.md
• Editing Reference: documents/docx/ooxml.md

PDF Processing:

• Main Guide: documents/pdf/SKILL.md
• Forms Guide: documents/pdf/forms.md
• Advanced Reference: documents/pdf/reference.md

PowerPoint Presentations (PPTX):

• Main Guide: documents/pptx/SKILL.md
• Creation Reference: documents/pptx/html2pptx.md
• Editing Reference: documents/pptx/ooxml.md

Excel Spreadsheets (XLSX):

• Main Guide: documents/xlsx/SKILL.md
• Recalc Script: documents/xlsx/recalc.py

Summary

The documents skill provides comprehensive document processing:

• DOCX - Create, edit, analyze Word documents with tracked changes support
• PDF - Create, manipulate, extract from PDFs with form filling capabilities
• PPTX - Create, edit presentations with professional design and templates
• XLSX - Create, edit spreadsheets with formulas and financial modeling

Reference-based organization - Each document type has complete guides and tooling

Routing is automatic - Analyzes user intent and activates appropriate document type workflow

Professional quality - Standards and best practices for production-ready documents