Document Skills:docx

Word Document Skills

Overview

This skill provides comprehensive Word document manipulation capabilities using Python's python-docx library.

When to Use

• Creating new Word documents
• Modifying or editing existing document content
• Working with tracked changes
• Adding comments
• Extracting text from documents
• Formatting documents (fonts, styles, headers, footers)

Dependencies

pip install python-docx

Quick Reference

Create a new document

from docx import Document
from docx.shared import Inches, Pt
from docx.enum.text import WD_ALIGN_PARAGRAPH

doc = Document()

# Add title
title = doc.add_heading('Document Title', level=0)

# Add paragraph
para = doc.add_paragraph('This is a paragraph.')

# Add formatted text
para = doc.add_paragraph()
run = para.add_run('Bold text')
run.bold = True
run = para.add_run(' and ')
run = para.add_run('italic text')
run.italic = True

doc.save('output.docx')

Read existing document

from docx import Document

doc = Document('input.docx')

# Read all paragraphs
for para in doc.paragraphs:
    print(para.text)

# Read tables
for table in doc.tables:
    for row in table.rows:
        for cell in row.cells:
            print(cell.text)

Add tables

from docx import Document
from docx.shared import Inches

doc = Document()

# Create table
table = doc.add_table(rows=3, cols=3)
table.style = 'Table Grid'

# Fill cells
for i, row in enumerate(table.rows):
    for j, cell in enumerate(row.cells):
        cell.text = f'Row {i+1}, Col {j+1}'

# Set column widths
for cell in table.columns[0].cells:
    cell.width = Inches(2)

doc.save('output.docx')

Formatting

from docx import Document
from docx.shared import Pt, RGBColor
from docx.enum.text import WD_ALIGN_PARAGRAPH

doc = Document()

# Paragraph alignment
para = doc.add_paragraph('Centered text')
para.alignment = WD_ALIGN_PARAGRAPH.CENTER

# Font formatting
para = doc.add_paragraph()
run = para.add_run('Formatted text')
run.font.name = 'Arial'
run.font.size = Pt(14)
run.font.color.rgb = RGBColor(0x42, 0x72, 0xC4)
run.font.bold = True

# Line spacing
para_format = para.paragraph_format
para_format.line_spacing = 1.5

doc.save('output.docx')

Headers and Footers

from docx import Document

doc = Document()

# Add header
section = doc.sections[0]
header = section.header
header_para = header.paragraphs[0]
header_para.text = "Document Header"

# Add footer
footer = section.footer
footer_para = footer.paragraphs[0]
footer_para.text = "Page Footer"

doc.save('output.docx')

Add images

from docx import Document
from docx.shared import Inches

doc = Document()
doc.add_picture('image.png', width=Inches(4))
doc.save('output.docx')

Styles

from docx import Document

doc = Document()

# Use built-in styles
doc.add_heading('Heading 1', level=1)
doc.add_heading('Heading 2', level=2)
doc.add_paragraph('Normal paragraph')
doc.add_paragraph('Quote style', style='Quote')
doc.add_paragraph('List item', style='List Bullet')

doc.save('output.docx')

Tips

• Use styles for consistent formatting
• Access runs within paragraphs for fine-grained text control
• Use sections to control page layout, margins, orientation
• Tables can be nested for complex layouts