DOCX

DOCX Creation, Editing, and Analysis

Read the relevant reference file completely before starting work:

• Creating a new document: read references/docx-js.md
• Editing an existing document: read references/ooxml.md

Workflow Decision Tree

Reading and Analysing Content

Text Extraction (Default)

Convert the document to markdown with pandoc:

pandoc --track-changes=all path-to-file.docx -o output.md
# Options: --track-changes=accept (default) / reject / all

Default to --track-changes=all to preserve revision history. Use accept only when the user wants clean text without markup.

Raw XML Access

Use raw XML when you need: comments, complex formatting, document structure, embedded media, or metadata.

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

Key files after unpacking:

• word/document.xml -- main document body
• word/comments.xml -- comments referenced in document.xml
• word/media/ -- embedded images and media
• Tracked changes use <w:ins> (insertions) and <w:del> (deletions) tags

Creating a New Word Document

Use docx-js (JavaScript/TypeScript) for new documents.

1. Read references/docx-js.md completely
2. Write a script using Document, Paragraph, TextRun components
3. Export with Packer.toBuffer()
4. Verify the output opens in Word/LibreOffice without errors

Action:

1. Read references/docx-js.md
2. Create script with Document, Paragraph, TextRun, numbering config for bullets
3. Run: node memo.js
4. Verify: soffice --headless --convert-to pdf memo.docx && pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 memo.pdf preview

Editing an Existing Word Document

Use the Document library (Python) from scripts/document.py. It handles infrastructure setup automatically (people.xml, RSIDs, settings.xml, comments, relationships, content types).

Standard Editing Workflow

1. Read references/ooxml.md completely (focus on "Document Library" section)
2. Unpack: python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <file.docx> <output_dir>
3. Edit using Document library methods
4. Pack: python ooxml/scripts/pack.py <output_dir> <result.docx>
5. Verify: convert to markdown and check output

Action:

from scripts.document import Document
doc = Document('unpacked', track_revisions=True)
node = doc["word/document.xml"].get_node(tag="w:r", contains="30 days")
rpr = tags[0].toxml() if (tags := node.getElementsByTagName("w:rPr")) else ""
replacement = (
    f'<w:r w:rsidR="ORIGINAL">{rpr}<w:t>within </w:t></w:r>'
    f'<w:del><w:r>{rpr}<w:delText>30</w:delText></w:r></w:del>'
    f'<w:ins><w:r>{rpr}<w:t>60</w:t></w:r></w:ins>'
    f'<w:r w:rsidR="ORIGINAL">{rpr}<w:t> days</w:t></w:r>'
)
doc["word/document.xml"].replace_node(node, replacement)
doc.save()

Redlining Workflow (Document Review with Tracked Changes)

Plan tracked changes in markdown before implementing in OOXML. Group related changes into batches of 3-10 for manageable debugging.

Principle: Minimal, Precise Edits. Only mark text that actually changes. Repeating unchanged text makes edits harder to review. Break replacements into: [unchanged text] + [deletion] + [insertion] + [unchanged text]. Preserve the original run's RSID for unchanged text.

Step-by-Step

1. Get markdown representation:

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

2. Identify and group changes. Organise into batches by section, type, or proximity. Use these location methods for finding text in XML:

   • Section/heading numbers (e.g., "Section 3.2")
   • Grep patterns with unique surrounding text
   • Document structure (e.g., "first paragraph after Heading 2")
   • Do NOT use markdown line numbers -- they do not map to XML structure

3. Read documentation and unpack:

   • Read references/ooxml.md -- focus on "Document Library" and "Tracked Change Patterns"
   • Unpack: python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <file.docx> <dir>
   • Note the suggested RSID from unpack script

4. Implement changes in batches. For each batch:

   • Grep word/document.xml to verify current text and line numbers (they shift after each script)
   • Write a script using get_node to find nodes, then replace_node, suggest_deletion, or insert_after
   • Run the script and verify with doc.save()

5. Pack the document:

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

6. Final verification:

   pandoc --track-changes=all reviewed-document.docx -o verification.md
   grep "original phrase" verification.md   # Should NOT match
   grep "replacement phrase" verification.md # Should match
   

Batch plan:

• Batch 1 (Term changes): "2 years" to "1 year" in Section 5
• Batch 2 (Jurisdiction): "New York" to "Delaware" in Section 8

Per batch: grep for text, write script, run, verify. After all batches, pack and do final verification.

Method Selection Guide

Converting Documents to Images

Two-step process for visual analysis:

# Step 1: DOCX to PDF
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf document.docx

# Step 2: PDF pages to JPEG
pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 document.pdf page
# Creates page-1.jpg, page-2.jpg, etc.

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

Use -r 150 for a good quality/size balance. Increase to 300 for print-quality output.

Code Style

Write concise code. Avoid verbose variable names, redundant operations, and unnecessary print statements.

Dependencies

Install if not available:

References

Converted and distributed by TomeVault — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.