Office Docs

Office Documents (Word / Excel)

Read and write .docx and .xlsx files through bundled Python scripts that convert to/from Markdown and CSV. The model then reads the plain-text output with the normal read tool, or writes a text file that a script converts back to a binary Office file.

When to use

• Extract text/content from a .docx or .xlsx so the model can read it.
• Generate a .docx or .xlsx from content the model produced.

Prerequisites

Python 3 with these packages (already installed in this environment): python-docx, openpyxl. Scripts live in scripts/ next to this file.

Reading

Word (.docx) -> Markdown

python <skill_dir>/scripts/docx2md.py <input.docx> <output.md>

Then read the .md. Omit the output path to print to stdout. Paragraphs, headings, bullet/numbered lists, and pipe tables are preserved. Numbered lists are written as Markdown ordered lists, so the renderer re-numbers them rather than preserving the original values. Inline images are not extracted (binary media).

Excel (.xlsx) -> CSV

python <skill_dir>/scripts/xlsx2csv.py <input.xlsx> <output_dir>

Writes one <sheetname>.csv per sheet into output_dir. Omit the output dir to print the first sheet to stdout. Formulas are read as cached values.

Legacy formats (.doc / .xls)

The scripts only handle the modern OOXML formats. For a legacy .doc or .xls, first convert via Word/Excel COM (available on this machine, Office 2007) to .docx/.xlsx, then run the script above:

$w = New-Object -ComObject Word.Application; $w.Visible = $false
$d = $w.Documents.Open('<abs path>.doc'); $d.SaveAs2('<abs path>.docx', 16); $d.Close(); $w.Quit()

(Excel: SaveAs format 51 = xlsx.) Use absolute paths for COM; a single quote in a path must be doubled ('') to escape.

Writing

Markdown -> Word (.docx)

python <skill_dir>/scripts/md2docx.py <input.md> <output.docx>

Supports ATX headings, paragraphs, -/* unordered lists, 1. ordered lists, and pipe tables. Inline bold/italic/code is not parsed — content is written as plain runs. This is a lossy plain-text writer for simple documents, not a styled round-trip.

CSV -> Excel (.xlsx)

python <skill_dir>/scripts/csv2xlsx.py <output.xlsx> <input1.csv> [input2.csv ...]

Each CSV becomes a sheet named after its file stem. Numeric-looking cells are written as numbers, which drops leading zeros (007 -> 7) and limits 16+ digit IDs to Excel's 15-digit precision; keep such values as text (non-numeric) if they must survive unchanged.

Workflow guidance

1. Read: convert to .md/.csv, then read the text file. Never try to read the binary .docx/.xlsx directly — opencode rejects binary files.
2. Write: have the model produce a .md or .csv file first (via the write tool), then convert to the Office format with the script.
3. Fidelity caveat: these conversions are lossy. Complex styling, embedded images, and macros are not preserved. For high-fidelity Office round-trips, consider an MCP document server instead.
4. Always use absolute paths for input/output files.