DOCX Creation, Editing, and Analysis

Overview

Work with .docx files which are ZIP archives containing XML files. Different tools and workflows available for different tasks.

Workflow Decision Tree

Reading/Analyzing Content

Use text extraction or raw XML access

Creating New Document

Use docx-js workflow

Editing Existing Document

• Your own document + simple changes: Basic OOXML editing
• Someone else's document: Redlining workflow (recommended)
• Legal, academic, business docs: Redlining workflow (required)

Reading and Analyzing Content

Text Extraction

# Convert to markdown with tracked changes
pandoc --track-changes=all path-to-file.docx -o output.md

Raw XML Access

For comments, complex formatting, document structure, embedded media, and metadata:

# Unpack document
python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <office_file> <output_directory>

Key file structures:

• word/document.xml - Main document contents
• word/comments.xml - Comments
• word/media/ - Embedded images and media

Creating New Documents

Use docx-js (JavaScript/TypeScript):

import { Document, Paragraph, TextRun, Packer } from 'docx';

const doc = new Document({
  sections: [{
    properties: {},
    children: [
      new Paragraph({
        children: [new TextRun("Hello World!")],
      }),
    ],
  }],
});

// Export
const buffer = await Packer.toBuffer(doc);

Editing Existing Documents

Use the Document library (Python) for OOXML manipulation:

1. Unpack: python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <file.docx> <dir>
2. Create Python script using Document library
3. Pack: python ooxml/scripts/pack.py <dir> <file.docx>

Redlining Workflow

For tracked changes:

1. Convert to markdown: pandoc --track-changes=all file.docx -o current.md
2. Identify and group changes
3. Unpack document
4. Implement changes in batches using Document library
5. Pack the document
6. Verify all changes applied correctly

Dependencies

• pandoc: For text extraction
• docx: npm install -g docx for creating new documents
• LibreOffice: For PDF conversion
• defusedxml: For secure XML parsing