Python Docx

Overview

Python-docx is a Python library for creating and manipulating Microsoft Word (.docx) documents. This skill covers comprehensive patterns for document automation including:

• Document creation from scratch or templates
• Paragraph formatting with styles, fonts, and alignment
• Table generation with merged cells, styles, and formatting
• Headers and footers with page numbers and dynamic content
• Image insertion with sizing and positioning
• Style management for consistent document appearance
• Template manipulation for document workflows
• Mail merge patterns for bulk document generation

When to Use This Skill

USE when:

• Creating Word documents programmatically from data
• Generating reports with consistent formatting
• Building contracts, invoices, or legal documents
• Automating template-based document creation
• Modifying existing Word documents
• Creating documents with complex table structures
• Generating technical documentation with code blocks
• Building multi-section documents with headers/footers
• Creating documents with embedded images and charts
• Batch processing document generation

DON'T USE when:

• Simple template filling (use docx-templates instead)
• PDF generation is the final output (use pypdf or reportlab)
• Need real-time collaborative editing
• Document requires complex macros or VBA
• Need to preserve complex Word features (use COM automation on Windows)
• Only need to extract text from documents (use python-docx2txt)

Prerequisites

Installation

# Using pip
pip install python-docx

# Using uv (recommended)
uv pip install python-docx

# With image support
pip install python-docx Pillow

# Full installation with all optional dependencies
pip install python-docx Pillow lxml

Verify Installation

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

print("python-docx installed successfully!")

Version History

1.0.0 (2026-01-17)

• Initial skill creation
• Core capabilities documentation
• 6 complete code examples
• Integration patterns
• Best practices guide
• Troubleshooting section

Resources

• Official Documentation: https://python-docx.readthedocs.io/
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/python-openxml/python-docx
• PyPI Package: https://pypi.org/project/python-docx/
• Open XML SDK Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/open-xml/

Related Skills

• docx-templates - Jinja2-style template rendering for Word documents
• pypdf - PDF manipulation and generation
• openpyxl - Excel file automation
• python-pptx - PowerPoint presentation generation

This skill provides comprehensive patterns for Word document automation refined from production document generation systems.

Sub-Skills

• 1. Basic Document Creation
• 2. Advanced Paragraph Formatting
• 3. Table Creation and Formatting
• 4. Headers, Footers, and Page Setup
• 5. Image Insertion and Positioning
• 6. Style Management and Custom Styles
• Report Generation from Database (+1)
• Batch Document Generation
• 1. Document Structure (+3)
• Common Issues