docx

# DOCX creation, editing, and analysis

## Overview

A user may ask you to create, edit, or analyze the contents of a .docx file. A .docx file is essentially a ZIP archive containing XML files and other resources that you can read or edit. You have different tools and workflows available for different tasks.

## Workflow Decision Tree

### Reading/Analyzing Content
Use "Text extraction" or "Raw XML access" sections below

### Creating New Document
Use "Creating a new Word document" workflow

### Editing Existing Document
- **Your own document + simple changes**
Use "Basic OOXML editing" workflow

- **Someone else's document**
Use **"Redlining workflow"** (recommended default)

- **Legal, academic, business, or government docs**
Use **"Redlining workflow"** (required)

## Reading and analyzing content

### Text extraction
If you just need to read the text contents of a document, you should convert the document to markdown using pandoc. Pandoc provides excellent support for preserving document structure and can show tracked changes:

# Convert document to markdown with tracked changes
pandoc --track-changes=all path-to-file.docx -o output.md
# Options: --track-changes=accept/reject/all

### Raw XML access
You need raw XML access for: comments, complex formatting, document structure, embedded media, and metadata. For any of these features, you'll need to unpack a document and read its raw XML contents.

#### Unpacking a file
python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <office_file> <output_directory>

#### Key file structures
* word/document.xml - Main document contents
* word/comments.xml - Comments referenced in document.xml
* word/media/ - Embedded images and media files
* Tracked changes use <w:ins> (insertions) and <w:del> (deletions) tags

## Creating a new Word document

When creating a new Word document from scratch, use **docx-js**, which allows you to create Word documents using JavaScript/TypeScript.

### Workflow
1. **MANDATORY - READ ENTIRE FILE**: Read [docx-js.md](docx-js.md) (~500 lines) completely from start to finish. **NEVER set any range limits when reading this file.** Read the full file content for detailed syntax, critical formatting rules, and best practices before proceeding with document creation.
2. Create a JavaScript/TypeScript file using Document, Paragraph, TextRun components (You can assume all dependencies are installed, but if not, refer to the dependencies section below)
3. Export as .docx using Packer.toBuffer()

## Editing an existing Word document

When editing an existing Word document, use the **Document library** (a Python library for OOXML manipulation). The library automatically handles infrastructure setup and provides methods for document manipulation. For complex scenarios, you can access the underlying DOM directly through the library.

### Workflow
1. **MANDATORY - READ ENTIRE FILE**: Read [ooxml.md](ooxml.md) (~600 lines) completely from start to finish. **NEVER set any range limits when reading this file.** Read the full file content for the Document library API and XML patterns for directly editing document files.
2. Unpack the document: python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <office_file> <output_directory>
3. Create and run a Python script using the Document library (see "Document Library" section in ooxml.md)
4. Pack the final document: python ooxml/scripts/pack.py <input_directory> <office_file>

The Document library provides both high-level methods for common operations and direct DOM access for complex scenarios.

## Redlining workflow for document review

This workflow allows you to plan comprehensive tracked changes using markdown before implementing them in OOXML. **CRITICAL**: For complete tracked changes, you must implement ALL changes systematically.

**Batching Strategy**: Group related changes into batches of 3-10 changes. This makes debugging manageable while maintaining efficiency. Test each batch before moving to the next.

**Principle: Minimal, Precise Edits**
When implementing tracked changes, only mark text that actually changes. Repeating unchanged text makes edits harder to review and appears unprofessional. Break replacements into: [unchanged text] + [deletion] + [insertion] + [unchanged text]. Preserve the original run's RSID for unchanged text by extracting the <w:r> element from the original and reusing it.

Example - Changing "30 days" to "60 days" in a sentence:

# BAD - Replaces entire sentence
'<w:del><w:r><w:delText>The term is 30 days.</w:delText></w:r></w:del><w:ins><w:r><w:t>The term is 60 days.</w:t></w:r></w:ins>'

# GOOD - Only marks what changed, preserves original <w:r> for unchanged text
'<w:r w:rsidR="00AB12CD"><w:t>The term is </w:t></w:r><w:del><w:r><w:delText>30</w:delText></w:r></w:del><w:ins><w:r><w:t>60</w:t></w:r></w:ins><w:r w:rsidR="00AB12CD"><w:t> days.</w:t></w:r>'

### Tracked changes workflow

1. **Get markdown representation**: Convert document to markdown with tracked changes preserved:

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

2. **Identify and group changes**: Review the document and identify ALL changes needed, organizing them into logical batches:

**Location methods** (for finding changes in XML):
- Section/heading numbers (e.g., "Section 3.2", "Article IV")
- Paragraph identifiers if numbered
- Grep patterns with unique surrounding text
- Document structure (e.g., "first paragraph", "signature block")
- **DO NOT use markdown line numbers** - they don't map to XML structure

**Batch organization** (group 3-10 related changes per batch):
- By section: "Batch 1: Section 2 amendments", "Batch 2: Section 5 updates"
- By type: "Batch 1: Date corrections", "Batch 2: Party name changes"
- By complexity: Start with simple text replacements, then tackle complex structural changes
- Sequential: "Batch 1: Pages 1-3", "Batch 2: Pages 4-6"

3. **Read documentation and unpack**:
- **MANDATORY - READ ENTIRE FILE**: Read [ooxml.md](ooxml.md) (~600 lines) completely from start to finish. **NEVER set any range limits when reading this file.** Pay special attention to the "Document Library" and "Tracked Change Patterns" sections.
- **Unpack the document**: python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <file.docx> <dir>
- **Note the suggested RSID**: The unpack script will suggest an RSID to use for your tracked changes. Copy this RSID for use in step 4b.

4. **Implement changes in batches**: Group changes logically (by section, by type, or by proximity) and implement them together in a single script. This approach:
- Makes debugging easier (smaller batch = easier to isolate errors)
- Allows incremental progress
- Maintains efficiency (batch size of 3-10 changes works well)

**Suggested batch groupings:**
- By document section (e.g., "Section 3 changes", "Definitions", "Termination clause")
- By change type (e.g., "Date changes", "Party name updates", "Legal term replacements")
- By proximity (e.g., "Changes on pages 1-3", "Changes in first half of document")

For each batch of related changes:

**a. Map text to XML**: Grep for text in word/document.xml to verify how text is split across <w:r> elements.

**b. Create and run script**: Use get_node to find nodes, implement changes, then doc.save(). See **"Document Library"** section in ooxml.md for patterns.

**Note**: Always grep word/document.xml immediately before writing a script to get current line numbers and verify text content. Line numbers change after each script run.

5. **Pack the document**: After all batches are complete, convert the unpacked directory back to .docx:

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

6. **Final verification**: Do a comprehensive check of the complete document:
- Convert final document to markdown:

pandoc --track-changes=all reviewed-document.docx -o verification.md

- Verify ALL changes were applied correctly:

grep "original phrase" verification.md  # Should NOT find it
     grep "replacement phrase" verification.md  # Should find it

- Check that no unintended changes were introduced


## Converting Documents to Images

To visually analyze Word documents, convert them to images using a two-step process:

1. **Convert DOCX to PDF**:

soffice --headless --convert-to pdf document.docx

2. **Convert PDF pages to JPEG images**:

pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 document.pdf page

This creates files like page-1.jpg, page-2.jpg, etc.

Options:
- -r 150: Sets resolution to 150 DPI (adjust for quality/size balance)
- -jpeg: Output JPEG format (use -png for PNG if preferred)
- -f N: First page to convert (e.g., -f 2 starts from page 2)
- -l N: Last page to convert (e.g., -l 5 stops at page 5)
- page: Prefix for output files

Example for specific range:

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

## Code Style Guidelines
**IMPORTANT**: When generating code for DOCX operations:
- Write concise code
- Avoid verbose variable names and redundant operations
- Avoid unnecessary print statements

## Dependencies

Required dependencies (install if not available):

- **pandoc**: sudo apt-get install pandoc (for text extraction)
- **docx**: npm install -g docx (for creating new documents)
- **LibreOffice**: sudo apt-get install libreoffice (for PDF conversion)
- **Poppler**: sudo apt-get install poppler-utils (for pdftoppm to convert PDF to images)
- **defusedxml**: pip install defusedxml (for secure XML parsing)