DOCX Processing

.docx is a ZIP archive of XML and resources. Different tasks have different tools and workflows.

Workflow Decision

Intent	Workflow	Reference
Read/analyze text only	pandoc → markdown	raw-xml-access.md
Read structure, comments, media, formatting	unpack → raw XML	raw-xml-access.md
Create new document	docx-js (JS/TS)	docx-js.md
Edit own document, simple changes	Document library (Python)	ooxml.md
Edit someone else's document	Redlining (tracked changes)	redlining.md
Legal / academic / business / gov docs	Redlining — REQUIRED	redlining.md
Visual analysis	soffice → PDF → pdftoppm	raw-xml-access.md

Text Extraction (Quick)

pandoc --track-changes=all path-to-file.docx -o output.md
# --track-changes=accept/reject/all

Create New Document

1. MANDATORY — READ ENTIRE FILE: docx-js.md (~500 lines). NEVER set range limits.
2. Create JS/TS file using Document, Paragraph, TextRun components.
3. Export with Packer.toBuffer().

Edit Existing Document (Own, Simple)

1. MANDATORY — READ ENTIRE FILE: ooxml.md (~600 lines). NEVER set range limits.
2. python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <office_file> <output_dir>
3. Run Python script using Document library.
4. python ooxml/scripts/pack.py <input_dir> <office_file>

Edit Someone Else's Document → Redlining

See redlining.md for full 6-step workflow with batching strategy and RSID preservation.

Code Style

• Write concise code, no verbose variable names, no unnecessary print statements.

Dependencies

Package	Install	Purpose
pandoc	apt install pandoc	Text extraction
docx	npm i -g docx	Create new docs
LibreOffice	apt install libreoffice	PDF conversion
Poppler	apt install poppler-utils	pdftoppm for images
defusedxml	pip install defusedxml	Secure XML parsing