docx

name

docx

description

Use this skill whenever the user wants to create, read, edit, or manipulate Word documents (.docx files). Triggers include: any mention of "Word doc", "word document", ".docx", or requests to produce professional documents with formatting like tables of contents, headings, page numbers, or letterheads. Also use when extracting or reorganizing content from .docx files, inserting or replacing images in documents, performing find-and-replace in Word files, working with tracked changes or comments, or converting content into a polished Word document. If the user asks for a "report", "memo", "letter", "template", or similar deliverable as a Word or .docx file, use this skill.

DOCX creation, editing, and analysis

Overview

A .docx file is a ZIP archive containing XML files.

Quick Reference

Task	Approach
Read/analyze content	pandoc or unpack for raw XML
Create new document	Use docx-js - see Creating New Documents below
Edit existing document	Unpack → edit XML → repack - see Editing Existing Documents below

Converting .doc to .docx

Legacy .doc files must be converted before editing:

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

Reading Content

# Text extraction with tracked changes
pandoc --track-changes=all document.docx -o output.md

# Raw XML access (unzip the docx)
unzip -o document.docx -d unpacked/

Converting to Images

soffice --headless --convert-to pdf document.docx
pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 document.pdf page

---

Creating New Documents

Generate .docx files with JavaScript, then validate. Install: npm install -g docx

Setup

const { Document, Packer, Paragraph, TextRun, Table, TableRow, TableCell, ImageRun,
        Header, Footer, AlignmentType, PageOrientation, LevelFormat, ExternalHyperlink,
        TableOfContents, HeadingLevel, BorderStyle, WidthType, ShadingType,
        VerticalAlign, PageNumber, PageBreak } = require('docx');

const doc = new Document({ sections: [{ children: [/* content */] }] });
Packer.toBuffer(doc).then(buffer => fs.writeFileSync("doc.docx", buffer));

Page Size

// CRITICAL: docx-js defaults to A4, not US Letter
// Always set page size explicitly for consistent results
sections: [{
  properties: {
    page: {
      size: {
        width: 12240,   // 8.5 inches in DXA
        height: 15840   // 11 inches in DXA
      },
      margin: { top: 1440, right: 1440, bottom: 1440, left: 1440 } // 1 inch margins
    }
  },
  children: [/* content */]
}]

Common page sizes (DXA units, 1440 DXA = 1 inch):

Paper	Width	Height
US Letter	12,240	15,840
A4 (default)	11,906	16,838

Landscape: Pass portrait dimensions and set orientation: PageOrientation.LANDSCAPE (docx-js swaps them).

Lists (NEVER use unicode bullets)

// ❌ WRONG - never manually insert bullet characters
new Paragraph({ children: [new TextRun("• Item")] })  // BAD

// ✅ CORRECT - use numbering config with LevelFormat.BULLET
const doc = new Document({
  numbering: {
    config: [
      { reference: "bullets",
        levels: [{ level: 0, format: LevelFormat.BULLET, text: "•", alignment: AlignmentType.LEFT,
          style: { paragraph: { indent: { left: 720, hanging: 360 } } } }] },
    ]
  },
  sections: [{
    children: [
      new Paragraph({ numbering: { reference: "bullets", level: 0 },
        children: [new TextRun("Bullet item")] }),
    ]
  }]
});

Tables

CRITICAL: Tables need dual widths - set both columnWidths on the table AND width on each cell.

const border = { style: BorderStyle.SINGLE, size: 1, color: "CCCCCC" };
const borders = { top: border, bottom: border, left: border, right: border };

new Table({
  width: { size: 9360, type: WidthType.DXA },
  columnWidths: [4680, 4680], // Must sum to table width
  rows: [
    new TableRow({
      children: [
        new TableCell({
          borders,
          width: { size: 4680, type: WidthType.DXA },
          shading: { fill: "D5E8F0", type: ShadingType.CLEAR }, // CLEAR not SOLID
          margins: { top: 80, bottom: 80, left: 120, right: 120 },
          children: [new Paragraph({ children: [new TextRun("Cell")] })]
        })
      ]
    })
  ]
})

Always use WidthType.DXA - never WidthType.PERCENTAGE (incompatible with Google Docs).

Critical Rules for docx-js

• Set page size explicitly - docx-js defaults to A4
• Never use \n - use separate Paragraph elements
• Never use unicode bullets - use LevelFormat.BULLET with numbering config
• PageBreak must be in Paragraph - standalone creates invalid XML
• ImageRun requires type - always specify png/jpg/etc
• Always set table width with DXA
• Tables need dual widths - columnWidths array AND cell width
• Use ShadingType.CLEAR - never SOLID for table shading
• TOC requires HeadingLevel only - no custom styles on heading paragraphs
• Include outlineLevel - required for TOC (0 for H1, 1 for H2, etc.)

---

Editing Existing Documents

Follow all 3 steps in order.

Step 1: Unpack

unzip -o document.docx -d unpacked/
# Pretty-print the XML for readability

Step 2: Edit XML

Edit files in unpacked/word/. Use the Edit tool directly for string replacement.

Use smart quotes for new content:

<w:t>Here&#x2019;s a quote: &#x201C;Hello&#x201D;</w:t>

Entity	Character
‘	' (left single)
’	' (right single / apostrophe)
“	" (left double)
”	" (right double)

Step 3: Repack

cd unpacked/
zip -r ../output.docx .

Tracked Changes

Insertion:

<w:ins w:id="1" w:author="Claude" w:date="2025-01-01T00:00:00Z">
  <w:r><w:t>inserted text</w:t></w:r>
</w:ins>

Deletion:

<w:del w:id="2" w:author="Claude" w:date="2025-01-01T00:00:00Z">
  <w:r><w:delText>deleted text</w:delText></w:r>
</w:del>

---

Dependencies

• pandoc: Text extraction
• docx: npm install -g docx (new documents)
• LibreOffice: PDF conversion
• Poppler: pdftoppm for images