Document Skills

Reading and Analyzing Content

Text Extraction

# 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

# Unpack 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 New Word Documents

Use docx-js for creating documents from scratch:

1. Read docx-js.md for detailed syntax and examples
2. Create JavaScript/TypeScript file using Document, Paragraph, TextRun components
3. Export as .docx using Packer.toBuffer()

Editing Existing Documents

Use the Document library (Python) for editing:

1. Read ooxml.md for the Document library API
2. Unpack: python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <office_file> <output_directory>
3. Create Python script using the Document library
4. Pack: python ooxml/scripts/pack.py <input_directory> <office_file>

Redlining Workflow for Document Review

CRITICAL: For complete tracked changes, implement ALL changes systematically.

Batching Strategy: Group related changes into batches of 3-10 changes.

Principle: Minimal, Precise Edits

• Only mark text that actually changes
• Break replacements into: [unchanged text] + [deletion] + [insertion] + [unchanged text]
• Preserve the original run's RSID for unchanged text

Workflow:

1. Convert to markdown: pandoc --track-changes=all path-to-file.docx -o current.md
2. Identify and group changes (by section, type, or proximity)
3. Read ooxml.md and unpack document
4. Implement changes in batches
5. Pack: python ooxml/scripts/pack.py unpacked reviewed-document.docx
6. Verify: pandoc --track-changes=all reviewed-document.docx -o verification.md

Converting DOCX to Images

# Convert DOCX to PDF
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf document.docx

# Convert PDF pages to JPEG
pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 document.pdf page

PDF - Document Processing

Quick Start

from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter

# Read a PDF
reader = PdfReader("document.pdf")
print(f"Pages: {len(reader.pages)}")

# Extract text
text = ""
for page in reader.pages:
    text += page.extract_text()

Common Operations

Merge PDFs

from pypdf import PdfWriter, PdfReader

writer = PdfWriter()
for pdf_file in ["doc1.pdf", "doc2.pdf", "doc3.pdf"]:
    reader = PdfReader(pdf_file)
    for page in reader.pages:
        writer.add_page(page)

with open("merged.pdf", "wb") as output:
    writer.write(output)

Split PDF

reader = PdfReader("input.pdf")
for i, page in enumerate(reader.pages):
    writer = PdfWriter()
    writer.add_page(page)
    with open(f"page_{i+1}.pdf", "wb") as output:
        writer.write(output)

Extract Text with Layout

import pdfplumber

with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
    for page in pdf.pages:
        text = page.extract_text()
        print(text)

Extract Tables

with pdfplumber.open("document.pdf") as pdf:
    for i, page in enumerate(pdf.pages):
        tables = page.extract_tables()
        for j, table in enumerate(tables):
            print(f"Table {j+1} on page {i+1}:")
            for row in table:
                print(row)

Create PDFs

from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import letter
from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas

c = canvas.Canvas("hello.pdf", pagesize=letter)
width, height = letter

c.drawString(100, height - 100, "Hello World!")
c.save()

Command-Line Tools

# Extract text
pdftotext input.pdf output.txt

# Merge with qpdf
qpdf --empty --pages file1.pdf file2.pdf -- merged.pdf

# Split pages
qpdf input.pdf --pages . 1-5 -- pages1-5.pdf

# Extract images
pdfimages -j input.pdf output_prefix

PPTX - PowerPoint Presentations

Overview

.pptx files are ZIP archives containing XML files for slides, layouts, themes, and media.

Text Extraction

# Convert to markdown
pandoc presentation.pptx -o output.md

Creating Presentations

Use pptxgenjs (JavaScript):

# Install
npm install pptxgenjs

# Create presentation
node create_presentation.js

Example:

const PptxGenJS = require("pptxgenjs");
const pptx = new PptxGenJS();

const slide = pptx.addSlide();
slide.addText("Hello World", { x: 1, y: 1, fontSize: 18 });
slide.addShape(pptx.ShapeType.rect, { x: 1, y: 2, w: 5, h: 3 });

pptx.writeFile({ fileName: "presentation.pptx" });

Editing Presentations

Use python-pptx:

from pptx import Presentation

# Load presentation
prs = Presentation('existing.pptx')

# Add slide
blank_slide_layout = prs.slide_layouts[6]
slide = prs.slides.add_slide(blank_slide_layout)

# Add text
title = slide.shapes.title
title.text = "New Slide Title"

prs.save('modified.pptx')

Raw XML Editing

For complex edits, unpack and edit XML directly:

# Unpack
python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py presentation.pptx unpacked/

# Edit ppt/slides/slide1.xml, ppt/presentation.xml, etc.

# Pack
python ooxml/scripts/pack.py unpacked/ presentation.pptx

XLSX - Excel Spreadsheets

Reading Excel Files

import pandas as pd

# Read entire sheet
df = pd.read_excel('file.xlsx')

# Read specific sheet
df = pd.read_excel('file.xlsx', sheet_name='Sheet1')

# Read specific columns
df = pd.read_excel('file.xlsx', usecols=['A', 'B', 'C'])

Writing Excel Files

import pandas as pd

# Create DataFrame
df = pd.DataFrame({
    'Name': ['Alice', 'Bob', 'Charlie'],
    'Age': [25, 30, 35],
    'City': ['NYC', 'LA', 'Chicago']
})

# Write to Excel
df.to_excel('output.xlsx', index=False)

# Multiple sheets
with pd.ExcelWriter('output.xlsx') as writer:
    df1.to_excel(writer, sheet_name='Sheet1')
    df2.to_excel(writer, sheet_name='Sheet2')

Advanced Excel Operations

from openpyxl import load_workbook
from openpyxl.styles import Font, PatternFill

# Load workbook
wb = load_workbook('file.xlsx')
ws = wb.active

# Modify cells
ws['A1'] = 'New Value'
ws['A1'].font = Font(bold=True)
ws['A1'].fill = PatternFill(start_color='FFFF00', end_color='FFFF00', fill_type='solid')

# Add formula
ws['B10'] = '=SUM(B1:B9)'

# Save
wb.save('modified.xlsx')

Quick Reference

Dependencies

# DOCX
npm install -g docx
pip install defusedxml

# PDF
pip install pypdf pdfplumber reportlab
apt-get install pandoc poppler-utils qpdf

# PPTX
npm install pptxgenjs
pip install python-pptx

# XLSX
pip install pandas openpyxl