Word DOCX Toolkit

Docx Skill

Create, read, edit, and template Microsoft Word .docx files with python-docx via small CLIs. It handles text, styles, lists, tables, images, headers/footers, {{token}} templating, tracked changes (list/accept/reject), comments (list/add/delete), TOC and page-number fields, and package health checks. It does not render documents itself (PDF needs LibreOffice — see Converting to PDF) or edit legacy .doc.

When to Use

• The user asks to generate a Word document (report, letter, contract).
• You need the text, outline, styles, or embedded images of a .docx.
• You must change an existing .docx: replace text, edit table cells, insert/delete paragraphs, apply styles, merge fragmented runs.
• You have a .docx template with {{placeholders}} to fill from data.
• The document has tracked changes to review, accept, or reject.
• You need to read reviewers' comments, or add/delete comments.
• A .docx won't open or behaves oddly and you need corruption triage.
• The document needs a table of contents or "Page X of Y" footers.
• Not for: .doc (legacy), .odt, or WYSIWYG layout work.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ with python-docx installed: pip install python-docx (import name is docx; lxml comes with it).
• Comments add uses the native API on python-docx >= 1.2 and an XML fallback on older versions — both are automatic.
• For image blocks: the image files must exist locally (PNG/JPEG).

How to Run

All helpers live in scripts/ next to this file. Run them with the terminal tool; each supports --help and prints JSON to stdout.

python scripts/docx_create.py spec.json out.docx
python scripts/docx_read.py out.docx --text
python scripts/docx_edit.py replace out.docx --find old --replace new
python scripts/docx_template.py tpl.docx values.json filled.docx
python scripts/docx_revisions.py list out.docx
python scripts/docx_comments.py list out.docx
python scripts/docx_validate.py out.docx

Quick Reference

Procedure

1. Create. Write a JSON spec with write_file, then run scripts/docx_create.py. The spec supports: page (size + margins in mm), header/footer strings, footer_page_numbers (adds a "Page X of Y" field footer), styles (custom paragraph styles with font, size, bold/italic, hex color), and blocks — heading (level 1-9), paragraph (either text or a runs list where each run may set bold/italic/underline), bullet_list, numbered_list, table (header row rendered bold, rows, optional built-in table style such as Table Grid), image (path, optional width_mm), toc (Table of Contents field), and page_break. The full spec format is documented at the top of scripts/docx_create.py.
2. Read. Use scripts/docx_read.py with exactly one mode flag. --text returns body paragraphs, all table cell text, and header/footer text as JSON. --structure returns the heading outline plus paragraph/table/section counts. --images DIR copies every file under word/media/ out of the package.
3. Edit. Use scripts/docx_edit.py. replace walks body, tables (nested included), headers and footers, and preserves run formatting; add --body-only to skip headers/footers. Pass -o out.docx to keep the original; omit it to edit in place. Paragraph indices for insert/delete/style/toc refer to --structure/--text body order. Run normalize first on documents that came out of heavy Word editing — it merges adjacent runs with identical formatting so later find-replace matches reliably.
4. Review revisions. docx_revisions.py list reports every w:ins and w:del (id, author, date, affected text) anywhere in body, tables, headers, or footers. accept-all / reject-all resolve them in bulk; accept/reject --id N handles a single revision. Accept keeps insertions and drops deleted text; reject does the reverse.
5. Comments. docx_comments.py list returns each comment's id, author, date, body text, and the document text it is anchored to. add --target "some phrase" anchors a new comment to the first occurrence of that phrase (runs are split as needed; formatting is preserved). delete --id N removes the comment and its markers without touching document text.
6. Template. Put {{name}}-style tokens in the document. Run scripts/docx_template.py with a JSON object of values. Use --strict to fail when tokens remain unfilled; the JSON output lists filled counts and unfilled_tokens either way.
7. Verify (always): re-read the output with --text or --structure, and run docx_validate.py on anything you produced via revision/comment surgery.