docx

What the source does

• FilesystemDeclared1 observation
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass, no license.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 67955a283b03 · 20 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publishertfriedel GitHub userOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source foldertfriedel/claude-office-skills/public/docxThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceNot declaredAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict67955a283b03A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 202 days ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Comprehensive document creation, editing, and analysis with support for tracked changes, comments, formatting preservation, and text extraction. When Claude needs to work with professional documents (.docx files) for:…

---
name: docx
description: "Comprehensive document creation, editing, and analysis with support for tracked changes, comments, formatting preservation, and text extraction. When Claude needs to work with professional documents (.docx files) for: (1) Creating new documents, (2) Modifying or editing content, (3) Working with tracked changes, (4) Adding comments, or any other document tasks"
---

# 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:

```bash
# 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:
```python
# 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:
   ```bash
   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** (g

Excerpt, first 6,000 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone https://github.com/tfriedel/claude-office-skills
git -C claude-office-skills checkout 67955a283b03

Works in

1. 2026-10-20
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 67955a283b03

Questions about docx

• github.com/tfriedel/claude-office-skills/tree/main/public/docx — the audited source at commit 67955a283b03 and every finding aboveObserved · 20 Oct 2026

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