tex2docx — LaTeX to Word Converter#

Requirements#

• pandoc (system install): winget install pandoc or pandoc.org
• Python packages: pip install python-docx lxml pypandoc_binary

Usage#

bash

python scripts/tex2docx.py input.tex [output.docx]

If output.docx is omitted, output is input.docx in the same directory.

How It Works (Three Phases)#

text

.tex ──→ [pandoc] ──→ OMML equations (13+ Word-editable formulas)
  │
  └──→ [Custom parser] ──→ Native Word tables ├──→ Final .docx
                           Embedded figures     │   (merged)
                           Formatted refs       │
                           IEEE layout & font  ┘

Phase 1 — Pandoc#

Runs pandoc via pypandoc. Input file must be in its own directory (with figures/ subfolder if images exist). The script chdir s to the tex directory before running pandoc so image paths resolve correctly.

Phase 2 — Custom LaTeX Parser#

RegEx-based extraction of:

• Tables: \begin{table} → Word Table objects (full borders, centered, 8pt TNR)
• Figures: \includegraphics{} + \caption{} → PNG/PDF embeds with italic captions
• References: \thebibliography → formatted entries with hanging indent
• Sections: \section{}, \subsection{} → bold headings
• Metadata: \title, author, \abstract, \IEEEkeywords

Phase 3 — Merge#

OMML equation paragraphs from pandoc are inserted into the cleanly-built document. Body paragraphs get 0.25in first-line indent. All LaTeX commands ( \textbf, \toprule, \ref, \cite, \begin{itemize}, etc.) are stripped from text content.

Output Format#

FeatureDetailFontTimes New Roman (10pt body, 9pt table/figure, 8pt refs)LayoutA4, two-column IEEE conference styleEquationsOMML (double-click to edit in Word)TablesNative Word tables, all bordersFiguresPNG/PDF embedded with "Fig." captionsReferencesHanging indent, [bN] formatFirst indent0.25in on body paragraphs

Verification#

bash

python scripts/verify.py output.docx

Reports paragraph/table/image/equation counts and checks for LaTeX residue.

Chinese (ctex) Support#

Fully supports Chinese LaTeX documents using the ctex package:

• Chinese section titles (引言, 方法, 实验, 结论等) are recognized
• \section*{} (star variant) is supported
• Chinese table headers preserved
• Chinese text in titles rendered via w:eastAsia font fallback
• \title{...} and \author{...} residue paragraphs are filtered

Limitations#

• Inline math ( $...$) becomes plain text (italic), not OMML — only \begin{equation}, \begin{align}, and \[...\] become editable equations
• No .bib support: references must be in \thebibliography{} environment
• PNG images preferred: script tries PNG then PDF fallback
• Pandoc path: the system pandoc binary must be discoverable by pypandoc

Script: scripts/tex2docx.py#

Self-contained (660+ lines). Key internal functions:

FunctionRoleextract_tex()Parse all structural elements from .texextract_omml()Pull OMML XML from pandoc outputbuild_docx()Construct final document with all componentsclean()Strip LaTeX commands to plain textadd_table()Build Word table with bordersadd_figure()Embed image + caption