docxcomtpl 0.1.1

A Python library that adds COM automation support for docx-template library

docxcomtpl

docxcomtpl is a Python library for generating DOCX documents using templates. It is based upon the python-docx-template library, that generates DOCX documents using Jinja-like templating syntax. It generates documents using pure Python code, which provides good performance and reliability, but limits the possibilities.

The docxcomtpl library extends the functionality of the original library by adding support for COM automation.

This allows you to generate more complex documents using the full range of Microsoft Word features.

---

Features

• Direct generation of DOCX documents with text and images — provides good performance and reliability.
• Jinja-like Placeholder Syntax — easy-to-use templating for text and images.
• COM Automation Support — integrate COM calls to extend document generation capabilities, at the cost of performance.
• MIT Licensed — free and open-source with a permissive license.

---

Template Syntax

See https://docxtpl.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#jinja2-like-syntax for the detailed documentation of the template syntax.

DOCX generation with COM Automation

To generate a document, create an instance of DocxComTemplate class, passing the path to the template DOCX file. Then call the generate method with the data dictionary and the output file path.

To insert data using COM, put inserter fucntion instead of the value in the data. Inserter functions take single argument which is Word.Range object, and insert desired data into it.

Module docxcomtpl.com_utilities provides some useful inserters.

from docxcomtpl import DocxComTemplate
from docxcomtpl.com_utilities import table_inserter

# Load the template
template = DocxComTemplate("template.docx")

# Define the data for the template
data = {
    "header": "My Document",
    "table": table_inserter([["Col1", "Col2"], ["Row1", "Row2"]])
}
# Render the template with data
template.generate(data, "output.docx")

The template and the resulting document are shown below:

Complete list of inserter functions, available in docxcomtpl.com_utilities module:

Function	Description
`table_inserter(data:List[List[str]])	Inserts a table with the given data. Each sublist represents a row.
image_inserter(picture_path:str)	Inserts an image from the specified path using COM. Supports more formats than the DOCX mode
document_inserter(document_path:str)	Inserts content of another document, can be DOCX, RTF or anything supported by Word.
anchor_inserter(text:str, anchor:str)	Inserts an anchor with the given text and name.
heading_inserter(text:str, level:int=1)	Inserts a heading with the given text and level. Level 1 is the highest level.

COM Post-Processing

WHen generating documents using COM-assisted mode (DocxComTemplate), you can use post-processing to modify the document after it has been generated. To do this, specify the postprocess argument when calling the DocxComTemplate.generate method. Library docxcomtpl.com_utilities provides an example post-processing function that updates document creation date and table of content:

from docxcomtpl.docxcom_template import DocxComTemplate
from docxcomtpl.com_utilities import update_document_toc

template = DocxComTemplate("template.docx")
data = ...
template.generate(
    data,
    "output.docx",
    postprocess=update_document_toc
)

Post-processing function must take single argument which is the Word.Document object.

Requirements

• Python 3.7 or higher
• pywin32 package for COM automation
• Microsoft Word installed (optional, for DOCX + COM mode)

Installation

You can install docxcomtpl using pip:

pip install docxcomtpl

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.MIT file for details.