msdoc2docx 0.32.0

A specification-driven, pure-Python Word binary .doc to .docx converter

doc2docx

doc2docx is a pure-Python converter from Microsoft Word 97–2003 binary .doc files to modern .docx files. The conversion engine follows the published Microsoft Office binary-format specifications and does not invoke Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, COM, Java, or another conversion executable.

The project is usable for a growing set of real documents, but it is not yet a complete implementation of every legacy Word feature. Unsupported or lossy content is reported explicitly instead of being silently presented as a fully faithful conversion.

Highlights

• Reads CFB/OLE Word documents with deterministic, bounded parsers.
• Preserves text, common character and paragraph formatting, fonts, styles, native numbered and bulleted lists, tables, page layout, sections, headers, and footers.
• Converts footnotes and endnotes—including custom separators, placement, and numbering controls—plus comments, named bookmarks, safe document-local reference fields, common date/metadata/page/statistic fields, and positioned textboxes to native WordprocessingML structures.
• Preserves core document metadata such as title, author, subject, keywords, revision, and creation/modification dates.
• Restores inline and floating PNG, JPEG, BMP/DIB, TIFF, EMF, and WMF pictures in the main document and header/footer stories.
• Produces a structured diagnostic report for unsupported, repaired, or approximated source features.
• Writes deterministic OPC packages using only the Python standard library at runtime.

Installation

python -m pip install msdoc2docx

Python 3.11 or newer is required.

Command line

Convert beside the input file:

doc2docx input.doc

Choose the output path and save a JSON report:

doc2docx input.doc -o output.docx --report report.json

Inspect a source file without converting it:

doc2docx inspect input.doc --json

Python API

from doc2docx import convert

result = convert("input.doc", "output.docx")
print(result.report.to_dict())

The source document is opened read-only. The destination is written through a temporary file and atomically replaced after package validation; the converter will not overwrite the input file.

Current limitations

Password-protected documents are rejected. Embedded OLE objects, Macintosh PICT images, advanced drawing effects, non-rectangular wrap polygons, rare list continuation cases, conditional table styles, uncommon secondary stories, and many specialized fields remain incomplete. Fields that can execute actions or access external content are deliberately kept as cached text. Some legacy layout behavior can only be approximated in WordprocessingML and is called out in the conversion report.

See CHANGELOG.md for milestone and release details.

Development

Run the standard-library test suite from a source checkout:

PYTHONPATH=src python -m unittest discover -v

Build distributable artifacts with:

python -m build

Real-document regression tests may use LibreOffice to create or render test artifacts, but LibreOffice is not used by the converter itself.

Specifications

• MS-DOC: Word Binary File Format
• MS-ODRAW: Office Drawing Binary File Format