[Plugin] DOCXImport

[elenderg]

Warnings/errors from Mammoth conversion:
Message(type='warning', message='An unrecognised element was ignored: w:ruby')

[DiapDealer]

That would probably be better tackled upstream at Mammoth itself, I think. A tweak here, or there doesn't trouble me, but I have no plans to add major feature updates to the version of Mammoth I maintain for this plugin. That would make it too difficult for me pull in updates from upstream.

[najgori]

is there a reason why beckys edit is not part of current plugin version?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by najgori

is there a reason why beckys edit is not part of current plugin version?

Yes there is. It's just not a very interesting or convincing reason.

[DiapDealer]

I don't have the first post updated yet, but the new version (with Becky's fix) is available on github.

https://github.com/dougmassay/docxim...eleases/latest

[najgori]

"it's in your reach..." (relevant placebo song)

[No027]

Is there any plan to add an option to import documents not as a book but as a section (or importing after adding a blank html) in a file? Might help with compiling separate documents to one ebook

[DiapDealer]

No there's not. The plugin is designed as an Input Plugin. Which by definition results in a brand-new epub each time it's run. I have no plans to change it into an Edit plugin. Nor to support the combination of multiple docx documents into one epub.

[dcsj]

Is this the appropriate place to ask questions about how the import works? I am testing with a few small files to understand the process.

The import picked up all my header styles, also bold and italic, but it didn't pick up Book Title or Subtitle. Also, I had some block text that I'd like to come out as blockquote in Sigil, I am assuming that would have to be tagged with a specific style.

If it would be better to ask this question elsewhere, please advise.

[DiapDealer]

This would be the right place. I just don't have any great answers. The plugin should come with a 'samples' directory that has a docx, a custom style map file for it, and a css file that will give you an idea of how it all works together.

The plugin was created with the expectation that a user would develop a consistent docx style habit and then create a custom style map, and a css file that could be used with those docx styles (for many different documents).

It's definitely not a turn-key solution for the conversion of any docx to epub, but if you're a writer who makes consistent use of docx styles, then a workflow can usually be developed.

Not sure what you mean about picking up the book title/subtitle. Unless you're talking about a styled title page in the ebook itself, epub titles are metadata. This plugin doesn't create any epub metadata from the docx. I should probably look into adding that ability though!

And yes, if you create your block text with a particular style in Word (or LibreOffice) you can map that style to a blockquote element in your custom mapping. Examples of mapping Word styles to html elements/classes are in the included samples.

The easiest way to get at the samples is probably to extract the contents of the plugin zip file after you've successfully installed the plugin in Sigil.

[dcsj]

Hi, thanks for the reply.
Ok, I am just trying to wrap my head around the process. I use styles constantly in Word. So with my test document, working on how to understand, I found a style called "Book Title" and applied that to the title, then applied "Subtitle" style to the next line. When imported, both of these just came through as <p></p> tags.

So I think I am missing something. I looked in the sample.zip and the sample css file and the style map file. I guess I need to tell the plugin what styles to look for. When I import the file "straight out of the box", I end up with a "dummy.epub" that has no styles in the css file, but it does pick up my Heading 1 styles, etc., as I mentioned above.

If I want it to pick up other styles, is there a way to do that?

I found a DOCXimport.json file, but didn't look at it. Would that be where this is done?

I am afraid I am a bit of an enthusiastic amateur!

Thanks for your reply.

[DiapDealer]

You have to create a style map that maps your style names to the elements you want them to be when importing. Then when you import, you select the correct style map used to map things correctly.

Mammoth is incapable of guessing which styles should be imported as paragraphs and which should be headers. You have to explicitly tell it (via the map file). Otherwise, everything will be a standard paragraph.

The json file just stores the plugin preferences. You make things work by creating your OWN style map and css files. Similar to the ones in the samples folder, but tailored to your own preferences. Then you select those two files (along with your docx file) when running the plugin.

[BetterRed]

@dcsj - if you use styles in Word then an alternative way to get to an EPUB and preserve style names might be to use Toxaris' eBook Tools MS Word add-in.

BR

[dcsj]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

You have to create a style map that maps your style names to the elements you want them to be when importing. Then when you import, you select the correct style map used to map things correctly.

...

The json file just stores the plugin preferences. You make things work by creating your OWN style map and css files. Similar to the ones in the samples folder, but tailored to your own preferences. Then you select those two files (along with your docx file) when running the plugin.

Oh, Ok, thanks very much. I totally missed that when running the import, didn't figure out what those "custom" files would be. That makes good sense.

Like I said, "enthusiastic amateur"!! Thanks again.

[DiapDealer]

No problem. And don't be afraid to take @BetterRed's advice as well. Toxaris' Word add-in is a quality alternative. I use it from time-to-time myself.