# Edit DOCX Documents Reliably

Professional Word documents often need precise edits, comments, and tracked changes without breaking formatting. This skill gives Claude, Codex, and Claude Code structured DOCX workflows with OOXML tools and validation steps.

## Install

```bash
npx skillstore add anthropics/docx
```

## Metadata

- Status: approved
- Slug: docx
- Skillstore revision: r1
- Version status: missing
- Tree hash: 803c1051078315b3c4be4e370f1f93eb00a1afab8cff1ef90f127a2e73be9229
- Author: anthropics
- GitHub username: anthropics
- License: Proprietary. LICENSE.txt has complete terms
- Repository: https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/docx
- Ref: 0519034dad657fb1f7706e0550e962beeda73fdf
- Supported tools: Claude, Codex, Claude Code
- Audit status: complete
- Agent install advisory: allowed
- Manual install advisory: allowed
- Artifact signature: available
- Audit attestation: unavailable
- Human verification: not\_verified
- Risk factors: network, filesystem, external\_commands
- Quality score: 75
- Public page: https://skillstore.pages.dev/skills/docx
- Manifest: https://skillstore.pages.dev/api/skills/docx/manifest

## Capabilities

- Creates new DOCX files with docx-js patterns for paragraphs, tables, images, styles, and page layout.
- Unpacks DOCX files into OOXML so document XML, comments, media, relationships, and metadata can be inspected.
- Edits existing Word documents through Python helpers that preserve structure and validate output files.
- Adds comments and replies using provided templates for modern Word comment files.
- Supports tracked-change workflows for legal, academic, business, and government document review.
- Converts DOCX files to markdown, PDF, or page images when local tools are available.

## Use Cases

- Review a Contract with Tracked Changes: Apply focused edits, preserve unchanged text, and produce a DOCX with professional tracked changes.
- Generate a Styled Report: Create a new Word document with headings, tables, images, headers, footers, and consistent styles.
- Inspect Document Structure: Unpack a DOCX file, review XML relationships, extract text, and verify comments or embedded media.

## Prompt Templates

### Extract Document Text

```
Extract the text from this DOCX file and summarize the headings, key sections, and any tracked changes.
```

### Create a Word Document

```
Create a DOCX report from this outline. Include a title page, heading styles, a table, page numbers, and a short appendix.
```

### Add Review Comments

```
Open this DOCX file, add comments to unclear or risky sections, and return a reviewed copy with the original text preserved.
```

### Apply Tracked Contract Edits

```
Review this agreement and apply the requested clause changes as tracked changes. Use minimal edits, validate the DOCX, and report each changed section.
```

## Limitations

- Requires local dependencies such as pandoc, docx, LibreOffice, Poppler, and defusedxml for some workflows.
- Works on DOCX package structure and cannot guarantee visual fidelity across every Word version.
- Complex formatting may require direct OOXML inspection and careful manual validation.
- Document conversion quality depends on installed local tools and fonts.

## Best Practices

- Read the relevant workflow file fully before creating, editing, or redlining a document.
- Work in small batches for tracked changes and validate after each meaningful group of edits.
- Keep a separate original copy so final validation can compare document structure and text.

## Anti Patterns

- Do not replace whole paragraphs when only a few words need tracked changes.
- Do not rely on markdown line numbers to locate XML nodes in Word documents.
- Do not skip validation after direct OOXML edits or relationship changes.

## Security Audit

- Audited at: 2026-07-09T11:38:58.021\+00:00
- Summary: The confirmed risks are expected for a DOCX manipulation skill: local file operations, ZIP package handling, temporary workspaces, subprocess calls, and privileged dependency installation guidance. Most static findings are false positives from OOXML namespace URIs, schema imports, Markdown code formatting, compact XML templates, or validation identifiers. No prompt injection attempt was found in the reviewed skill files. Static review was capped at 400/450 representative findings; omitted static matches are unconfirmed, so automatic publishing stays disabled until manual review.

## Stats

- Views: 354
- Downloads: 181
- Favorites: 4
- Popularity score: 0