mammoth

Mammoth .docx to HTML converter

Mammoth is designed to convert .docx documents, such as those created by Microsoft Word, Google Docs and LibreOffice, and convert them to HTML. Mammoth aims to produce simple and clean HTML by using semantic information in the document, and ignoring other details. For instance, Mammoth converts any paragraph with the style Heading 1 to h1 elements, rather than attempting to exactly copy the styling (font, text size, colour, etc.) of the heading.

There’s a large mismatch between the structure used by .docx and the structure of HTML, meaning that the conversion is unlikely to be perfect for more complicated documents. Mammoth works best if you only use styles to semantically mark up your document.

The following features are currently supported:

• Headings.

• Lists.

• Customisable mapping from your own docx styles to HTML. For instance, you could convert WarningHeading to h1.warning by providing an appropriate style mapping.

• Tables. The formatting of the table itself, such as borders, is currently ignored, but the formatting of the text is treated the same as in the rest of the document.

• Footnotes and endnotes.

• Images.

• Bold, italics, underlines, strikethrough, superscript and subscript.

• Links.

• Line breaks.

• Text boxes. The contents of the text box are treated as a separate paragraph that appears after the paragraph containing the text box.

• Comments.

Installation

::

pip install mammoth

Other supported platforms

• JavaScript <https://github.com/mwilliamson/mammoth.js>, both the browser and node.js. Available on npm <https://www.npmjs.com/package/mammoth>.

• WordPress <https://wordpress.org/plugins/mammoth-docx-converter/>__.

• Java/JVM <https://github.com/mwilliamson/java-mammoth>. Available on Maven Central <http://search.maven.org/#search%7Cga%7C1%7Cg%3A%22org.zwobble.mammoth%22%20AND%20a%3A%22mammoth%22>.

• .NET <https://github.com/mwilliamson/dotnet-mammoth>. Available on NuGet <https://www.nuget.org/packages/Mammoth/>.

Usage

CLI

You can convert docx files by passing the path to the docx file and the
output file. For instance:

::

   mammoth document.docx output.html

If no output file is specified, output is written to stdout instead.

The output is an HTML fragment, rather than a full HTML document,
encoded with UTF-8. Since the encoding is not explicitly set in the
fragment, opening the output file in a web browser may cause Unicode
characters to be rendered incorrectly if the browser doesn’t default to
UTF-8.

Images
^^^^^^

By default, images are included inline in the output HTML. If an output
directory is specified by ``--output-dir``, the images are written to
separate files instead. For instance:

::

   mammoth document.docx --output-dir=output-dir

Existing files will be overwritten if present.

Styles
^^^^^^

A custom style map can be read from a file using ``--style-map``. For
instance:

::

   mammoth document.docx output.html --style-map=custom-style-map

Where ``custom-style-map`` looks something like:

::

   p[style-name='Aside Heading'] => div.aside > h2:fresh
   p[style-name='Aside Text'] => div.aside > p:fresh

A description of the syntax for style maps can be found in the section
`“Writing style maps” <#writing-style-maps>`__.

Markdown
^^^^^^^^

Markdown support is deprecated. Generating HTML and using a separate
library to convert the HTML to Markdown is recommended, and is likely to
produce better results.

Using ``--output-format=markdown`` will cause Markdown to be generated.
For instance:

::

   mammoth document.docx --output-format=markdown

Library

Basic conversion ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

To convert an existing .docx file to HTML, pass a file-like object to mammoth.convert_to_html. The file should be opened in binary mode. For instance:

.. code:: python

import mammoth

with open("document.docx", "rb") as docx_file: result = mammoth.convert_to_html(docx_file) html = result.value # The generated HTML messages = result.messages # Any messages, such as warnings during conversion

You can also extract the raw text of the document by using mammoth.extract_raw_text. This will ignore all formatting in the document. Each paragraph is followed by two newlines.

.. code:: python

with open("document.docx", "rb") as docx_file: result = mammoth.extract_raw_text(docx_file) text = result.value # The raw text messages = result.messages # Any messages

Custom style map ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

By default, Mammoth maps some common .docx styles to HTML elements. For instance, a paragraph with the style name Heading 1 is converted to a h1 element. You can pass in a custom map for styles by passing an options object with a style_map property as a second argument to convert_to_html. A description of the syntax for style maps can be found in the section “Writing style maps” <#writing-style-maps>__. For instance, if paragraphs with the style name Section Title should be converted to h1 elements, and paragraphs with the style name Subsection Title should be converted to h2 elements:

.. code:: python

import mammoth

style_map = """ p[style-name='Section Title'] => h1:fresh p[style-name='Subsection Title'] => h2:fresh """

with open("document.docx", "rb") as docx_file: result = mammoth.convert_to_html(docx_file, style_map=style_map)

User-defined style mappings are used in preference to the default style mappings. To stop using the default style mappings altogether, pass include_default_style_map=False:

.. code:: python

result = mammoth.convert_to_html(docx_file, style_map=style_map, include_default_style_map=False)

Custom image handlers ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

By default, images are converted to <img> elements with the source included inline in the src attribute. This behaviour can be changed by setting the convert_image argument to an image converter <#image-converters>__ .

For instance, the following would replicate the default behaviour:

.. code:: python

def convert_image(image): with image.open() as image_bytes: encoded_src = base64.b64encode(image_bytes.read()).decode("ascii")

   return {
       "src": "data:{0};base64,{1}".format(image.content_type, encoded_src)
   }

mammoth.convert_to_html(docx_file, convert_image=mammoth.images.img_element(convert_image))

Bold ^^^^

By default, bold text is wrapped in <strong> tags. This behaviour can be changed by adding a style mapping for b. For instance, to wrap bold text in <em> tags:

.. code:: python

style_map = "b => em"

with open("document.docx", "rb") as docx_file: result = mammoth.convert_to_html(docx_file, style_map=style_map)

Italic ^^^^^^

By default, italic text is wrapped in <em> tags. This behaviour can be changed by adding a style mapping for i. For instance, to wrap italic text in <strong> tags:

.. code:: python

style_map = "i => strong"

with open("document.docx", "rb") as docx_file: result = mammoth.convert_to_html(docx_file, style_map=style_map)

Underline ^^^^^^^^^

By default, the underlining of any text is ignored since underlining can be confused with links in HTML documents. This behaviour can be changed by adding a style mapping for u. For instance, suppose that a source document uses underlining for emphasis. The following will wrap any explicitly underlined source text in <em> tags:

.. code:: python

import mammoth

style_map = "u => em"

with open("document.docx", "rb") as docx_file: result = mammoth.convert_to_html(docx_file, style_map=style_map)

Strikethrough ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

By default, strikethrough text is wrapped in <s> tags. This behaviour can be changed by adding a style mapping for strike. For instance, to wrap strikethrough text in <del> tags:

.. code:: python

style_map = "strike => del"

with open("document.docx", "rb") as docx_file: result = mammoth.convert_to_html(docx_file, style_map=style_map)

Comments ^^^^^^^^

By default, comments are ignored. To include comments in the generated HTML, add a style mapping for comment-reference. For instance:

.. code:: python

style_map = "comment-reference => sup"

with open("document.docx", "rb") as docx_file: result = mammoth.convert_to_html(docx_file, style_map=style_map)

Comments will be appended to the end of the document, with links to the comments wrapped using the specified style mapping.

API

``mammoth.convert_to_html(fileobj, **kwargs)``
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Converts the source document to HTML.

-  ``fileobj``: a file-like object containing the source document. Files
   should be opened in binary mode.

-  ``style_map``: a string to specify the mapping of Word styles to
   HTML. See the section `“Writing style maps” <#writing-style-maps>`__
   for a description of the syntax.

-  ``include_embedded_style_map``: by default, if the document contains
   an embedded style map, then it is combined with the default style
   map. To ignore any embedded style maps, pass
   ``include_embedded_style_map=False``.

-  ``include_default_style_map``: by default, the style map passed in
   ``style_map`` is combined with the default style map. To stop using
   the default style map altogether, pass
   ``include_default_style_map=False``.

-  ``convert_image``: by default, images are converted to ``<img>``
   elements with the source included inline in the ``src`` attribute.
   Set this argument to an `image converter <#image-converters>`__ to
   override the default behaviour.

-  ``ignore_empty_paragraphs``: by default, empty paragraphs are
   ignored. Set this option to ``False`` to preserve empty paragraphs in
   the output.

-  ``id_prefix``: a string to prepend to any generated IDs, such as
   those used by bookmarks, footnotes and endnotes. Defaults to an empty
   string.

-  ``transform_document``: if set, this function is applied to the
   document read from the docx file before the conversion to HTML. The
   API for document transforms should be considered unstable. See
   `document transforms <#document-transforms>`__.

-  Returns a result with the following properties:

   -  ``value``: the generated HTML

   -  ``messages``: any messages, such as errors and warnings, generated
      during the conversion

``mammoth.convert_to_markdown(fileobj, **kwargs)``
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Markdown support is deprecated. Generating HTML and using a separate
library to convert the HTML to Markdown is recommended, and is likely to
produce better results.

Converts the source document to Markdown. This behaves the same as
``convert_to_html``, except that the ``value`` property of the result
contains Markdown rather than HTML.

``mammoth.extract_raw_text(fileobj)``
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Extract the raw text of the document. This will ignore all formatting in
the document. Each paragraph is followed by two newlines.

-  ``fileobj``: a file-like object containing the source document. Files
   should be opened in binary mode.

-  Returns a result with the following properties:

   -  ``value``: the raw text

   -  ``messages``: any messages, such as errors and warnings

``mammoth.embed_style_map(fileobj, style_map)``
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Embeds the style map ``style_map`` into ``fileobj``. When Mammoth reads
a file object, it will use the embedded style map.

-  ``fileobj``: a file-like object containing the source document. Files
   should be opened for reading and writing in binary mode.

-  ``style_map``: the style map to embed.

-  Returns ``None``.

Messages
^^^^^^^^

Each message has the following properties:

-  ``type``: a string representing the type of the message, such as
   ``"warning"``

-  ``message``: a string containing the actual message

Image converters
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

An image converter can be created by calling
``mammoth.images.img_element(func)``. This creates an ``<img>`` element
for each image in the original docx. ``func`` should be a function that
has one argument ``image``. This argument is the image element being
converted, and has the following properties:

-  ``open()``: open the image file. Returns a file-like object.

-  ``content_type``: the content type of the image, such as
   ``image/png``.

``func`` should return a ``dict`` of attributes for the ``<img>``
element. At a minimum, this should include the ``src`` attribute. If any
alt text is found for the image, this will be automatically added to the
element’s attributes.

For instance, the following replicates the default image conversion:

.. code:: python

   def convert_image(image):
       with image.open() as image_bytes:
           encoded_src = base64.b64encode(image_bytes.read()).decode("ascii")

       return {
           "src": "data:{0};base64,{1}".format(image.content_type, encoded_src)
       }

   mammoth.images.img_element(convert_image)

``mammoth.images.data_uri`` is the default image converter.

WMF images are not handled by default by Mammoth. The recipes directory
contains `an example of how they can be converted using
LibreOffice <https://github.com/mwilliamson/python-mammoth/blob/master/recipes/wmf_images.py>`__,
although the fidelity of the conversion depends entirely on LibreOffice.

Document transforms

The API for document transforms should be considered unstable, and may change between any versions. If you rely on this behaviour, you should pin to a specific version of Mammoth, and test carefully before updating.

Mammoth allows a document to be transformed before it is converted. For instance, suppose that document has not been semantically marked up, but you know that any centre-aligned paragraph should be a heading. You can use the transform_document argument to modify the document appropriately:

.. code:: python

import mammoth.transforms

def transform_paragraph(element): if element.alignment == "center" and not element.style_id: return element.copy(style_id="Heading2") else: return element

transform_document = mammoth.transforms.paragraph(transform_paragraph)

mammoth.convert_to_html(fileobj, transform_document=transform_document)

Or if you want paragraphs that have been explicitly set to use monospace fonts to represent code:

.. code:: python

import mammoth.documents import mammoth.transforms

_monospace_fonts = set(["consolas", "courier", "courier new"])

def transform_paragraph(paragraph): runs = mammoth.transforms.get_descendants_of_type(paragraph, mammoth.documents.Run) if runs and all(run.font and run.font.lower() in _monospace_fonts for run in runs): return paragraph.copy(style_id="code", style_name="Code") else: return paragraph

convert_to_html( fileobj, transform_document=mammoth.transforms.paragraph(transform_paragraph), style_map="p[style-name='Code'] => pre:separator('\n')", )

mammoth.transforms.paragraph(transform_paragraph) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Returns a function that can be used as the transform_document argument. This will apply the function transform_paragraph to each paragraph element. transform_paragraph should return the new paragraph.

mammoth.transforms.run(transform_run) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Returns a function that can be used as the transform_document argument. This will apply the function transform_run to each run element. transform_run should return the new run.

mammoth.transforms.get_descendants(element) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Gets all descendants of an element.

mammoth.transforms.get_descendants_of_type(element, type) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Gets all descendants of a particular type of an element. For instance, to get all runs within an element paragraph:

.. code:: python

import mammoth.documents import mammoth.transforms

runs = mammoth.transforms.get_descendants_of_type(paragraph, documents.Run);

Writing style maps

A style map is made up of a number of style mappings separated by new lines. Blank lines and lines starting with # are ignored.

A style mapping has two parts:

• On the left, before the arrow, is the document element matcher.
• On the right, after the arrow, is the HTML path.

When converting each paragraph, Mammoth finds the first style mapping where the document element matcher matches the current paragraph. Mammoth then ensures the HTML path is satisfied.

Freshness

When writing style mappings, it’s helpful to understand Mammoth’s notion
of freshness. When generating, Mammoth will only close an HTML element
when necessary. Otherwise, elements are reused.

For instance, suppose one of the specified style mappings is
``p[style-name='Heading 1'] => h1``. If Mammoth encounters a .docx
paragraph with the style name ``Heading 1``, the .docx paragraph is
converted to a ``h1`` element with the same text. If the next .docx
paragraph also has the style name ``Heading 1``, then the text of that
paragraph will be appended to the *existing* ``h1`` element, rather than
creating a new ``h1`` element.

In most cases, you’ll probably want to generate a new ``h1`` element
instead. You can specify this by using the ``:fresh`` modifier:

``p[style-name='Heading 1'] => h1:fresh``

The two consecutive ``Heading 1`` .docx paragraphs will then be
converted to two separate ``h1`` elements.

Reusing elements is useful in generating more complicated HTML
structures. For instance, suppose your .docx contains asides. Each aside
might have a heading and some body text, which should be contained
within a single ``div.aside`` element. In this case, style mappings
similar to ``p[style-name='Aside Heading'] => div.aside > h2:fresh`` and
``p[style-name='Aside Text'] => div.aside > p:fresh`` might be helpful.

Document element matchers

Paragraphs, runs and tables ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Match any paragraph:

::

p

Match any run:

::

r

Match any table:

::

table

To match a paragraph, run or table with a specific style, you can reference the style by name. This is the style name that is displayed in Microsoft Word or LibreOffice. For instance, to match a paragraph with the style name Heading 1:

::

p[style-name='Heading 1']

You can also match a style name by prefix. For instance, to match a paragraph where the style name starts with Heading:

::

p[style-name^='Heading']

Styles can also be referenced by style ID. This is the ID used internally in the .docx file. To match a paragraph or run with a specific style ID, append a dot followed by the style ID. For instance, to match a paragraph with the style ID Heading1:

::

p.Heading1

.. _bold-1:

Bold ^^^^

Match explicitly bold text:

::

b

Note that this matches text that has had bold explicitly applied to it. It will not match any text that is bold because of its paragraph or run style.

.. _italic-1:

Italic ^^^^^^

Match explicitly italic text:

::

i

Note that this matches text that has had italic explicitly applied to it. It will not match any text that is italic because of its paragraph or run style.

.. _underline-1:

Underline ^^^^^^^^^

Match explicitly underlined text:

::

u

Note that this matches text that has had underline explicitly applied to it. It will not match any text that is underlined because of its paragraph or run style.

Strikethough ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Match explicitly struckthrough text:

::

strike

Note that this matches text that has had strikethrough explicitly applied to it. It will not match any text that is struckthrough because of its paragraph or run style.

All caps ^^^^^^^^

Match explicitly all caps text:

::

all-caps

Note that this matches text that has had all caps explicitly applied to it. It will not match any text that is all caps because of its paragraph or run style.

Small caps ^^^^^^^^^^

Match explicitly small caps text:

::

small-caps

Note that this matches text that has had small caps explicitly applied to it. It will not match any text that is small caps because of its paragraph or run style.

Highlight ^^^^^^^^^

Match explicitly highlighted text:

::

highlight

Note that this matches text that has had a highlight explicitly applied to it. It will not match any text that is highlighted because of its paragraph or run style.

It’s also possible to match specific colours. For instance, to match yellow highlights:

::

highlight[color='yellow']

The set of colours typically used are:

• black
• blue
• cyan
• green
• magenta
• red
• yellow
• white
• darkBlue
• darkCyan
• darkGreen
• darkMagenta
• darkRed
• darkYellow
• darkGray
• lightGray

Ignoring document elements ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Use ! to ignore a document element. For instance, to ignore any paragraph with the style Comment:

::

p[style-name='Comment'] => !

HTML paths

Single elements
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The simplest HTML path is to specify a single element. For instance, to
specify an ``h1`` element:

::

   h1

To give an element a CSS class, append a dot followed by the name of the
class:

::

   h1.section-title

To add an attribute, use square brackets similarly to a CSS attribute
selector:

::

   p[lang='fr']

To require that an element is fresh, use ``:fresh``:

::

   h1:fresh

Modifiers must be used in the correct order:

::

   h1.section-title:fresh

Separators
^^^^^^^^^^

To specify a separator to place between the contents of paragraphs that
are collapsed together, use ``:separator('SEPARATOR STRING')``.

For instance, suppose a document contains a block of code where each
line of code is a paragraph with the style ``Code Block``. We can write
a style mapping to map such paragraphs to ``<pre>`` elements:

::

   p[style-name='Code Block'] => pre

Since ``pre`` isn’t marked as ``:fresh``, consecutive ``pre`` elements
will be collapsed together. However, this results in the code all being
on one line. We can use ``:separator`` to insert a newline between each
line of code:

::

   p[style-name='Code Block'] => pre:separator('\n')

Nested elements
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Use ``>`` to specify nested elements. For instance, to specify ``h2``
within ``div.aside``:

::

   div.aside > h2

You can nest elements to any depth.

Donations
---------

If you’d like to say thanks, feel free to `make a donation through
Ko-fi <https://ko-fi.com/S6S01MG20>`__.

If you use Mammoth as part of your business, please consider supporting
the ongoing maintenance of Mammoth by `making a weekly donation through
Liberapay <https://liberapay.com/mwilliamson/donate>`__.