Create formally structured Word documents with Table of Contents, equations (LaTeX to OMML), footnotes/endnotes, bibliography, and scholarly formatting. Output is a single .docx file. This skill supersedes the docx creating.md Academic Paper recipe -- use THIS skill for any document requiring TOC + equations + footnotes + formal structure.
Every time before using officecli, run this check:
if ! command -v officecli &> /dev/null; then
echo "Installing officecli..."
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCli/main/install.sh | bash
# Windows: irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCli/main/install.ps1 | iex
else
CURRENT=$(officecli --version 2>&1 | grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' | head -1)
LATEST=$(curl -fsSL https://api.github.com/repos/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/releases/latest | grep '"tag_name"' | sed -E 's/.*"v?([0-9.]+)".*/\1/')
if [ "$CURRENT" != "$LATEST" ]; then
echo "Upgrading officecli $CURRENT -> $LATEST..."
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCli/main/install.sh | bash
else
echo "officecli $CURRENT is up to date"
fi
fi
officecli --versionA single .docx file with:
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| Cover / title block | Centered title, authors, affiliations |
| Table of Contents | Native Word TOC field (levels 1-3), updateable |
| Structured sections | Heading1/2/3 hierarchy with consistent styling |
| Equations | Display and inline OMML from LaTeX subset |
| Footnotes / endnotes | Inline references at correct paragraph positions |
| Bibliography | Hanging indent, per-citation-style formatting |
| Headers / footers | Page numbers, optional branding |
| Optional: watermark, charts, custom bordered blocks, cross-references |
Define ALL styles before adding ANY content. Skipping style definitions causes formatting failures in 100% of cases. Different Word versions define Heading1 as 14pt, 16pt, or 13pt -- explicit style setup eliminates this variance.
| Style | Size | Weight | spaceBefore | spaceAfter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cover title | 20pt | bold | 72pt (≈1 inch) | 24pt |
| Heading1 | >= 18pt (20pt preferred) | bold | 360 (18pt) | 120 (6pt) |
| Heading2 | >= 14pt | bold | 360 (18pt) | 80 (4pt) |
| Heading3 | >= 12pt | bold + italic | 240 (12pt) | 80 (4pt) |
| Body (Normal) | 11-12pt | regular | per paper type | per paper type |
| Caption | 9-10pt | italic | -- | -- |
| FootnoteText | 9-10pt | regular | -- | -- |
| Category | LaTeX | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fractions | \frac{a}{b} | Nested supported |
| Sub/superscripts | x_i, x^{n+1} | Multi-char needs braces |
| Summation | \sum_{n=1}^{\infty} | Limits above/below in display |
| Integration | \int_0^{\infty}, \oint | Single, double, and contour |
| Products | \prod_{i=1}^{n} | |
| Limits | \lim_{x \to 0} | |
| Square roots | \sqrt{x}, \sqrt[3]{x} | nth-root supported |
| Greek letters | \alpha .. \Omega | Both cases |
| Nabla / partial | \nabla, \partial | |
| Accents | \hat{x}, \bar{x}, \tilde{x}, \vec{x}, \dot{x} | |
| Bold math | \mathbf{x} | For vectors |
| Aligned | \begin{aligned}...\end{aligned} | Multi-line systems |
| Matrices | \begin{pmatrix}...\end{pmatrix} | Also bmatrix, vmatrix |
| Angle brackets | \langle, \rangle | For bra-ket notation |
| Simple delimiters | \left[...\right] | ONLY when NO sub/super inside |
| DO NOT USE | \left[...\right] + subscript/superscript inside | Cast error crash |
| DO NOT USE | \left(...\right) + subscript/superscript inside | Same crash |
| DO NOT USE | \mathcal{L} | Invalid XML -- use \mathit{L} |
Footnotes are inline reference runs within the target paragraph. They do NOT create new paragraphs and do NOT shift paragraph indices. You can add footnotes in any order -- forward, reverse, or arbitrary. The old "reverse order" advice is obsolete as of v1.0.24.
The following rules are non-negotiable. Any violation constitutes a delivery failure.
| Rule | Requirement |
|---|---|
| H1 | officecli validate passes — zero XML errors |
| H2 | Cover page present with ≥7 of 10 required elements (title, authors, affiliation, submission target, date, abstract excerpt, keywords, horizontal rule, contact, subtitle) |
| H3 | All body sections use continuous numbered headings (e.g., "1. Introduction", "2. Methods") — see Section C.3 |
| H4 | Abstract paragraph has NO firstLineIndent (block style) |
| H5 | Table of Contents (TOC) field present |
| H6 | Dynamic PAGE field in footer (not static text) |
| H7 | Heading hierarchy is consistent — no level skipping (H1 → H2 → H3, never H1 → H3) |
| H8 | References/Bibliography section REQUIRED. Every academic paper must have a final section titled "References" or "Bibliography" containing at minimum 5 formatted citations with hanging indent. A document with inline citations and no reference list is a delivery failure. |
Classify paper type (social science, physics/math, white paper). Look up the Feature Selection Table in creating.md Section A. Plan which sections to follow.
Create document, set defaults + margins, define ALL styles upfront. Plan section breaks if multi-column or landscape is needed.
Add content in order: cover, TOC, abstract, body sections, equations, tables, footnotes, bibliography, headers/footers, watermark.
Run verification loop: validate, view outline, view issues, view text. Fix and re-verify.
| Warning | Detail |
|---|---|
\left/\right + sub/super | Crashes with cast error. Use plain (), [] -- OMML auto-sizes. |
| pbdr at style level | add /styles --prop pbdr.all=... is silently dropped. set /styles/X --prop pbdr.all=... is rejected. Always set borders per-paragraph after creation. |
| Section break +1 offset | Each section break inserts one empty paragraph into /body. Account for +1 index offset on all subsequent p[N] references. |
| Shell escaping for LaTeX | Double backslashes in bash: --prop "formula=\\frac{a}{b}". Use heredoc for complex formulas. |
Dollar sign $ in text | Bash expands $ as variable in double quotes. Use single quotes or \$. See creating.md D-10. |
| Batch JSON values | ALL values must be strings: "true" not true, "24" not 24. |
| Batch intermittent failure | ~1-in-15 failure rate. Retry on error. Keep arrays to 10-15 max. |
| TOC displays blank in LibreOffice | TOC field renders as "Update field to see table of contents" in LibreOffice/PDF — this is normal OOXML behavior. In Microsoft Word: Ctrl+A → F9 to update all fields. For LibreOffice-only recipients: add static text TOC paragraphs after the field, or include a delivery note asking the user to open in Word and press F9. |
move on oMathPara not reliable | move command does not reliably reposition equation paragraphs (oMathPara elements). Workaround: use add /body --type equation to create the equation at the target position, then remove the original. Do NOT use move on equations. |
pbdr.bottom XML order bug (P3) | set --prop pbdr.bottom=... may generate <w:pBdr> with child elements in wrong order, causing validate to report a pBdr schema error. Workaround: use raw-set to write the full <w:pBdr> XML manually (see creating.md D-4b). This is a known CLI bug — P3, CLI team owns the fix. |
officecli create paper.docx
officecli set paper.docx / --prop defaultFont="Times New Roman"
officecli set paper.docx '/section[1]' --prop marginTop=1440 --prop marginBottom=1440 --prop marginLeft=1440 --prop marginRight=1440
officecli add paper.docx /styles --type style --prop id=Heading1 --prop name="Heading 1" --prop type=paragraph --prop font="Times New Roman" --prop size=20 --prop bold=true --prop spaceBefore=360 --prop spaceAfter=120 --prop keepNext=true
officecli add paper.docx /body --type toc --prop levels=1-3 --prop title="Table of Contents"
officecli add paper.docx /body --type paragraph --prop text="Introduction" --prop style=Heading1
officecli add paper.docx /body --type paragraph --prop text="This paper examines..." --prop size=12 --prop lineSpacing=2xFollow creating.md for the full step-by-step guide.
When the user requests changes after the paper is built:
| Request | Command |
|---|---|
| Move a paragraph after another | officecli move paper.docx '/body/p[8]' --after '/body/p[2]' |
| Swap two paragraphs | officecli swap paper.docx '/body/p[3]' '/body/p[7]' |
| Edit paragraph text | officecli set paper.docx '/body/p[N]' --prop text="..." |
| Find & replace text | officecli set paper.docx / --prop find=OldText --prop replace=NewText |
| Remove a paragraph | officecli remove paper.docx '/body/p[N]' |
After any swap or move, paragraph indices shift — re-query with officecli get paper.docx /body --depth 1 before further edits.