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Compatibility with other word/document processors
Don't forget to check Herbert's pages about converters.
§ Can I read/write LaTeX files?
Yes. LyX outputs LaTeX files that are either machine or human friendly. The reLyX program that comes with LyX does a decent job of converting LaTeX into LyX. It's not perfect, but it will usually get at least 95% of the job done for you.
A guide on how to import LaTeX documents from Scientific Word/Scientific Workplace is here: ImportingFromSWP
§ Can I read/write Word files?
Not trivially. People have had some level of success with the following sequence: LyX->LaTeX->RTF->Word, and vice versa. However, Word is inherently not a markup language like LyX and LaTeX, so conversions are usually difficult and almost meaningless.
The available converters and half-measures change rapidly. Remember to search the user's mail list, for instance at [1].
However, here are a few suggestions which were sent in:
- word2x produces LaTeX, HTML and plain text output. The LaTeX is importable in principle (and is rather clean) but I often prefer plain text and add the formatting back in. (This requires that you have knowledge on the original formatting). On last writing did not yet handle Office 2000 Word.
- wvware (found at this link, or the abisource CVS repository for the latest). This was previously called msWordView. Very good, only tends to produce visually formatted LaTeX/HTML. Is however highly configurable: a config file wvLaTeX.xml guides the translation process. Handles also the newest Office formats.
- Writer2LaTeX, a tool that converts OpenOffice (sxw, odt, etc.) files to LaTeX files, is also worth a try. Since late 2006 it has been built into OpenOffice under File -> Export; thus OpenOffice, NeoOffice etc. can operate as a Word-->OO-->Latex converter - if perhaps a somewhat bloated one! The preferences in writer2latex.xml are easily adjusted, whether it is used with OO or not; see the user's manual at the Writer2LaTeX site. For the opposite way, LyX/LaTeX->sxw, there's TeX4ht, which does a pretty good job.
- Ted This is the editor to use when someone sends you an RTF file created by Word. Fine product. Mail yourself the converted version (plain text or HTML).
- Antiword Daniel Goldin suggests using: antiword file.doc > file.txt. Then import text file into lyx and do the rest by hand. I've found that wv often turns windows tables to gibberish. Antiword produces nice text and keeps the paragraph formatting.
- Paul Johnson <pauljohn@ku.edu> notes that Abiword (the free word processor) has LaTeX export. Try that!
- Paul Johnson notes that the MS Word addon program word2tex can be purchased (or downloaded in demo format) from http://www.adeptscience.co.uk/products/utilities/word2tex/. This works very well for most test cases. Documents that include math display equations may need a lot of hand-editing after conversion.
- As word format is difficult to handle, an option is to use a MSWord macro that will probably be best to understand the Word document structure. Try the (still beta) Word2Lyx Macro?
Finally, when all else fails, use any word processor (WordPerfect, StarOffice, ...) which understands Word. Then export as the file as plain text and add the formatting by hand in LyX. For me personally, at least, it's faster doing this than cleaning up attempts at a conversion, though it is certainly unsatisfactory if you need to go back and forth a lot.
§ Can I read/write HTML files?
You can output HTML files using the "tth" converter program, amongst others. There may be a HTML->LaTeX program available which allows you to convert the other direction.
§ See also
ExportingRichTextFormatWithLaTeX2rtf
Compatibility
MSWord
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