docx

Write a Node script that requires the preinstalled docx npm package and defines paragraphs, tables, and sections. Watch for gotchas: page size defaults to A4, tables need both columnWidths and per-cell widths in DXA, and lists require a numbering config rather than literal bullet characters.

Unzip the .docx, edit word/document.xml in place without reformatting, then rezip. Run merge_runs.py first because Word splits text across many runs, so target phrases often are not contiguous strings in the XML. Validate the result with validate.py against the original.

Wrap inserted runs in w:ins and deleted runs in w:del elements with w:id, w:author, and w:date attributes; deleted text uses w:delText instead of w:t. Validate with validate.py --original file.docx --author "Name" to catch any edit missing tracked-change markup.

No, docx-js only creates new documents and cannot open existing files. To modify an existing .docx, unzip it, edit the XML directly, and rezip, or use pandoc to read content and LibreOffice for format conversions.

Word fragments visible text across many w:r runs due to revision IDs and spell-check markers, so a phrase rarely exists as one contiguous string. Run merge_runs.py to coalesce adjacent identically-formatted runs before searching; rendering is unchanged.

Use comment.py against an unpacked directory or a .docx directly; it writes comments.xml, commentsExtended.xml, commentsIds.xml, and commentsExtensible.xml plus relationships and content types. Then place the printed commentRangeStart/End markers in document.xml to anchor the comment to text.