Working with DOCX

Marked has extensive support for working with Microsoft Word files. The typical workflow is preview first, export DOCX second: open or watch your Markdown in Marked, refine styles and proofreading in the live preview, then export to Word when the document is ready.

Opening DOCX files

Marked can read a DOCX file and convert it to clean Markdown. Valid style elements like headlines and lists will be converted to their Markdown equivalent.

Change tracking and comments will be converted to CriticMarkup. Highlights will be converted to <mark> tags, with colors where appropriate.

Exporting DOCX files

Use the Export palette to generate a DOCX file from your Markdown. In the save dialog you can specify a built-in styles — this style can easily be changed in Word just by opening the theme selector and selecting a new theme.

Headers and footers

If you configure headers and footers in Marked Settings, Export pane, they are included in the exported DOCX. Standard placeholders such as %title, %date, %page, and %total are substituted at export time. %logo and %image embed the logo from Header/Footer preferences. %md_* metadata variables resolve from the document’s MultiMarkdown metadata. %h1–%h6 become Word STYLEREF fields tied to the exported heading styles; Word fills them in when you open the document. See Exporting for the full variable list and differences between DOCX and print/PDF behavior.

Change Tracking

CriticMarkup syntax in a Markdown document will be converted to Word Change Tracking when exported to DOCX. Comments following insertions, deletions, and substitutions will appear in the right hand column in Word when change tracking is enabled.

When importing a DOCX file in Marked, change tracking will be converted to CriticMarkup and <mark> tags as appropriate.

Math

MathJax and Katex equations displayed in the document will be converted to MathML for display in Word. This conversion isn’t perfect, but in most cases will render a valid math block in the word document. This only applies to export — math blocks in Word documents will not be converted when importing.

Adding Custom Export Styles

You can add your own export styles by placing a matching pair of files in ~/Library/Application Support/Marked/Custom Word Styles/:

  • STYLENAME.xml — the Word paragraph/character styles (from a document’s word/styles.xml)
  • STYLENAME.thmx — an optional Word theme for colors, fonts, and effects

A Word theme (.thmx) does not store the paragraph styles you edit in the document. Those live in the document (or a template such as .dotx / Normal.dotm). Marked needs the extracted styles.xml for the style definitions, and the .thmx only for theme colors/fonts/effects.

To create a custom export style:

  1. Open a Marked-generated DOCX file in Word.
  2. Edit the styles you care about: right-click a style in the Styles gallery or Styles pane and choose Modify… (there is no separate “Style editor”). Apply your fonts, spacing, and other formatting, then save the DOCX.
  3. Optionally capture theme colors/fonts/effects: open the Design tab, open the Themes gallery, and choose Save Current Theme…. Save it as ~/Library/Application Support/Marked/Custom Word Styles/STYLENAME.thmx, using the name you want in Marked’s style menu.
  4. In Finder, duplicate the saved DOCX, rename the copy to FILENAME.zip, and expand it.
  5. Inside the unzipped package, copy word/styles.xml to ~/Library/Application Support/Marked/Custom Word Styles/STYLENAME.xml (same base name as the .thmx, if you created one).

The next time you export a DOCX from Marked, your style appears in the Style menu of the Save dialog.

Next up: HTML Export ▶

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