Help using --reference-doc

[souovan]

Hi y'all i have the following use case:

i need to use a reference.docx file as template with --reference-doc while converting a .md file to output a .docx file, but i need that the output.docx file keep some pages unchanged from the reference.docx file, i appreciate any help !

[jgm]

Sorry, that's not possible. The only thing pandoc carries over from the reference.docx are styles.

[jgm]

We don't really have detailed documentation for it. You can do pandoc -D openxml to get a copy of the default template, which you can modify and then pass to pandoc using --template. AS for how to modify it, well, you need to examine OpenXML documentation or study examples produced by Word. It's not an easy format.

[rnwst]

@souovan -- I recently wrote an article about creating DOCX files with pandoc. It includes some details on working with openxml templates and the reference-doc, which you may find helpful.

[jgm]

That's really useful. I will add a link to it on the wiki.

[souovan]

We don't really have detailed documentation for it. You can do pandoc -D openxml to get a copy of the default template, which you can modify and then pass to pandoc using --template. AS for how to modify it, well, you need to examine OpenXML documentation or study examples produced by Word. It's not an easy format.

Thanks!! but i tried and get

$ pandoc -D openxml
Could not find data file /usr/share/pandoc-3.1.3/data/templates/default.openxml

My pandoc version is

$ pandoc -v                                                                                                                                     97 ↵
pandoc 3.1.3
Features: -server +lua
Scripting engine: Lua 5.4
User data directory: /home/van/.local/share/pandoc
Copyright (C) 2006-2023 John MacFarlane. Web: https://pandoc.org
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is no
warranty, not even for merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

[TomBener]

I recently wrote an article about creating DOCX files with pandoc. It includes some details on working with openxml templates and the reference-doc, which you may find helpful.

Thanks for your great article and repo, West! I have tested it following your guidance, but I encountered PowerShell issues on my Mac. As a result, I created a Bash-based repo. Hope it helps for folks who use Mac.

[tarleb]

I would need to review the full release notes, but I am fairly sure the openxml template was implemented after 3.1.3

Indeed, it was implemented in 3.2.1.