Re: [docbook-apps] Howto convert Openoffice to DocBook?

[DeanNelson <deannelson@aol.com>]

Robert

I have had pretty good results with a modified copy of "Majix". (majix.sourceforge.net) I had to modify it to get the output to verify and build Docbook, but I can make that copy available.

 

The drawbacks:

1. Images are output as WMF files.

2. You must save the file as an RTF before conversion with Majix.

3. You may still have to go into the generated output and check to see if the translated elements are what you desired.

 

When I started Docbook'ing, my general search for a good conversion tool did not go well. Mainly because the docs that I had to convert were existing Word docs and I had no control on how they were laid out. Most of the other solutions I have tried (Word templates, OpenOffice) seemed too restrictive and you have to hold your mouth just right to get them to work. I have moved enough files from Word to Docbook to know what some of the pitfalls are when translating with Majix and, by far, its much quicker than "cut and paste" ;-)

 

There is so many documents out there in Word and many companies looking to move to XML, but the tools for the initial conversion to Docbook are very meager and immature. As a result, many times it scares a beginner out of moving to Docbook by the shear task of conversion. If that was easier, basic concepts of life with XML and Docbook would come quicker. The Majix tool finally produced an output that I trusted (for my docs) only after a few years of tuning the tool (i.e tinkering).

 

As a word of clarification, the above discussion is relevant only to initial conversion and not the "back and forth" movement of files between Word/OO and Docbook (i.e roundtrip).

 

Regards,

Dean Nelson

 

In a message dated 04/14/09 07:02:37 Pacific Daylight Time, Tom_Towle@bcbsil.com writes:

I have played around with Openoffice to docbook and the xslt provided does
only the initial part of the transformation. As it is open source, they did
just a little bit of work but it in no way can be used as it is. Open
office is very good and I highly recomend it. But you cannot use the
transformation xslt file out of the box.


                                                                         
            "Noah Slater"                                                
            <nslater@tumbolia                                            
            .org>                                                      To
                                      "Darya Said-Akbari"                
            04/14/2009 07:28          <darya_akbari@yahoo.com>            
            AM                                                         cc
                            & nbsp;         docbook-apps@lists.oasis-open.org  
                                                                  Subject
                                      Re: [docbook-apps] Howto convert    
                                      Openoffice to DocBook?              
                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                                         
    &nb sp;                                                                    




On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 05:23:53AM -0700, Darya Said-Akbari wrote:
>
> Forget about it, it's a waste of time.

That's a rather unhelpful response. Why is it a waste of time?

--
Noah Slater, http://tumbolia.org/nslater

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