Re: [docbook-apps] Easiest way to convert Word .doc or .rtf to DocBook?

[Peter Desjardins <peter.desjardins.us@gmail.com>]

I have been using a set of XSLT stylesheets to convert the XML source
of Word documents directly to DocBook. It took me a while to write the
XSLT and it's customized for the template my company uses. However,
now that it's written, converting a large number of Word documents to
clean, valid DocBook is very simple. Our authors continue to work in
Word and a nightly build process converts the files to DocBook XML and
then does the DocBook XSL processing.

One caveat is that our Word documents were well structured by the
authors and used a well-designed template of paragraph and character
styles. Without that, the XSLT might not be so successful.

You might consider investing in some custom XSLT work. That way you
can carefully control the resulting DocBook XML to suit the workflow
that you'll be moving to.

Peter Desjardins

On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 10:07 AM, Donna Saporito
<DSaporito@antennasoftware.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
> I have to convert a massive amount of Word documents over to DocBook for my
> company. I also have a few FrameMaker documents that will need to be
> converted. I figure that I can save the .fm files as .rtf and then .doc
> files and follow the conversion process I will use for Word (once I figure
> out what to use).
>
>
>
> I am willing to purchase a tool such as WordPlay by Docsoft, Inc. or Upcast
> by InfinityLoop. I looked into MajiX, but I thought the installation
> instructions were rather confusing. (They may not be confusing to others,
> but the user doc said I’d have to run some command from Sun’s virtual
> machine, etc. ) I also looked into Yawc briefly, but it calls for attaching
> a new template in Microsoft Word. I am nervous to do this in case I corrupt
> any existing Word templates that I have.
>
>
>
> If there is a simple, straight-forward way to convert Word to XML? I am
> willing to ask my company to purchase the best tool.
>
>
>
> Any input will be appreciated. Thanks so much. - Donna
>
>
>
> Donna Saporito | Technical Writer | Technology and Engineering
> O: 201-217-3382 | M: 551-655-5721 | H: 973-845-6594| E:
> dsaporito@antennasoftware.com
>
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