🚀 go-pugleaf

This is a list of RTF/Word/WP <-> LaTeX - converters,
as of Aug 27, 1996
Note that it contains information about converters
ONLY between LaTeX and PC word processors.
Converters to and from other formats may have own FAQ lists. 

Following the suggestions of several people, I am posting this list
_regularly_ once a month to comp.text.tex and aus.computers.tex.
I hope this frequency fits most needs.
I will do this until it was settled whether this FAQ is included
in the TeX_FAQ or whether it will remain separate - in the latter case 
I will apply for an approvement as official FAQ.

This list is as good or as bad as its support,
and I need YOUR support to update and supplement this list.

Please supplement if you know more and/or better ones.
There are some more converters on the CTAN sites,
but the following seem to be most promising for conversion
to and from the currect versions of wordprocessors. 

Neither correctness nor completeness is guaranteed.
Please send corrections, enhancements and supplements
to the following e-mail address:
<W.Hennings@kfa-juelich.de>

The latest version of this list can be obtained via
<http://www.kfa-juelich.de/isr/1/texconv.html>


Some general remarks on converting LaTeX documents.
---------------------------------------------------

The preferred way is to use RTF as an intermediate format,
because it is coded in ASCII and its structure is described
in freely available documents. However there are several versions
of RTF depending of the version of textprocessor. While
the latest version of Microsoft Word for Windows can read all
versions of RTF, most converters are limited to an earlier RTF version.
I do not know how to tell MS Word for Windows 6/7 to export to
an earlier RTF version.

Another possibility would be to use HTML or SGML as an intermediate format.

There are free HTML converters available from Microsoft for both
Word for Windows 6 and 7; I am not sure about WordPerfect.
Because HTML is a structured format, the conversion between
html and LaTeX is rather straightforward. Converters are
available from CTAN, e.g. in /pub/tex/support/latex2html and
/pub/tex/support/html2latex. There remain the limitations
of HTML compared to LaTeX, i.e. there are many elements in LaTeX
which can not (yet?) be represented in HTML.

Although I got an e-mail telling about ongoing work to
use SGML as intermediate format for several conversions,
it seems not to be ready-to-use at present.

***********************************************************************

LATEX -> RTF (WORD / WORD PERFECT)
==================================

When using an RTF converter, the converter output will be in RTF format.
This is a pure ASCII file containing all the formatting information which
can be read-in by Word for DOS, Word for Windows and Word for Macintosh.
As far as I know, also WordPerfect and others can read RTF.

A. Non-Commercial:
Non-commercial converters can be found on CTAN sites.

***********************************************************************
>>citation begin
+++++                  Announcing Tex2RTF 1.47                        +++++
+++++  A Free LaTeX to RTF, Windows Help RTF, HTML & wxHelp converter +++++

Purpose
=======
  *  Allows you to maintain manuals in printed and hypertext formats.

  *  Allows conversion of existing LaTeX documents to word processor
     formats (usually some 'tweaking' is required to conform to
     Tex2RTF restrictions).

Input
=====
A LaTeX subset with some additional hypertext macros; no maths,
minimal table support.

Caveat: Please do not expect to convert arbitrary LaTex files without
editing: this is not the primary intention of Tex2RTF. Success converting
existing LaTeX depends on your expectations and the style in which
the LaTeX was written. Tex2RTF does not accept pure TeX (non-LaTeX)
documents.

Output
======
  *  ordinary RTF
  *  Windows Help hypertext RTF
  *  HTML (the World Wide Web hypertext format)
  *  wxHelp (the wxWindows GUI library help file format)

Installation
============
Under Windows, please run the supplied install.exe program. The Tex2RTF
manual itself serves as an example input file, in the docs subdirectory
with various .sty, .ini, and .gif files that you may need for your
own documents. See the online manual for further details.

Platforms supported
===================
  *  SPARC Open Look
  *  SPARC Motif
  *  Windows 3.1

Where to get it
===============
The latest version of Tex2RTF can be accessed by anonymous ftp from
ftp.aiai.ed.ac.uk in the directory /pub/packages/tex2rtf.
The WWW pages are at http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~jacs/tex2rtf.html.

Tex2RTF was developed using the free Open Look/Motif/Windows 3.1 C++
class library wxWindows, also available from the above FTP site in the
/pub/packages/wxwin directory.
The wxWindows WWW pages are at http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~jacs/wxwin.html.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Julian Smart, June 1995

Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute
University of Edinburgh
80 South Bridge
Edinburgh
Scotland
EH1 1HN

EMAIL: J.Smart@ed.ac.uk
TEL:   0131 650 2746

citation end<<

Also available from CTAN sites, dir .../support/tex2rtf

***********************************************************************

latex2rtf

LaTeX to RTF converter for Unix machines.

>>citation begin
latex2rtf is a translator program that translates LaTeX text into the
RTF format used by several textprocessors, including Microsoft Word and
Word for Windows. It was written by Fernando Dorner and Andreas Granzer
in a one-semester course in our department. For the Copyright of the
Program see the file Copyright.

...(installation description deleted)...

- Try the program and report any errors to the address below.
 
--
Ralf Schlatterbeck
Treitlstr.3/182/1                            email: ralf@vmars.tuwien.ac.at
A-1040 Wien                                  Phone: +43/1/58801/8176
Austria                                      FAX:   +43/1/569149

Source and makefiles are available from CTAN sites,
dir .../support/latex2rtf

***********************************************************************

B. Commercial:


***********************************************************************
>>citation begin

TexPort converts TeX and LaTeX to WordPerfect format files.
WordPerfect files can be imported into Microsoft Word.

TexPort converts:

Font styles, such as bold and italic 
Footnotes 
Greek characters 
Math equations and scientific notation 
Inline and display format equations 
Simple tables, such as those that use the LaTeX macro "as is". 
Non-English phrases, European accent characters 
\def and \newcommand 

K-Talk Communications specializes in equations -
TexPort converts equations into MathEdit format equations,
K-Talk's equation editor.
These equations can then be used in WordPerfect, Word, TeX,
and other documents. The Professional Edition 
of MathEdit is included with TexPort.
The MathEdit for Windows demo can be obtained via FTP or WWW.
See details below.

Also available via FTP is the MathEdit Challenge.
Why take 44 hours to produce a technical document
when you can do it in 4?

K-Talk Products Information:

WWW home page   http://www.ktalk.com
FTP Site        ftp.infinet.com, directory /pub/ktalk


K-Talk Communications, Inc.
phone: (614) 488-8818        1287 King Ave, Suite 203
fax:   (614) 488-9505        Columbus, OH 43212-2220
email: lisa@ktalk.com


TexPort is offered with either the DOS or Windows version of
MathEdit. With DOS MathEdit, TexPort sells for $400(US). 
For a limited time, TexPort with Windows MathEdit is also $400.

(C) Copyright 1995 K-Talk Communications, Inc.

citation end<<
***********************************************************************

WORD/WORDPERFECT/RTF -> LATEX
=============================

Some notes in advance:
One advantage of LaTeX is that it forces to structure a document,
whereas wordprocessors like Word/WordPerfect allow unstructured
documents. It is hardly possible to automatically structure
a document where there was no structure before.
However it is nevertheless possible to write a structured
document with a wordprocessor by consistently using styles.
Therefore, wordprocessor documents using styles
can be converted to LaTeX e.g. by a macro written for the
specific wordprocessor.

To use an RTF converter, the wordprocessor document must first
be "saved as" Rich Text Format.

A. Non-Commercial:
Non-commercial converters can be found on CTAN sites.

***********************************************************************

RTFLATEX, a package consisting of a program in pascal which
translates RTF to LaTeX-like commands and a separate sty - file
containing the TeX macro definitions for these commands.
It does not yet support formulas or tables.
Disadvantage: TeX file does not conform to LaTeX style.

Can be found on all CTAN sites, dir .../support/rtflatex

***********************************************************************

rtf2TeX and rtf2LaTeX for use on Unix-like systems.
The Word document must first be saved to disk in RTF format.
I'd like to hear of experiences with these.
(They only handle RTF versions up to WinWord 2, not yet WinWord 6;
there are great differences between these rtf versions and 
I definitely have problems with WinWord6-rtf with any rtf-converter.)
   
   First, Paul Dubois <dubois@primate.wisc.edu> wrote an RTF reader
   and converter to plain text or troff.
   The version is dated April 1991.
   
 a)Based on this reader, Robert Lupton <rhl@astro.princeton.edu>
   wrote the rtf2TeX converter.
   Last revision date: May 1992
   He comments on this as follows (README-file):
   >>citation begin
    This is a first attempt at an RTF to TeX converter. The parts that
    handle fonts and such like seem to work pretty well, although they
    could be improved, but the table handling is a problem. I had a good
    deal of trouble trying to figure out what particular rtf control codes
    were supposed to do; this makes it hard to convert them into TeX.
    I have tried to produce good TeX, but this is not easy due to the
    sloppy way that many RTF writers generate redundant font and other
    changes.
    Many things are not handled at all, more due to my lacking motivation
    than to their intrinsic difficulty. For example, I don't support
    double columns, but it would be easy enough to do (I'd generate a
    control sequence to do it, and add the TeX code required to the
    TeX_defs file. I even have the TeX somewhere...).
   citation end<<
   So far the beginning of the README file. Later he commented:
   >>citation begin
    Most (all?) RTF is hopelessly unstructured (the equivalent of
        \bf \it Hello \rm World \bf He \it \rm said.
    ) and the code that I wrote tries valiantly to convert this to something
    sensible, in this case
        {\it Hello\/} World {\bf He} said.
    It is this attempt to make the output TeX usable that makes the code
    complicated...
    I did not try to convert equations or tables as I could find no adaquate
    description of either; I don't think that it would be very hard.
   citation end<<
   My comment is: Tables yes, but formulas will be difficult.

   Can be found on all CTAN sites, dir .../support/rtf2tex

 b)Based on these two, Erwin Wechtl wrote the rtf2LaTeX converter.
   Last revision date: Aug. 1993
   He comments on this as follows (README-file):
   >>citation begin
    rtf2LaTeX is a filter built on Paul DuBois' RTF reader that converts
    RTF (Microsoft's Rich Text Format) into LaTeX.
    rtf2LaTeX expends a good deal of effort in an attempt to make the resulting
    LaTeX maintainable and modifiable.
   citation end<<
   At the moment converts text elements, but no formulas and no graphics.

   Can be found on all CTAN sites, dir .../support/rtf2latex

***********************************************************************

w2latex, written in C. (C compiler necessary.)
Actually converts RTF to LaTeX.
The Word document must first be saved to disk in RTF format.

Advantages:
Converts text elements and formula fields.
Converts nearly all special characters of the
basic TrueType fonts (Arial, Courier New, Times New Roman)
I personally made some changes to additionally support
German left quotes and a few other special characters.

Disadvantages:
Does not convert the document structure
(i.e. headings are not recognised as such).
Does not handle other fields, equation editor objects, graphics.
Table handling is rudimentary (conversion of table cells
to minipages, but problems with borders).
It only handles RTF versions up to WinWord 2,
not yet WinWord 6.

Can be found on all CTAN sites, dir .../support/w2latex
German version is in dir .../support/w2latex/german

***********************************************************************

WINW2LTX - a set of macros for WinWord 2
now also available for WinWord 6
by Allin Cottrell <cottrell@wfu.edu>

Advantages:
Converts the document structure, i.e.
headings level 1 and 2 (and level 3 in German version),
bulleted lists and numbered lists,
and some of the special characters.
I personally adapted the macros to the German WinWord versions.
If I had more time, I would add conversion of the other
special characters and also of symbol font characters
into mathmode. (Should be rather straightforward.)

Disadvantages:
No conversion of tables, graphics, formulas, fields.

Can be found on all CTAN sites, directories
.../support/winw2ltx/english/ww2, .../support/winw2ltx/english/ww6 
.../support/winw2ltx/german/ww2,  .../support/winw2ltx/german/ww6 
(5 files in uncompressed form - download binary!)

***********************************************************************

WP2LaTeX, written in C, converts WordPerfect 5.1 to LaTeX.
(From WinWord: Save the Word document in WordPerfect 5.1 format.)
The latest version (3.0a from Jan 94) 
makes a first try to convert formulas, but is said 
by the author that this is not yet working properly.
It normally crashes on my documents and does not produce any
output. Maybe it's not compatible with the german WinWord version.
Can be found on all CTAN sites, dir .../support/wp2latex-5_1

***********************************************************************

>>citation begin
From: John Forkosh <forkosh@panix.com>
Subject: New WordPerfect -> LaTeX Translater
To: W.Hennings@kfa-juelich.de
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 09:16:36 -0400 (EDT)

I recently uploaded my WordPerfect -> LaTeX translater,
called TeXPerfect, to CTAN.  It's available in the
support directory under texperf (tex-archives/support/texperf).
Full C source is provided, as are executables for both
DOS and Linux.  The 00README file in the directory
provides more details.
John (forkosh@panix.com)
citation end<<

following extracted from the 00README file:

>>citation begin
CONVERSION FUNCTIONALITY
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Some of the LaTeX conversions performed by TeXPerfect are:
   o Suppose your input contains a greek alpha from the WordPerfect
     character set 8.  The output will contain $\alpha$ instead. 
     Most of the other special character sets provided by
     WordPerfect are similarly converted.  (This conversion is
     table-driven by the data in wpchrset.h, and can be easily
     augmented or modified.)
   o Superscripts, subscripts, bold, italics, etc, are all properly
     interpreted and handled.
   o "Hard" returns in WordPerfect _should_ generate an extra blank
     line, so that LaTeX will see them as paragraphs.  That
     functionality is mostly programmed, but a last-minute
     difficulty prevented me from completing it.  Also, no attempt
     is made to generate section/subsection/etc commands.
   o If your running text contains an expression like f(x),
     TeXPerfect will recognize it and surround it with $'s.  A
     variety of other ad hoc "rules" are hand-coded into the
     program to decide when to enter/exit math mode.  Needless to
     say, the decision isn't always right.  You'll need to correct
     tp's mistakes in Step 2 above.
   o Equations written with WordPerfect's equation editor will be
     reproduced "verbatim" by TeXPerfect, surrounded by \[ and \]. 
     The only correction applied is that 1 over 2 becomes
     1 \over 2, and similarly for various other keywords.  But no
     serious attempt to interpret and translate your equation is
     made.  Matrices, etc, will require considerable hand-tweaking
     on your part.  But at least you'll have what you originally
     wrote right in front of your eyes.
   o A little LaTeX preamble, etc, is provided, primarily for
     "cosmetic" purposes.  WordPerfect's margin settings, etc, are
     _not_ interpreted to construct this preamble.  You'll have to
     modify that information yourself.

WARNINGS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TeXPerfect was written to interpret files formatted by WordPerfect
5.1 for DOS.  When run against 5.1 files, TeXPerfect is pretty
robust.  But, for this release, I commented out the lines that
check the version number.  If you're using WP/Win, it can prepare
output in 5.1 format.  I'd recommend you do that before using
TeXPerfect.
citation end<<

***********************************************************************

B. Commercial:


***********************************************************************
>>citation begin

Publish your books and documents using TeX or LaTeX with the help
of K-Talk's Publishing Companion (DOS). Translate WordPerfect or
Microsoft Word files to TeX or LaTeX.

    - Typeset quality with the ease of word processing
    - No need for training sessions or workshops
    - Designed for documents of any length or complexity

Publishing Companion translates the following to plain TeX or
LaTeX:

 - Automatic Indexes          - Newspaper-style Columns
 - Boxes                      - Non-break Hyphens & Spaces
 - Centering                  - Outlines
 - Endnotes                   - Page Numbering
 - Flush Right                - Paragraphs
 - Footnotes                  - Parallel Columns
 - Foreign Characters         - Point Sizes
 - Full Fonts                 - Redlining
 - Horizontal Lines           - Running Headers & Footers
 - Indents                    - Soft Hyphens
 - Justification              - Strikeout
 - Mail Merge                 - Superscripts & Subscripts 
 - MathEdit Math Equations      - Table of Contents
 - MS Word 6.0 Math Equations   - Type Styles (bold, italic)
 - WordPerfect Math Equations   - Widows & Orphans on/off 

With Publishing Companion, you don't have to learn TeX to produce
typeset quality TeX output.  If you do know TeX, Publishing
Companion simplifies production.

Publishing Companion by K-Talk Communications, Inc. $249.00 (US)
ph. (614) 488-8818 
fx. (614) 488-9505
ktalk@delphi.com  or ktalk@aol.com
http://www.ktalk.com

citation end<<

However, there was a comment by a disappointed user:

>>citation begin
I had a very similar experience. Basically, conversion of my WP 5.0 and 5.1
documents could not be done with the original version of
Publishing Companion which I bought for $199 in 1993.
After I upgraded MathEdit to 3.0 earlier this year,
it worked no better. (I really had no interest in MathEdit,
but thought that the upgrade would fix the conversion problem.)
I then sent the WordPerfect file to be converted to K-Talk,
who sent me back the converted LaTeX file.
It still had all kinds of problems.
The following was our last correspondence on the subject:

> Date: Sun, 30 Apr 95 14:56:19 PDT
> To: lisa@ktalk.com (Lisa) 
> Subject: Re: WP -> TeX status
> Status: RO  

> > From lisa@ktalk.com Sat Apr 29 07:35 PDT 1995
> > >
> > >I'm curious to know what progress has been made with this latest problem.
> > >
> >
> > Sorry to take so long to get back to you - Bob said that if you place an
> > upgrade order, he will take the time to make sure that all of the problems
> > you noted have been corrected.
> >
> Dear Lisa,
> 
> let's see. The proposal is that if I upgrade 'pub' from a version that didn't
> work to a version that still doesn't work, K-Talk promises to get that version
> working.

There was no reply to that.

Tom Kuiper <kuiper@kuiper.jpl.nasa.gov>
citation end<<

***********************************************************************
>>citation begin

TCI Software Research publishes Scientific Word and Scientific 
WorkPlace.  Included with these products is a conversion program that 
will input RTF and output LaTeX.  This conversion will correctly 
convert Microsoft Word Equation Editor or MathType equations in the 
RTF file to LaTeX.  The conversion program is not available 
separately.

citation end<<
***********************************************************************

The MathType equation editor, the full scale, commercial version
of WinWord's equation editor, is capable of converting its equations
to TeX format (plain TeX, not LaTeX; conversion to LaTeX is
planned for a future release).
MathType comes with a Word macro which will
convert all the equations in a Word document into TeX.

Design Science, 4028 Broadway, Long Beach, CA 90803.
Phone 310-433-0685  Fax 310-433-6969
email - mtinfo@mathtype.com or mtsales@mathtype.com
WWW - http://www.mathtype.com/mathtype/
FTP - ftp.mathtype.com


I personally have MathType 3.1, and it IS able to convert from
its own format as well as from WinWord's EquationEditor format TO TeX.
The backward direction (TeX to MathType) is ONLY possible for
TeX code which was produced by MathType (containing a TeX
comment which allows MathType to see how it was generated).
It also IS possible to convert from MathType to EquationEditor.

***********************************************************************


LIST OF CTAN HOSTS copied from ftp.dante.de

>>citation begin
In order to reduce network load, it is recommended that you use the
Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN) host which is located in the
closest network proximity to your site.  Alternatively, you may wish to
obtain a copy of the CTAN via CD-ROM (see help/CTAN.cdrom for details).

Known partial mirrors of the CTAN reside on (alphabetically):
  ftp.adfa.oz.au (Australia)            /pub/tex/ctan
  ftp.fcu.edu.tw (Taiwan)               /pub2/tex
  ftp.germany.eu.net (Deutschland)      /pub/packages/TeX
  ftp.cs.ruu.nl (The Netherlands)       /pub/tex-archive
  ftp.uu.net (Virginia, USA)            /pub/text-processing/TeX
  nic.switch.ch (Switzerland)           /mirror/tex
  sunsite.dsi.unimi.it (Italia)         /pub/TeX

Known mirrors of the CTAN reside on (alphabetically):
  cis.utovrm.it (Italia)                /TeX
  dongpo.math.ncu.edu.tw (Taiwan)       /tex-archive
  ftp.center.osaka-u.ac.jp (Japan)      /CTAN
  ftp.ccu.edu.tw (Taiwan)               /pub/tex
  ftp.cdrom.com (West coast, USA)       /pub/tex/ctan
  ftp.comp.hkbu.edu.hk (Hong Kong)      /pub/TeX/CTAN
  ftp.cs.rmit.edu.au  (Australia)       /tex-archive
  ftp.cstug.cz (The Czech Republic)     /pub/tex/CTAN
  ftp.duke.edu (North Carolina, USA)    /tex-archive
  ftp.ee.up.ac.za (South Africa)        /tex-archive
  ftp.funet.fi (Finland)                /pub/TeX/CTAN
  ftp.gwdg.de (Deutschland)             /pub/dante
  ftp.jussieu.fr (France)               /pub4/TeX/CTAN
  ftp.loria.fr (France)                 /pub/unix/tex/ctan
  ftp.mpi-sb.mpg.de (Deutschland)       /pub/tex/mirror/ftp.dante.de
  ftp.nada.kth.se (Sweden)              /pub/tex/ctan-mirror
  ftp.rge.com (New York, USA)           /pub/tex
  ftp.riken.go.jp (Japan)               /pub/tex-archive
  ftp.tu-chemnitz.de (Deutschland)      /pub/tex
  ftp.uni-augsburg.de (Deutschland)     /tex-archive
  ftp.uni-bielefeld.de (Deutschland)    /pub/tex
  ftp.unina.it (Italia)                 /pub/TeX
  ftp.uni-stuttgart.de (Deutschland)    /tex-archive (/pub/tex)
  ftp.univie.ac.at (\"Osterreich)       /packages/tex
  ftp.u-aizu.ac.jp (Japan)		/pub/tex/CTAN
  ftpserver.nus.sg (Singapore)          /pub/zi/TeX
  kadri.ut.ee (Estonia)                 /pub/tex
  src.doc.ic.ac.uk (England)            /packages/tex/uk-tex
  sunsite.icm.edu.pl (Poland)           /pub/CTAN
  sunsite.queensu.ca (Canada)           /pub/tex-archive
  sunsite.unc.edu (North Carolina, USA)	/pub/packages/TeX
  wuarchive.wustl.edu (Missouri, USA)   /packages/TeX

Please send updates to this list to <ctan@shsu.edu>.

The participating hosts in the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network are:
  ftp.dante.de  (Deutschland)         
       -- anonymous ftp                 /tex-archive (/pub/tex /pub/archive)
       -- gopher on node gopher.dante.de
       -- e-mail via ftpmail@dante.de
       -- World Wide Web access on www.dante.de
       -- Administrator: <ftpmaint@dante.de>

  ftp.tex.ac.uk (England)               
       -- anonymous ftp                 /tex-archive (/pub/tex /pub/archive)
       -- gopher on node gopher.tex.ac.uk
       -- NFS mountable from nfs.tex.ac.uk:/public/ctan/tex-archive
       -- World Wide Web access on www.tex.ac.uk
       -- Administrator: <ctan-uk@tex.ac.uk>
citation end<<

Dipl.-Ing. Wilfried Hennings c./o. 
Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH (KFA), ISR 
D-52425 Juelich, Germany 
Tel. (+49) 2461 61 5570 ; Fax (G3+G4) (+49) 2461 61 8254
KFA homepage:      http://www.kfa-juelich.de/
All opinions mentioned are strictly my own.