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LibreOffice to Word: what crosses over, and what quietly shifts.

ODT and DOCX are both zipped XML, built by rival standards bodies. Plain text and headings move over perfectly; some layout features have no exact counterpart. Choose what's in your document to see a feature-by-feature report before converting.

in thesis-draft.odtSelect all

format_boldText & basic stylestitleHeadings & outlinetableTablesimageImagesformat_list_numberedNumbered listsmenu_bookFootnotes & endnotestocTable of contentslinkCross-referencesfunctionsFormulas (Math)view_columnFrames & text boxesdrawDrawings (Draw shapes)codeMacros (Basic)

fidelity84% · mostly faithful

● exact 5● close 2● changes 1

conversion report

change_circleNumbered listsNumbers are kept; LibreOffice’s outline numbering is rebuilt as Word multilevel lists, so custom formats may look slightly different.

change_circleTable of contentsRebuilt as a Word field. Press F9 in Word once to refresh page numbers.

warningFormulas (Math)LibreOffice Math objects are turned into Word equations; unusual layouts may be flattened to an image.

check_circleText & basic stylesBold, italics, colours and paragraph styles map one to one.

check_circleHeadings & outlineHeading 1-6 become Word’s built-in headings, so the navigation pane works.

check_circleTablesCells, merges and borders carry over. Very complex nested tables may shift a little.

descriptionConvert to DOCX

1 · your file

folder_openOpen filedescriptionSample .docx

The converter engine (doc-engine.js) failed to load: Failed to fetch dynamically imported module: http://127.0.0.1:9777/js/main/general/doc-engine.jsDrop any of 17 readable formats here: Word, ODT, RTF, AbiWord, KWord, StarOffice, EPUB, DocBook, XPS, HTML, Markdown, CSV or text. The format is read from the bytes, not the name.

2 · convert to

.pdfshare, print.docxedit in Word.odtLibreOffice.epube-readers.mdREADMEs.txtwords only

searchAll 28 formats · 14 written hereexpand_more

A4Letter

PDF 1.7 with the standard 14 fonts (nothing embedded), lines wrapped with Helvetica metrics, link annotations.

swap_horizConvert to .pdf

What survives waiting for a file

partin sourceread backstatus

text_fieldsWords---

titleHeadings---

format_list_bulletedList items---

tableTables · cells---

format_boldBold runs---

format_italicItalic runs---

linkLinks---

imageImages---

rate_reviewComments---

translateCharacters---

Open a document or the sample. The table fills in from the file itself; after converting, the output is read back and counted again.

~/one-document-ten-outputs

What each format does to your document.

We converted one source document into every major output format and measured the file that came out. The source was a 37.4 KB DOCX with headings, bold and italic text, a table, numbered and bulleted lists, and one embedded image.

289%PDF, the largest output

166%RTF, bloated but portable

3%Markdown and TXT, image dropped

formattypeoutput size · vs 37.4 KB sourcelayoutkeepsverdict

.docxEditable37.4 KB · 100%ReflowsEverythingThe editing default

.docEditable51 KB · 136%ReflowsEverythingLegacy, larger than DOCX

.odtEditable33.5 KB · 90%ReflowsEverythingOpen standard, smallest office format

.rtfEditable62.1 KB · 166%ReflowsText, styling, tablesVery portable but bloated

.pdfFixed108 KB · 289%ExactExact appearanceFor sharing and printing, not editing

.epubReflowable31.3 KB · 84%Adapts to screenText, styling, imagesFor e-readers

.htmlMarkup1.5 KB · 4%ReflowsText, styling, tablesOpens in any browser

.mdPlain text1.2 KB · 3%ReflowsText, basic stylingSmallest, great for docs and notes

.txtPlain text1.1 KB · 3%NoneText onlyUniversal, but drops all formatting

.dbkMarkup3.5 KB · 9%StructuredText, structureTechnical documentation only

Plain text is tiny because the image goesMarkdown and TXT both came out at 3% of the source, against 100% for DOCX: the embedded image is the bulk of the file, and neither format can hold it.

PDF pays for a fixed pageAt 289% of the source, PDF was the largest output. That is the cost of fixing the layout, fonts and image into a page that looks identical everywhere.

RTF is the surpriseIt keeps formatting but grew to 166% of the DOCX, so it is only worth using when the receiving program cannot read anything better.

Sizes are from one representative document converted with Pandoc and LibreOffice. Your own files will differ, especially with more images, but the relative ordering holds.

~/is-your-pdf-really-text

Why PDF to Word is the hard direction.

A PDF has no paragraphs. It stores “draw these glyphs at x, y in this font”, often one word or one line at a time, and a scanned page stores only a picture. Drop any PDF to see which kind you have and what its page instructions look like.

picture_as_pdfInspect a PDFText PDF sampleScanned PDF sample

Nothing inspected yet. The two samples are written here: one with real text, one that is only a JPEG of a page.

~/why-pages-reflow

Liberation Serif on Linux, Times New Roman on Windows. Same width, by design.

LibreOffice ships free fonts drawn to match Microsoft's letter widths, so text breaks at the same place. Fonts without a twin reflow, and page 40's heading lands on page 41. Pick the font your document uses.

Liberation Serif→ Times New Romansame widthsLiberation Sans→ Arialsame widthsCarlito→ Calibrisame widthsLinux Libertine→ Cambria (substitute)reflows

in LibreOfficepage 40

in Wordheading moved

Linux Libertine has no metric twin in Word. The closest substitute is slightly narrower, so lines end at different words and the heading moves up. Embedding the font or picking a matching one avoids this.

~/review-history

Edits and comments travel too. Decide if they should.

Sending a draft to a supervisor or client? Tracked changes and comments carry over as real Word revisions, with names and dates. Toggle what goes into the DOCX.

Show tracked changesinsertions and deletions as Word revisionsKeep commentswith author names and datesAccept all changes firstsend a clean copy instead

3.2 MethodParticipants were recruited through postersvia the university mailing list and completed a 20-minute survey.Responses were anonymised before analysis.

A. Reyes · 14 MarReplaced “through posters” with “via the university mailing list”.Dr K. Osei · 15 MarSay how many people started versus completed it.

Word shows the same red and blue revision marks, and the reviewer can accept or reject each one. Comments sit in the margin as before.

~/do-you-need-to

Word opens ODT itself. Convert when the recipient requires DOCX.

Microsoft Word, Google Docs and Pages all read ODT. Converting is worth it when a portal, template or reviewer asks specifically for .docx, or when you'll keep editing in Word.

University portalsDOCXMany thesis and journal systems accept only .docx.

Word templatesDOCXCompany templates and styles apply cleanly only in DOCX.

Legal & HRDOCXRedlining workflows expect Word revisions.

Word userseitherWord opens ODT, but shows a compatibility banner.

Google DocseitherImports both equally well.

Government formsODT often fineSeveral EU governments standardise on ODF; check first.

~/other-routes