officeParser 📄🚀

A robust, strictly-typed Node.js and Browser library for parsing office files (docx, pptx, xlsx, odt, odp, ods, pdf, rtf). It produces a clean, hierarchical Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) with rich metadata, text formatting, and full attachment support.

🌟 Live Interactive AST Visualizer 🌟

Test any office file in your browser and see the extracted AST, text, and preview in real-time which is rebuilt from the AST!

Update

• 2025/12/29 - v6.0.0 Release: Major overhaul of the library. Transitioned from simple text extraction to a rich Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) output.
  • Simplified API: Use parseOffice for all parsing needs (returns a Promise).
  • Structured Output: Access hierarchical document structure (paragraphs, headings, tables, lists, etc.).
  • Rich Metadata: Extracted document properties (author, title, creation date).
  • Enhanced Formatting: Support for bold, italic, colors, fonts, alignment, etc.
  • Attachment Handling: Extract images, charts, and embedded files as Base64.
  • OCR Integration: Optional OCR for images using Tesseract.js.
  • RTF Support: Added full support for Rich Text Format files.
  • Improved Type Definitions: Full TypeScript support with detailed interfaces.
• 2024/11/12 - Added ArrayBuffer as a type of file input. Generating bundle files now which exposes namespace officeParser to be able to access parseOffice directly on the browser.
• 2024/10/21 - Replaced extracting zip files from decompress to yauzl. This means that we now extract files in memory and we no longer need to write them to disk. Removed config flags related to extracted files. Added flags for CLI execution.
• 2024/10/15 - Fixed erroring out while deleting temp files when multiple worker threads make parallel executions resulting in same file name for multiple files. Fixed erroring out when multiple executions are made without waiting for the previous execution to finish which resulted in deleting the file from other execution. Upgraded dependencies.
• 2024/10/13 - Fixed parsing text from xlsx files which contain no shared strings file and files which have inlineStr based strings.
• 2024/05/06 - Replaced pdf parsing support from pdf-parse library to natively building it using pdf.js library from Mozilla by analyzing its output. Added pdfjs-dist build as a local library.
• 2023/11/25 - Fixed error catching when an error occurs within the parsing of a file, especially after decompressing it. Also fixed the problem with parallel parsing of files as we were using only timestamp in file names.
• 2023/10/24 - Revamped content parsing code. Fixed order of content in files, especially in word files where table information would always land up at the end of the text. Added config object as argument for parseOffice which can be used to set new line delimiter and multiple other configurations. Added support for parsing pdf files using the popular npm library pdf-parse. Removed support for individual file parsing functions.
• 2023/04/26 - Added support for file buffers as argument for filepath for parseOffice and parseOfficeAsync
• 2023/04/07 - Added typings to methods to help with Typescript projects.
• 2022/12/28 - Added command line method to use officeParser with or without installing it and instantly get parsed content on the console.
• 2022/12/10 - Fixed memory leak issues, bugs related to parsing open document files and improved error handling.
• 2021/11/21 - Added promise way to existing callback functions.
• 2020/06/01 - Added error handling and console.log enable/disable methods. Default is set at enabled. Everything backward compatible.
• 2019/06/17 - Added method to change location for decompressing office files in places with restricted write access.
• 2019/04/30 - Removed case sensitive file extension bug. File names with capital lettered extensions now supported.
• 2019/04/23 - Added support for open office files *.odt, *.odp, *.ods through parseOffice function. Created a new method parseOpenOffice for those who prefer targetted functions.
• 2019/04/23 - Added feature to delete the generated dist folder after function callback.
• 2019/04/22 - Added parseOffice method to avoid confusion between type of file and their extension.
• 2019/04/22 - Added file extension validations. Removed errors for excel files with no drawing elements.
• 2019/04/19 - Support added for *.xlsx files.
• 2019/04/18 - Support added for *.pptx files.

Install via npm

npm i officeparser

Command Line usage

You can use officeparser directly from the terminal to get either the full AST (as JSON) or plain text.

# Get full AST as JSON (default)
npx officeparser /path/to/officeFile.docx

# Get plain text only
npx officeparser /path/to/officeFile.docx --toText=true

# Use configuration options
npx officeparser /path/to/officeFile.docx --ignoreNotes=true --newlineDelimiter=" "

Config Options:

• --toText=[true|false] Flag to output only plain text instead of JSON AST.
• --ignoreNotes=[true|false] Flag to ignore notes from files like PowerPoint. Default is false.
• --newlineDelimiter=[delimiter] The delimiter to use for new lines. Default is \n.
• --putNotesAtLast=[true|false] Flag to collect notes at the end of files like PowerPoint. Default is false.
• --outputErrorToConsole=[true|false] Flag to output errors to the console. Default is false.
• --extractAttachments=[true|false] Flag to extract images/charts as Base64. Default is false.
• --ocr=[true|false] Flag to enable OCR for extracted images. Default is false.
• --includeRawContent=[true|false] Flag to include raw XML/RTF content in nodes. Default is false.

Library Usage

In v6.0.0, the library has moved to a structured AST output. While this is a change for those expecting a string directly, it provides significantly more power and flexibility.

Getting Started (Async/Await)

const officeParser = require('officeparser');

async function parseMyFile() {
    try {
        // parseOffice returns an OfficeParserAST object
        const ast = await officeParser.parseOffice("/path/to/officeFile.docx");
        
        // Use the built-in helper to get plain text (similar to old behavior)
        const text = ast.toText();
        console.log(text);

        // Access structured content
        console.log(ast.content);  // Array of hierarchical nodes (paragraphs, tables, etc.)
        console.log(ast.metadata); // Document properties (author, title, etc.)
    } catch (err) {
        console.error(err);
    }
}

Helper Function for Text Extraction (Modern simple way)

If you only need the text and want to maintain a simple one-liner, you can use this pattern:

// Simple helper to get text directly
const getText = async (file, config) => (await officeParser.parseOffice(file, config)).toText();

// usage
const text = await getText("/path/to/officeFile.docx");
console.log(text);

Using Callbacks (Backward Compatibility Support)

We still support callbacks, but the data returned is now the AST object.

const officeParser = require('officeparser');

officeParser.parseOffice("/path/to/officeFile.docx", function(ast, err) {
    if (err) {
        console.error(err);
        return;
    }
    // Get text from AST
    console.log(ast.toText());
});

Using File Buffers or ArrayBuffers

You can pass a file path string, a Node.js Buffer, or an ArrayBuffer.

const fs = require('fs');
const officeParser = require('officeparser');
const buffer = fs.readFileSync("/path/to/officeFile.pdf");

officeParser.parseOffice(buffer)
    .then(ast => console.log(ast.toText()))
    .catch(console.error);

The AST Structure

The OfficeParserAST provides a format-agnostic representation of your document, allowing you to traverse and manipulate content as a tree.

Visualizing the AST

The OfficeParserAST provides a format-agnostic representation of your document. Below is a simplified visualization of how the tree is structured:

OfficeParserAST
├── type: "docx" | "pptx" | "xlsx" | ...
├── metadata: { author, title, created, modified, ... }
├── content: [ OfficeContentNode ]
│   ├── type: "paragraph" | "heading" | "table" | "list" | ...
│   ├── text: "Concatenated text of this node and all children"
│   ├── children: [ OfficeContentNode ] (recursive)
│   ├── formatting: { bold, italic, color, size, font, ... }
│   ├── metadata: { level, listId, row, col, ... }
│   └── rawContent: "<xml>...</xml>" (if enabled)
├── attachments: [ OfficeAttachment ]
│   ├── type: "image" | "chart"
│   ├── name: "image1.png"
│   ├── data: "base64..."
│   ├── ocrText: "Text extracted via OCR"
│   └── chartData: { title, dataSets, labels, ... }
└── toText(): Function -> returns full plain text

Representative JSON Snippet

{
  "type": "docx",
  "metadata": { "author": "John Doe", "title": "Annual Report" },
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "heading",
      "text": "Introduction",
      "metadata": { "level": 1 },
      "children": [
        { "type": "text", "text": "Introduction", "formatting": { "bold": true } }
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "paragraph",
      "text": "This is a report with an image.",
      "children": [
        { "type": "text", "text": "This is a report with an " },
        { "type": "image", "metadata": { "attachmentName": "img1.png" } }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "attachments": [
    { "name": "img1.png", "type": "image", "data": "iVBOR...", "ocrText": "Extracted Text" }
  ]
}

Deep Dive: Document Components

1. Working with Lists

Lists are represented as sequential list nodes. To reconstruct or track a list, use the metadata fields:

List Node
├── type: "list"
├── metadata: { 
    listId: "1", 
    listType: "ordered", 
    indentation: 0, 
    itemIndex: 0 
}
└── children: [ Text Content... ]

• listId: A unique identifier for the list definition. Multiple items with the same listId belong to the same logical list.
• indentation: The nesting level (0-based).
• itemIndex: The sequential position within that list level.
• listType: Either ordered (numbered) or unordered (bulleted).

[!TIP] Even if a list is interrupted by a regular paragraph, the itemIndex will continue to increment for the same listId, allowing you to maintain correct numbering.

2. Navigating Tables

Tables follow a strict hierarchy: table -> row -> cell.

Table Node
├── type: "table"
└── children: [ Row Node ]
    ├── type: "row"
    └── children: [ Cell Node ]
        ├── type: "cell"
        ├── metadata: { row, col, rowSpan, colSpan }
        └── children: [ Paragraph/List/etc. ]

• row / col: Zero-based indices for grid positioning.
• rowSpan / colSpan (Optional): Integer values indicating merged cells (primarily in ODF formats). If absent, the cell is not merged.
• Recursive Content: Cells contain their own children array, which can include paragraphs, lists, or even other nested tables.

3. Charts & Data

When a chart is discovered, it's added as a chart node in the content and a corresponding OfficeAttachment.

Chart Node
├── type: "chart"
├── metadata: { attachmentName: "chart1.xml" }
└── Attachment (Linked)
    └── chartData: { title, dataSets: [...], labels: [...] }

• attachmentName: Links the content node to the attachments array.
• chartData: A structured object containing titles, axis labels, and category/series data.

4. Images, OCR & Alt Text

Images are linked via attachmentName and can contain valuable metadata:

Image Node
├── type: "image"
├── metadata: { attachmentName: "img1.png", altText: "..." }
└── Attachment (Linked)
    ├── data: "base64..."
    └── ocrText: "Extracted via OCR"

• OCR Text: If ocr: true is set in config, ocrText will contain the text found within the image.
• Alt Text: Extracted from the document's internal image descriptions.
• Formatting: OfficeContentNode images may also have parent alignment metadata.

5. Text Formatting

Each OfficeContentNode can have a formatting object that defines how the text should be styled.

Text Node
└── formatting: {
    bold: boolean,
    italic: boolean,
    underline: boolean,
    strikethrough: boolean,
    color: "#hex",
    backgroundColor: "#hex",
    size: "12pt",
    font: "Arial",
    subscript: boolean,
    superscript: boolean,
    alignment: "left" | "center" | "right" | "justify"
}

Formatting can be found at two levels:

1. Node Level: Applied directly to a text run or paragraph.
2. Document Level: Found in ast.metadata.formatting (defaults) or ast.metadata.styleMap (named styles).

6. Advanced Metadata

The ast.metadata object provides document-wide context:

• styleMap: A dictionary of style names to their TextFormatting definitions found in the document.
• formatting: Document-wide default settings (e.g., default font or font size).

Advanced AST Usage

Beyond using ast.toText(), you can interact with the structural data directly:

1. Extract all images and their OCR text

const ast = await officeParser.parseOffice("report.docx", { ocr: true });
const images = ast.attachments.filter(a => a.mimeType.startsWith('image/'));
images.forEach(img => {
    console.log(`Image: ${img.name} (OCR: ${img.ocrText || 'N/A'})`);
});

2. Find specific headings

const headings = ast.content.filter(node => node.type === 'heading' && node.metadata?.level === 1);
console.log("Main Chapters:", headings.map(h => h.text));

3. Custom output (e.g., Simple Markdown conversion)

const toMarkdown = (nodes) => {
    return nodes.map(node => {
        if (node.type === 'heading') return `${'#'.repeat(node.metadata?.level || 1)} ${node.text}`;
        if (node.type === 'list') return `- ${node.text}`;
        if (node.type === 'table') return "[Table Data]"; // expand children for actual table
        return node.text;
    }).join('\n\n');
};
console.log(toMarkdown(ast.content));

4. Extracting Tables to CSV

Iterate through table nodes and their children (rows -> cells) to build a CSV string.

const tables = ast.content.filter(node => node.type === 'table');
tables.forEach((table, index) => {
    const csv = table.children
        .filter(row => row.type === 'row')
        .map(row => 
            row.children
                .filter(cell => cell.type === 'cell')
                .map(cell => `"${cell.text.replace(/"/g, '""')}"`) // Escape quotes
                .join(',')
        )
        .join('\n');
    console.log(`Table ${index + 1} CSV:\n${csv}`);
});

5. Filtering by Formatting (e.g., Bold Text)

Find all text nodes that have specific formatting applied.

function findBoldText(nodes) {
    let results = [];
    nodes.forEach(node => {
        if (node.type === 'text' && node.formatting?.bold) {
            results.push(node.text);
        }
        if (node.children) {
            results = results.concat(findBoldText(node.children));
        }
    });
    return results;
}

const boldStrings = findBoldText(ast.content);
console.log("Bold Text Found:", boldStrings);

6. Processing Footnotes/Endnotes

If you kept notes inline (default behavior), you can extract them into a separate list for processing.

function extractNotes(nodes) {
    let notes = [];
    nodes.forEach(node => {
        if (node.type === 'note') {
            notes.push({ id: node.metadata.noteId, text: node.text, type: node.metadata.noteType });
        }
        if (node.children) {
            notes = notes.concat(extractNotes(node.children));
        }
    });
    return notes;
}

const allNotes = extractNotes(ast.content);
console.log("Document Notes:", allNotes);

Configuration Object: OfficeParserConfig

Pass an optional config object as the second argument to parseOffice.

| Flag | DataType | Default | Explanation | |------|----------|---------|-------------| | outputErrorToConsole | boolean | false | Show logs to console in case of an error. | | newlineDelimiter | string | \n | Delimiter for new lines in text output. | | ignoreNotes | boolean | false | Ignore notes in files like PowerPoint/ODP. | | putNotesAtLast | boolean | false | Put notes text at the end of the document. (Note: Does not work for RTF. It is treated as true always.) | | extractAttachments | boolean | false | Extract images and charts as Base64. | | ocr | boolean | false | Enable OCR for images (requires extractAttachments: true). | | ocrLanguage | string | eng | Language for OCR (e.g., 'eng', 'fra'). Supports multiple languages with '+'. See Language Codes. | | includeRawContent | boolean | false | Include raw XML/RTF markup in the nodes. | | pdfWorkerSrc | string | (see below) | Path to PDF.js worker. Defaults to a CDN link if not provided. |

const config = {
    newlineDelimiter: "\n\n",
    extractAttachments: true,
    ocr: true,
    ocrLanguage: 'eng+fra+esp' // Supports English, French, and Spanish simultaneously
};

const ast = await officeParser.parseOffice("report.docx", config);
console.log(`Extracted ${ast.attachments.length} images`);

Examples

Search for a term in a document (TypeScript)

import { OfficeParser } from 'officeparser';

async function hasSearchTerm(filePath: string, term: string): Promise<boolean> {
    const ast = await OfficeParser.parseOffice(filePath);
    return ast.toText().includes(term);
}

Extracting Images and their OCR text

const officeParser = require('officeparser');

const config = { extractAttachments: true, ocr: true };
officeParser.parseOffice("presentation.pptx", config).then(ast => {
    ast.attachments.forEach(attachment => {
        if (attachment.type === 'image') {
            console.log(`Image: ${attachment.name}`);
            console.log(`OCR Text: ${attachment.ocrText}`);
            fs.writeFileSync(attachment.name, Buffer.from(attachment.data, 'base64'));
        }
    });
});

Browser Usage

The browser bundle exposes the officeParser namespace. Include the bundle file available in the release assets.

<script src="dist/officeparser.browser.js"></script>
<script>
    async function handleFile(file) {
        // file can be a File object from an input element or an ArrayBuffer
        // The browser bundle exposes the global variable `officeParser`
        // which contains the `OfficeParser` class.
        
        try {
            const ast = await officeParser.parseOffice(file, { ocr: true });
            console.log(ast.toText());
            console.log("Metadata:", ast.metadata);
        } catch (error) {
            console.error(error);
        }
    }
</script>

PDF Worker Configuration in Browser

When using officeparser in a browser environment to parse PDF files, you may provide the pdfWorkerSrc configuration option. If not provided, it defaults to a CDN link for [email protected].

const file = ...; // File object or ArrayBuffer

// It will use the default CDN worker if pdfWorkerSrc is omitted
const ast = await officeParser.parseOffice(file);

// Or override it with your own path or a different version:
const ast2 = await officeParser.parseOffice(file, {
    pdfWorkerSrc: "https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/build/pdf.worker.min.mjs"
});

Note: The version of pdfjs-dist in the worker source should match the version used by officeparser (currently 5.4.530).

Known Limitations

1. ODT/ODS Charts: Extraction may occasionally show inaccurate data when referencing external cell ranges or complex layout-based data.
2. PDF Images: PDF images are extracted as BMP files in the browser for compatibility. This conversion happens automatically.
3. RTF Footnotes: The putNotesAtLast configuration is currently not supported for RTF files; footnotes and endnotes are always collected and appended to the end of the content.

npm: https://npmjs.com/package/officeparser

github: https://github.com/harshankur/officeParser