Documents and spreadsheets on errno

LibreOffice converts a PDF form to .docx and python-docx sees no paragraphs at all

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Symptom

An official form existed only as a PDF. It had to be filled in programmatically — same layout, different values each time — and delivered as a document. The obvious plan was to convert the PDF once, keep the result as a template, and write values into it with python-docx.

The conversion works. LibreOffice has an import filter for PDF, it runs headless, and it exits cleanly:

soffice --headless --infilter="writer_pdf_import" --convert-to docx form.pdf

The resulting form.docx opens in a word processor and looks right. Field labels, boxes, the signature block at the bottom — all where they belong. Then python-docx opens the same file and finds nothing:

openpyxl: copy_worksheet drops the page setup and insert_rows leaves merged cells behind

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Symptom

The job was the usual bureaucratic one: take an official .xlsx form, duplicate one sheet per item, and fill a table on each copy by inserting as many rows as the item needed. The script ran clean. No traceback, no warning, no stderr at all. Every value landed in the cell I expected, and when I opened the result the grid looked exactly like the template.

Then I printed it, and two things were wrong at once:

openpyxl: the second save() of a workbook with images raises I/O operation on closed file

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Symptom

A municipal grant application had to be filled into the authority’s own .xlsx form — the kind with a letterhead image in the first rows. Filling it took several passes: first the identification block, then the budget table. Same Workbook object, one save() after each pass. The second one died:

Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "fill.py", line 23, in <module>
 wb.save("out.xlsx")
 File ".../openpyxl/workbook/workbook.py", line 386, in save
 save_workbook(self, filename)
 File ".../openpyxl/writer/excel.py", line 294, in save_workbook
 writer.save()
 File ".../openpyxl/writer/excel.py", line 275, in save
 self.write_data()
 File ".../openpyxl/writer/excel.py", line 79, in write_data
 self._write_images()
 File ".../openpyxl/writer/excel.py", line 116, in _write_images
 self._archive.writestr(img.path[1:], img._data())
 ^^^^^^^^^^^
 File ".../openpyxl/drawing/image.py", line 48, in _data
 img = _import_image(self.ref)
 File ".../openpyxl/drawing/image.py", line 16, in _import_image
 img = PILImage.open(img)
 File ".../PIL/Image.py", line 3518, in open
 fp.seek(0)
ValueError: I/O operation on closed file.

The second, nastier symptom appears when you try to read the result back:

Word tracked changes in a .docx: python-docx cannot do it, raw XML can

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The constraint

A release-management document had to come back with native Word tracked changes — the reviewer wanted to accept or reject each edit in Word, not read a changelog. The obvious tool does not do it:

python-docx exposes runs, paragraphs and styles, but no API for revisions. There is no run.insert_tracked(), and writing the text through python-docx produces a document where your edits are indistinguishable from the original. If tracked changes are a requirement, you are editing OOXML directly.