Batch Conversion: doc to docx without M Office

July 19, 2017 3:24 AM

Google search is inconcluisve, so I turn to you, dear hivemind. I need to convert a large number of DOC files to DOCX. I do not have Microsoft Office, but I do have Open Office (which doesn't let you save as DOCX, afaik). I have found single conversion tools online, but a single document takes 5 mins to convert. I am not confident enough to run any sort of command prompt. What solutions exist that I cannot find?
posted by kariebookish to Technology (5 answers total)

Best answer: I think that if you either have, or create, an outlook.com account, you also get access to the basic O365 office web applications which include Word Online. You may want to verify this. good luck :)

edit: found some links below which might be helpful:

https://office.live.com/start/Word.aspx

https://products.office.com/en-us/office-online/documents-spreadsheets-presentations-office-online
posted by alchemist at 3:48 AM on July 19, 2017

Response by poster: It's still not superfast but at least this is workable! Thanks - I had no idea I had access to basic Office!
posted by kariebookish at 4:11 AM on July 19, 2017

Best answer: OpenOffice can save to DOCX. At least LibreOffice can.
posted by megatherium at 4:23 AM on July 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Maybe OpenOffice works the same way, so try substituting oowriter for lowriter:

    lowriter --convert-to docx --outdir output_dir *.doc

I know that the LibreOffice command works.

Converting DOC to DOCX sometimes doesn't work very well even in MS Word, so be prepared for some editing post-conversion.
posted by scruss at 7:10 AM on July 19, 2017

Response by poster: It turns out that LibreOffice can save, but not (at least my version) of OpenOffice. Thanks all.
posted by kariebookish at 11:58 AM on July 19, 2017