Exporting in .docx format

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4D v18

4D Write Pro documents can be opened in word processing applications that support the .docx format, such as Microsoft Word.

Compatibility note: Support for 4D Write Pro documents exported in .docx format is only certified for Microsoft Word 2010 and newer. Older versions, particularly Microsoft Word 2007, may not be able to open the documents.

How to export in .docx format

4D Write Pro objects offer two ways to export 4D Write Pro documents in .docx format:

as .docx file exported to disk, use the WP EXPORT DOCUMENT command.
as .docx file exported to a BLOB variable, use the WP EXPORT VARIABLE command.

For more information, please refer to the description of these commands.

Behavioral changes

While the majority of 4D Write Pro settings are preserved, some settings are known to be either unsupported or behave differently in Microsoft Word. These are:

Alignment / Layout

Setting	Paragraphs	Sections	Images
Anchoring			In Microsoft Word, anchored images are positioned relative to the top left origin of the page and first paragraph. This could result in images being displayed in different locations than desired due to text layout differences between 4D Write Pro and Microsoft Word.
Vertical align	Not supported by Microsoft Word (all items will be top-aligned)		Not supported for inline images (all items will be baseline)

Background

Setting	Paragraphs	Sections	Images
Background clipping	Not supported by Microsoft Word (background color fills entire paragraph, not including borders and margins)		Not supported by Microsoft Word (background clipping will be equal to the padding box)
Background image	Not supported by Microsoft Word	Different background pictures/colors not supported by Microsoft Word (converted to anchored images or shapes)	Microsoft Word allows either a background color or a background image. If a background image is defined, the background color will be "transparent".
Background image repeat		Horizontal or vertical tiles are converted to full tiles in Microsoft Word	Horizontal or vertical tiles are converted to full tiles in Microsoft
Background origin	Origin box is converted to the same value as background clipping box.	Not supported by Microsoft.

Borders

Setting	Paragraphs	Sections	Images
Border color			Different border colors for each border line is not supported by Microsoft Word. The first defined 4D Write Pro image border line (in this order: top, right, bottom, left) will be used for all of an image's borders.
Border radius (rounded borders)	Not supported by Microsoft Word
Border width	Microsoft Word maximum is 12pt, borders exceeding this size will be reduced.	Microsoft Word maximum is 12pt, borders exceeding this size will be reduced.

Expressions

Setting	Paragraphs	Sections	Images
Expressions	Only simple 4D expressions such as "Current date" or "Current time", or 4D Write Pro reserved local variables ($wp_title, $wp_pageNumber, etc.) are converted to Microsoft Word fields. Other 4D expressions are computed and converted to text or images during the export process.

Lists

Setting	Paragraphs	Sections	Images
Indent	Converted to 0 for list items (list item indent is converted to hanging indent in Microsoft Word)
Ordered list type	Greek, Armenian, and Georgian are converted to decimal and Hiragana is converted to Katakana in Microsoft Word.

Pictures

Setting	Paragraphs	Sections	Images
SVG			Not supported by Microsoft Word (images in SVG format will be converted to PNG format)

Size

Setting	Paragraphs	Sections	Images
Minimum height	Not supported by Microsoft Word (height is handled automatically)
Width / Minimum width	Not supported by Microsoft Word (paragraph width is handled automatically)

Spacing

Setting	Paragraphs	Sections	Images
Padding	Microsoft Word maximum is 31pt, padding exceeding this size will be reduced.	Microsoft Word maximum is 31pt, padding exceeding this size will be reduced.

Tabs

Setting	Paragraphs	Sections	Images
Default tab stop	Not supported by Microsoft Word (will be converted to absolute tab stops)
Tab leading characters	Microsoft Word supports "dot" (....), "dash" (----), and "underscore" (____) leading characters, all others will be converted to "none".

Text

Setting	Paragraphs	Sections	Images
Linethrough	Line color different from text color is not supported by Microsoft Word; only solid and double styles are supported
Style Sheets	Paragraph style sheets are converted to paragraph styles.
Text align	Microsoft Word compresses spaces, so justified text layout may be reconfigured.	Microsoft Word compresses spaces, so justified text layout may be reconfigured.
Text shadow	4D Write Pro shadow will be converted to blur and offset, using the default color in Microsoft Word.
Underline	Semi-transparent underlines will be converted to solid.