Word export experimental

Any document can also be exported as a Word file (.docx) that people can open and edit in Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs. It uses the same theme, fonts and named styles as the PDF.

Word export lives in its own package, so apps that only make PDFs don't install it:

composer require papercut/docx

$invoice = Papercut::view('pdf.invoice', compact('invoice'));

return $invoice->pdf()->download('invoice.pdf');    // PDF
return $invoice->docx()->download('invoice.docx');  // Word

use Papercut\{Document, Page, Text};
use Papercut\Docx\DocxExporter;

$document = Document::make(Page::a4()->body(Text::make('Hello')));

$document->export(new DocxExporter())->save('hello.docx');

In Laravel, ->docx() returns a PendingOutput, with the same toString(), save(), store(), download() and inline() methods as a PDF. Without papercut/docx installed, the export throws MissingExporter with the command to run. Preview routes show a Word file with ?format=docx, or a 404 with the install command when the package is missing.

What readers see

Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs lay out the pages themselves, so a page break can land a line or two away from where it is in the PDF.

Papercut writes the layout in a form all three understand. Columns flow as paragraphs. Rows become tables with no borders, at the widths the PDF uses. A box with padding, a border or a background becomes a table with one cell. Lists, tables, links, headings, page numbers and pagination rules such as keep-together carry over. Each run of pages with the same size, margins, header, footer and layers becomes a Word section of its own, so a landscape page or a page without the header comes out as it does in the PDF.

Some things are approximated or left out. The ones in the table below are reported as a warning with the node's path, and strict mode fails on anything left out. The way the layout itself is written (rows as tables, boxes as one-cell tables, header and footer distances, fonts by name, colours with transparency blended onto white) applies to every document, so it isn't reported each time.

Opacity carries over: Word has none, so each colour of a faded node is blended onto what lies beneath it (the fill around it, else white). Text backgrounds keep their exact colour.

Pictures

Word shows PNG, JPEG, GIF and BMP as they are. Everything else is drawn into a picture at the size the PDF gives it, so it looks the same in Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs:

Imagick is only needed for Word export; PDF and HTML don't use it.