[BlindMath] Issue Accessing Formulae in Word File

[Neil Soiffer]

If the equations are created with MathType, then they are stored in the
docx file as an object that has its own format. MathType is the program
that reads that format, although the format is documented
<https://docs.wiris.com/en/mathtype/office_tools/mathtype-sdk/mtef4> and
one could potentially write something that reads that and converts it to
MathML. That then could be added to pandoc or NVDA or whatever and thereby
eliminate the need for MathType. AFAIK, no one besides Design Science (now
WIRIS) ever implemented a reader for that format. Obviously, it is a
non-trivial amount of work.

Neil Soiffer


On Thu, Dec 16, 2021 at 12:29 PM Bert Van Landeghem via BlindMath <
blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Dear Robert,
>
> Many thanks for your feedback. I will consider Mathtype, but are you sure
> this is the problem I am experiencing? With pandoc one should be able to
> convert docx files to LaTeX.
>
> Regards,
> Bert
>
> On Thu, 16 Dec 2021 at 17:17, rjaquiss via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org
> >
> wrote:
>
> > Hello Bert:
> >
> > You will need MathType software to work with Word documents. MathType
> > allows
> > a user to convert equasions in Word to Latex. MathType is a plugin for
> > Word.
> > Hope this helps.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Robert
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: BlindMath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bert
> > Van
> > Landeghem via BlindMath
> > Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2021 7:43 AM
> > To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> > Cc: Bert Van Landeghem
> > Subject: [BlindMath] Issue Accessing Formulae in Word File
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> > I received a .docx file and have converted it to LaTeX with Pandoc.
> >
> > Unfortunately it seems that the formulae are not converted the way I was
> > hoping they would be. Scientific notation seems to be translated with
> > images.
> > "\includegraphics{media/image16.emf}." is example code. No image files
> seem
> > however to have been generated. Does anybody know what the problem might
> > be, and whether or not there is a possibility to make these equations and
> > symbols accessible?
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Bert
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