---
title: "Claude Word Skill: Create, Edit and Redline docx Files"
url: "https://mcpshelf.co/skills/docx"
description: "Anthropic's docx skill has Claude write Word documents, edit existing ones safely, add tracked changes and comments, then render pages to check them."
updated: "2026-11-01"
site: "MCP Shelf"
---

# Word (docx) skill for Claude

Reviewed by Sophie Filer · Updated 1 Nov 2026

> Writes and edits Word documents, including tracked changes and comments, then looks at the result.

A Word file is a zipped bundle of XML, and editing that by guesswork is how documents end up corrupted. This skill gives Claude a clear split: new documents are written with the docx library for JavaScript, existing ones are unpacked and changed at the XML level so their styles survive, and reading is done with pandoc.

It is at its best on the jobs people dread: redlining with real tracked changes under a name you choose, leaving comments on specific passages, and building reports with proper headings so the table of contents works. Before handing anything back, Claude turns the pages into images and checks them.

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Made by | Anthropic |
| Folder name | `docx` |
| Ships in | `document-skills` |
| Licence | Source-available (free to use in Claude, not to redistribute) |
| GitHub | https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/docx |

## When Claude reaches for it

- Writing a report, memo, letter or template as a .docx file
- Editing an existing Word document without breaking its formatting
- Redlining with tracked changes, or adding review comments
- Pulling the text out of a Word file to summarise or reuse it

## What is in the pod

- A short map of which approach to use for creating, editing and reading
- Known pitfalls in the docx library, such as the default page size and table widths
- Scripts that merge split-up text runs, add comments and validate the file against the Word schema
- A render step that converts the document to page images for a visual check

## Planting it

### Claude Code

1. Add the Anthropic skills marketplace. You only do this once. It registers the anthropics/skills repo as a plugin source.
2. Install the document-skills plugin. docx ships inside it. You can also pick it from the /plugin menu under Browse and install plugins.
3. Start a new session and ask. Claude loads the skill on its own when a task matches. To be sure, name it: "Use the Word (docx) skill to ..."

```
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills
```

### Claude apps

1. Turn on code execution. Open Settings, then Capabilities, and switch on Code execution and file creation (called Create and edit files in the newer layout). Skills need it to run.
2. Open Customize, then Skills. docx is one of Anthropic's own skills, so it is already in the list.
3. Switch on docx. Team and Enterprise members may need an owner to allow skills first, under Organization settings, Plugins & skills. Skills you switch on also sync to Claude Code when you sign in with the same account.

## What it needs

- Node.js with the docx npm package
- pandoc, for reading documents
- LibreOffice and Poppler, for the visual check

## Notes from the pea patch

- When redlining, give Claude the author name to use. The skill can then confirm that every edit really was tracked.
- Say whether you want A4 or US Letter. The library starts on A4, so ask for Letter if that is what your office prints on.

## Pea-fect partners on the shelf

- [Google Workspace MCP](https://mcpshelf.co/servers/google-workspace): Pull the source notes from Docs or Drive, then let the skill turn them into a Word file.
- [Desktop Commander](https://mcpshelf.co/servers/desktop-commander): Finds the documents on your machine and puts the finished file where you want it.

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From [MCP Shelf](https://mcpshelf.co/): A short shelf of MCP servers that are worth installing. Index for agents: https://mcpshelf.co/llms.txt