VB Word-to-Markdown converter

README.md

from http://tips.naivist.net/2006/02/02/word_to_markdown_converter/ Word to Markdown converter

Some smart people who didn’t want to teach users how to code in HTML invented Textile markup language

Someone more lazy invented MarkDown syntax which is much easier to learn. MarkDown is really nice for small content management systems, blogging engines etc.

For instance, to mark text as bold, you write the “bold text” like “bold text”. Other rules can be found in the syntax page.

However, when you have a MS Word document with several pages of bolds, italics and lists, you don’t really want to re-code all the markup.

This is why I wrote a simple macro for converting the most trivial things automatically. This macro does:

Replace bold and italics
Replace headings (marked heading1-6)
Replace numbered and bulleted lists

It’s very buggy, I believe it hangs on larger documents, however I’m NOT stating it’s a stable release anyway! :-) Experimental use only, recode and reuse it as you like, post a comment if you’ve found a better solution.

Click here to download the code.

To use the code:

open WinWord,
press Alt+F11 to open the VBA editor,
right click the first project in the project browser
choose insert->module
paste the code from the file
close macro editor
go tools>macro>macros; run the macro named MarkDown

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 at 06:33 and is filed under Datorlietas.

word2md.vb

'*** A simple MsWord->Markdown replacement macro by Kriss Rauhvargers, 2006.02.02.
'*** This tool does NOT implement all the markup specified in MarkDown definition by John Gruber, only
'*** the most simple things. These are:
'*** 1) Replaces all non-list paragraphs to ^p paragraph so MarkDown knows it is a stand-alone paragraph
'*** 2) Converts tables to text. In fact, tables get lost.
'*** 3) Adds a single indent to all indented paragraphs
'*** 4) Replaces all the text in italics to _text_
'*** 5) Replaces all the text in bold to **text**
'*** 6) Replaces Heading1-6 to #..#Heading (Heading numbering gets lost)
'*** 7) Replaces bulleted lists with ^p *  listitem ^p*  listitem2...
'*** 8) Replaces numbered lists with ^p 1. listitem ^p2.  listitem2...
'*** Feel free to use and redistribute this code
Sub MarkDown()
    Dim bReplace As Boolean
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim oPara As Paragraph
    
        
    'remove formatting from paragraph sign so that we dont get **blablabla^p** but rather **blablabla**^p
    Call RemoveBoldEnters
    
    
    For i = Selection.Document.Tables.Count To 1 Step -1
            Call Selection.Document.Tables(i).ConvertToText
    Next
    
    'simple text indent + extra paragraphs for non-numbered paragraphs
    For i = Selection.Document.Paragraphs.Count To 1 Step -1
        Set oPara = Selection.Document.Paragraphs(i)
        If oPara.Range.ListFormat.ListType = wdListNoNumbering Then
            If oPara.LeftIndent > 0 Then
                oPara.Range.InsertBefore (">")
            End If
            oPara.Range.InsertBefore (vbCrLf)
        End If
        
        
    Next
    
    'italic -> _italic_
    Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
    bReplace = ReplaceOneItalic  'first replacement
    While bReplace 'other replacements
        bReplace = ReplaceOneItalic
    Wend

    'bold-> **bold**
    Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
    bReplace = ReplaceOneBold 'first replacement
    While bReplace
        bReplace = ReplaceOneBold 'other replacements
    Wend
    
   
    
    'Heading -> ##heading
    For i = 1 To 6 'heading1 to heading6
        Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
        bReplace = ReplaceH(i) 'first replacement
        While bReplace
            bReplace = ReplaceH(i) 'other replacements
        Wend
    Next
    
    Call ReplaceLists
    
    
    Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
End Sub


'***************************************************************
' Function to replace bold with _bold_, only the first occurance
' Returns true if any occurance found, false otherwise
' Originally recorded by WinWord macro recorder, probably contains
' quite a lot of useless code
'***************************************************************
Function ReplaceOneBold() As Boolean
    Dim bReturn As Boolean

    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ""
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Font.Bold = True
        .Format = True
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    
    bReturn = False
    While Selection.Find.Execute = True
        bReturn = True
        Selection.Text = "**" & Selection.Text & "**"
        Selection.Font.Bold = False
        Selection.Find.Execute
    Wend
    
    ReplaceOneBold = bReturn
End Function

'*******************************************************************
' Function to replace italic with _italic_, only the first occurance
' Returns true if any occurance found, false otherwise
' Originally recorded by WinWord macro recorder, probably contains
' quite a lot of useless code
'********************************************************************
Function ReplaceOneItalic() As Boolean
    Dim bReturn As Boolean

    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ""
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Font.Italic = True
        .Format = True
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    
    bReturn = False
    While Selection.Find.Execute = True
        bReturn = True
        Selection.Text = "_" & Selection.Text & "_"
        Selection.Font.Italic = False
        Selection.Find.Execute
    Wend
    ReplaceOneItalic = bReturn
End Function

'*********************************************************************
' Function to replace headingX with #heading, only the first occurance
' Returns true if any occurance found, false otherwise
' Originally recorded by WinWord macro recorder, probably contains
' quite a lot of useless code
'*********************************************************************
Function ReplaceH(ByVal ipNumber As Integer) As Boolean
    Dim sReplacement As String
    
    Select Case ipNumber
    Case 1: sReplacement = "#"
    Case 2: sReplacement = "##"
    Case 3: sReplacement = "###"
    Case 4: sReplacement = "####"
    Case 5: sReplacement = "#####"
    Case 6: sReplacement = "######"
    End Select
    
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Style = ActiveDocument.Styles("Heading " & ipNumber)
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ""
        .Replacement.Text = ""
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = True
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    
   
     bReturn = False
    While Selection.Find.Execute = True
        bReturn = True
        Selection.Range.InsertBefore (vbCrLf & sReplacement & " ")
        Selection.Style = ActiveDocument.Styles("Normal")
        Selection.Find.Execute
    Wend
    
    ReplaceH = bReturn
End Function



'***************************************************************
' A fix-up for paragraph marks that ar are bold or italic
'***************************************************************
Sub RemoveBoldEnters()
    Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Font.Italic = True
    Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Replacement.Font.Bold = False
    Selection.Find.Replacement.Font.Italic = False
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "^p"
        .Replacement.Text = "^p"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = True
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    
    Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Font.Bold = True
    Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Replacement.Font.Bold = False
    Selection.Find.Replacement.Font.Italic = False
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = "^p"
        .Replacement.Text = "^p"
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = True
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub

'***************************************************************
' Function to replace bold with _bold_, only the first occurance
' Returns true if any occurance found, false otherwise
' Originally recorded by WinWord macro recorder, probably contains
' quite a lot of useless code
'***************************************************************
Sub ReplaceLists()
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim j As Integer
    Dim Para As Paragraph
        
    Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
    
    'iterate through all the lists in the document
    For i = Selection.Document.Lists.Count To 1 Step -1
        'check each paragraph in the list
        For j = Selection.Document.Lists(i).ListParagraphs.Count To 1 Step -1
            Set Para = Selection.Document.Lists(i).ListParagraphs(j)
            'if it's a bulleted list
            If Para.Range.ListFormat.ListType = wdListBullet Then
                        Para.Range.InsertBefore (ListIndent(Para.Range.ListFormat.ListLevelNumber, "*"))
            'if it's a numbered list
            ElseIf Para.Range.ListFormat.ListType = wdListSimpleNumbering Or _
                                                    wdListMixedNumbering Or _
                                                    wdListListNumOnly Then
                Para.Range.InsertBefore (Para.Range.ListFormat.ListValue & ".  ")
            End If
        Next j
        'inserts paragraph marks before and after, removes the list itself
        Selection.Document.Lists(i).Range.InsertParagraphBefore
        Selection.Document.Lists(i).Range.InsertParagraphAfter
        Selection.Document.Lists(i).RemoveNumbers
    Next i
End Sub

'***********************************************************
' Returns the MarkDown indent text
'***********************************************************
Function ListIndent(ByVal ipNumber As Integer, ByVal spChar As String) As String
    Dim i  As Integer
    For i = 1 To ipNumber - 1
        ListIndent = ListIndent & "    "
    Next
    ListIndent = ListIndent & spChar & "    "
End Function