[UFO Chicago] DVI -> Word

[Neil R. Ormos]

Jay F Shachter wrote:

> Here's a free-software question for you.  I did
> a couple of translations for a client (not a
> computer client -- I am a man of many talents,
> and much mystery), working from hardcopy
> originals.  I wrote my translations in TeX, and
> delivered the finished product to my client in
> the form of PDF attachments.  The client is now
> telling me he wants the translations delivered
> to him as Microsoft Word documents.  Needless to
> say, I do not use Microsoft Word, and there is
> no need to learn how to use OpenOffice.org, if
> you know TeX.  But the client wants Microsoft
> Word, and I want to please the client, because
> it is he who signs the check, and the customer
> is always right, and you should restrain
> yourself from telling him that he is an
> imbecile.  I'm willing to give him the TeX
> files, but I doubt he wants them.  How do I
> produce a Microsoft Word document from my TeX
> source files?  I have looked for an
> OpenOffice.org tool that reads in DVI files, and
> have not found one.  Thank you in advance for
> your replies.

If the documents are written in LaTeX (as opposed
to plain TeX) you might try latex2rtf.  MS-Word
will noiselessly open and save rtf files (with a
.rtf or, as suggested by Nate, a .doc extension).

If the documents are written in plain TeX, then
you might try TeX4ht, which is said to produce
HTML output.  (I haven't used it.) MS-Word will
open an html file in an html editing
mode. Depending on the version of Word, you can
use the "Save As" menu item or a conversion
feature to save the file in one of the MS-Word
native file formats.  You will probably need to
clean up the formatting in the normal MS-Word
editing mode.  Same goes for OpenOffice, only more
so, mutatis mutandis.

--Neil