How can I convert an .rtf or .doc document to LaTeX? [closed]

Question

Unfortunately, I can't use rtf2latex2e because it says that DropUNIX "no longer supports the classic environment". I barely know what I'm doing otherwise, besides dropping my .rtf file onto the DropUNIX program.

What else can I use? I don't mind which type of file it is I'm converting to LaTeX (.doc would also be OK, as long as it keeps my formatting).

I am using Mac OS 10.5.8.

Octagon

See superuser.com/questions/141043/… – Fetation

Answer 1

Open Office can. Download it.

Mudskipper

That sounds simple. Do I have to download Writer2Latex for it? I can't find any kind of "export to latex" function, like I was naively expecting. – Octagon

Menu -> File -> Export... and File format is LaTeX – Mudskipper

Make sure also that download writer2latex from writer2latex.sourceforge.net . Open Office doesn't come by default with the LaTeX writer. Click on the file writer4latex.oxt in the writer2latex114alpha.zip that you download. – Rainy

Answer 2

See the fmtconv question on the UK TeX FAQ, or, more specifically, the page on Converters from PC Textprocessors to LaTeX - Overview, which is specifically about this question and has many many examples. This general list of word-processor filters may help too.

Luciusluck

Answer 3

UnRTF claims to be able to convert RTF to LaTeX as well as other formats (e.g. HTML). It claims to support HTML best, so perhaps RTF->HTML->LaTeX (e.g. with html2latex) might work better. I haven't actually tried any of this though.

Belongings

Answer 4

Make your rtf/doc document into docx, and convert it using docx2tex.

You need the System.IO.Packaging .NET class to get this to work, which is no problem if you are using Windows, and is in principle supported by Mono if you are not. If anyone has success doing this with Mono, I'd like to hear of your experiences: this didn't work a year or so ago, but their implementation of that class has improved since then.

I say more about the utility in an answer at tex.stackexchange. Suffice it to say that I consider this by far the cleanest, most Latex-friendly option out there.

Fetation

@RaytheonLiszt: Thanks, good to hear this unduly neglected piece of software is getting some attention. I add a link in my answer to a tex.sx answer of mine with some more info. – Fetation