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Converting DVI to Other Formats?

Posted by Cliff on from the chasing-.DOC dept.

jgrr asks: "I'd like to be able to take a DVI file and convert it to some less palatable format, like MS Word. Some journals I want to submit papers to accept electronic copies as either MS Word or WordPerfect documents, not as TeX. (These are in ecology and zoology, not math journals). People I ask to look at papers don't use TeX either, and like to make the changes to the text itself, so PDF won't work. I know about latex2rtf, but I use some different packages and BiBTeX, and I'd rather not have to re-write the paper in Word after converting it. It seems like the DVI level is better than the TeX level for this, but I can't seem to find any existing software that does it. Any ideas?"

2 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. I had a similar problem by b_pretender · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The best solution is PDF. LaTeX2html is okay if you can get away with html, and it handles equations the best of any (if converting to a GIF is best). 'tth' is nice, but again, only use it if html is acceptable. 'tth' changes equations into tables and symbol font, which is ideal for simple formulas but LaTeX2html is better for heavy complicated equations.

    'ttm' will supposedly convert equations into MathML, but I doubt that the non-DVI/PDF/PS crowd will have anything on their computers to read MathML.

    Everything that I ever converted to word/wordperfect, I had to rewrite the equations by hand. There is no other way about it.

    Summary: If you are submitting a DVI file to a journal, and that journal requires MSWord, than you had better get a graduate student (they come cheap) to rewrite it in MSWord.

  2. Is .doc really required? by rubinson · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm in the same boat. As a grad student in sociology, I write all of my papers in LaTeX even though all of my colleagues use Word or WordPerfect. I haven't had any problems so my first question is "Is Word really required?" (Unlike the corporate world, academics tend to have a lot of freedom.)

    For my colleagues, I distribute my papers as either PDF or hardcopy. Most people want to edit on a hardcopy version anyway, so they just print off the PDF. Could you just ask your colleagues to edit a hardcopy format? They might be willing to; especially if you explain to them why you don't use a word processor.

    Regarding journals, sociology submission guidelines also ask for a "word processor" format (which I read as "Word" or "WordPerfect"). However, I haven't seen any journals that require electronic submission. Most journals require that you send them either 4 or 5 copies of the article or an electronic submission. I prefer to send a hard copy format because that's what's going to be redistributed to the reviewers. And regardless of what anyone says, appearance is important and LaTeX provides a very professional appearance.

    If it really is necessary to provide a Word document to your colleagues and/or journals, I think that you're SOL with regard to TeX. Unless I've missed something, TeX, LaTeX, DVI, PS, and PDF can't degrade to a lesser format without losing some, most, or all of the formatting.

    In this case, I'd recommend looking into DocBook. I haven't used it myself but, from all accounts, it produces publication quality text. And, if I recall correctly, it can generate TeX, LaTeX, HTML, and RTF. I don't know if RTF can support everything that you would need (for example, I don't know if it can handle images). If it can, great; if it can't, you could always import the document into OpenOffice and go from there.

    Since I'm also in academia, I'd be interested in hearing what you decide to do. I'd appreciate it if you could post a response or shoot me an email.