maemo.org - Talk - reading .doc files

maemo.org - Talk (https://talk.maemo.org/index.php)

- OS2008 / Maemo 4 / Chinook - Diablo (https://talk.maemo.org/forumdisplay.php?f=29)

- - reading .doc files - a simple fix (https://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=15185)

reading .doc files - a simple fix

i was a tad put out when i initially couldn't find a decent solution for reading .doc files under os2008 due to repository problems, lack of available clients, etc. (i do like using docreader under os2007)

(converting and then transferring the files to my n800 was another easy solution, but i like being able to download a file and then convert on my n800)

fortunately, for me, it was a simple fix thanks to antiword's author, Adri van Os... antiword compiles and builds quickly and cleanly under maemo's chinook SDK with no errors whatsoever... (the SDK was installed by running three command lines on my x86 Ubuntu notebook, and now that i see how easy it is to use, i'll probably be playing with it some more in the upcoming months)...

after building, i copied the requisite .antiword directory under /home/user, then added the antiword program to my /home/user/apps directory...

i then created a short .desktop file under /usr/share/applications/hildon, naming the menu entry Extras->Doc Convert, which points to a script named msdocconvert.sh under /home/user/apps

my simple-minded script uses antiword to loop through and convert any found .doc files under MyDocs to .txt format (although .pdf may also be created)... i prefer .txt format for my use (files are roughly 40 percent smaller than .doc or .pdf), although antiword does a *very* nice job at PDF creation for many of my documents...

here's the script (i'm sure someone can shorten it even more):

#!bin/sh
# msdocconvert.sh
# convert all *.doc files in /home/user/MyDocs to .txt
# does not delete original .doc files
cd /home/user/MyDocs
for file in *.doc
do
/home/user/apps/antiword $file >$file.new
mv $file.new $file.txt
done
# now rename foo.doc.txt to foo.txt
for file in *txt
do
mv $file ${file%doc.*}txt
done

- have a happy!

p.s. here's the antiword home page