HWPX creation, editing, and analysis

Overview

A .hwpx file is a ZIP archive containing XML files, based on the OWPML (Open Word-Processor Markup Language) standard (KS X 6101).

Quick Reference

Converting .hwp to .hwpx

Legacy .hwp files must be converted before editing:

# Using hwpxjs CLI (pure TypeScript, no external dependencies)
npx hwpxjs convert:hwp document.hwp output.hwpx

# Or using LibreOffice as fallback
python scripts/office/soffice.py --headless --convert-to hwpx document.hwp

Reading Content

# Text extraction via CLI
npx hwpxjs txt document.hwpx

# HTML conversion (includes images/styles)
npx hwpxjs html document.hwpx > output.html

# Raw XML access
python scripts/unpack.py document.hwpx unpacked/

Converting to Images

python scripts/office/soffice.py --headless --convert-to pdf document.hwpx
pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 document.pdf page

Creating New Documents

Generate .hwpx files with JavaScript. Install: npm install @ssabrojs/hwpxjs

Setup

const { HwpxWriter, HwpxReader } = require("@ssabrojs/hwpxjs");
const fs = require("fs");

// Create document from plain text
const writer = new HwpxWriter();
const content = `문서 제목

첫 번째 문단입니다.
두 번째 문단입니다.`;

const buffer = await writer.createFromPlainText(content);
fs.writeFileSync("output.hwpx", buffer);

Reading Documents

const { HwpxReader } = require("@ssabrojs/hwpxjs");
const fs = require("fs");

const reader = new HwpxReader();
const fileBuffer = fs.readFileSync("document.hwpx");
await reader.loadFromArrayBuffer(fileBuffer.buffer);

// Extract text
const text = await reader.extractText();
console.log(text);

// Get document info
const info = await reader.getDocumentInfo();
console.log(info);

// List images
const images = await reader.listImages();
console.log(images);
// [{ binPath: "BinData/0.jpg", width: 200, height: 150, format: "jpg" }]

HTML Conversion

// Basic HTML conversion
const html = await reader.extractHtml();

// With all options
const fullHtml = await reader.extractHtml({
  paragraphTag: "p",
  tableClassName: "hwpx-table",
  renderImages: true,       // Include images
  renderTables: true,       // Include tables
  renderStyles: true,       // Apply styles (bold, italic, color)
  embedImages: true,        // Base64 embed images
  tableHeaderFirstRow: true // First row as <th>
});

HWP to HWPX Conversion

const { HwpConverter } = require("@ssabrojs/hwpxjs");

const converter = new HwpConverter({ verbose: true });

// Check availability
if (converter.isAvailable()) {
  // Convert HWP to HWPX
  const result = await converter.convertHwpToHwpx("input.hwp", "output.hwpx");
  if (result.success) {
    console.log(`Converted: ${result.processingTime}ms`);
  }

  // Or extract text only
  const text = await converter.convertHwpToText("input.hwp");
}

Template Processing

// hwpxjs supports {{key}} template replacement
const reader = new HwpxReader();
await reader.loadFromArrayBuffer(templateBuffer);

// Apply template replacements
const html = await reader.extractHtml();
const result = html
  .replace(/\{\{name\}\}/g, "홍길동")
  .replace(/\{\{date\}\}/g, "2025-01-01");

Critical Rules for hwpxjs

• createFromPlainText returns Buffer – save with fs.writeFileSync(path, buffer)
• loadFromArrayBuffer for reading – pass fileBuffer.buffer not fileBuffer
• Text-only creation – for tables/images, use XML editing approach below
• HwpConverter for HWP files – pure TypeScript, no LibreOffice needed
• extractHtml for rich content – includes styles, tables, images

Editing Existing Documents

Follow all 3 steps in order.

Step 1: Unpack

python scripts/unpack.py document.hwpx unpacked/

Step 2: Edit XML

Edit files in unpacked/Contents/. See XML Reference below for patterns.

Use the Edit tool directly for string replacement. Do not write Python scripts. Scripts introduce unnecessary complexity. The Edit tool shows exactly what is being replaced.

CRITICAL: Remove <hp:linesegarray> when modifying text. This element contains cached layout data. Leaving stale linesegarray causes character overlap:

<!-- BEFORE: paragraph with stale layout cache -->
<hp:p id="0" paraPrIDRef="0" styleIDRef="0">
  <hp:run charPrIDRef="19">
    <hp:t>Original text</hp:t>
  </hp:run>
  <hp:linesegarray>
    <hp:lineseg textpos="0" vertpos="0" vertsize="1000" horzsize="5000" .../>
  </hp:linesegarray>
</hp:p>

<!-- AFTER: remove linesegarray entirely -->
<hp:p id="0" paraPrIDRef="0" styleIDRef="0">
  <hp:run charPrIDRef="19">
    <hp:t>New longer text that exceeds original width</hp:t>
  </hp:run>
</hp:p>

Note: Multiple <hp:run> elements share one <hp:linesegarray>. Remove it when editing ANY run in the paragraph.

Step 3: Pack

python scripts/pack.py unpacked/ output.hwpx

Common Pitfalls

• Character overlap after edit: Remove <hp:linesegarray> from the edited <hp:p>. Multiple <hp:run> elements share one linesegarray—remove it when editing ANY run.
• Wrong table cell modified: Include <hp:cellAddr> in search pattern. CRITICAL: <hp:cellAddr> appears AFTER cell content, not before. Use grep -B20 'colAddr="2" rowAddr="0"' section0.xml.
• Preserve charPrIDRef: Don’t change charPrIDRef when editing text—it references font/size/style in header.xml.
• File corruption from string replacement: Use lxml for structural changes (inserting elements). String replacement breaks XML parent-child relationships.
• Page overflow from text replacement: Replacing blanks/spaces with text can cause content overflow and page breaks. Solutions: (1) Keep replacement text similar in length to original spaces, (2) Preserve charPrIDRef for underlined fields to maintain underline style, (3) Reduce unnecessary whitespace proportionally, (4) Cell/margin adjustments may be needed.
• Image size too large (e.g., 635mm): HWP unit calculation error. 1 HWP unit = 1/7200 inch, so 1mm ≈ 283.5 HWP units.
  • ❌ Wrong: width="180000" → 635mm (too large!)
  • ✅ Correct: width="3400" → ~12mm (signature size)
  • Formula: mm × (7200 ÷ 25.4) = HWP units

XML Reference

Key Elements

Paragraph Structure

<hp:p id="0" paraPrIDRef="0" styleIDRef="0" pageBreak="0">
  <hp:run charPrIDRef="0">
    <hp:t>Text content</hp:t>
  </hp:run>
  <hp:linesegarray>  <!-- Remove this when editing text -->
    <hp:lineseg textpos="0" vertpos="0" vertsize="1000" .../>
  </hp:linesegarray>
</hp:p>

Table Cell Structure

<hp:tc borderFillIDRef="5">
  <hp:subList textDirection="HORIZONTAL" vertAlign="CENTER">
    <hp:p paraPrIDRef="20">
      <hp:run charPrIDRef="19">
        <hp:t>Cell content</hp:t>
      </hp:run>
    </hp:p>
  </hp:subList>
  <hp:cellAddr colAddr="0" rowAddr="0"/>  <!-- Position identifier -->
  <hp:cellSpan colSpan="1" rowSpan="1"/>
  <hp:cellSz width="5136" height="4179"/>
</hp:tc>

Images

CRITICAL: <hp:pic> MUST be inside <hp:run>, followed by empty <hp:t/>

1. Add image file to BinData/
2. Add to manifest Contents/content.hpf:

<opf:item id="image1" href="BinData/image1.png" media-type="image/png" isEmbeded="1"/>

3. Reference in section0.xml:

<hp:p id="0" paraPrIDRef="38" styleIDRef="41">
  <hp:run charPrIDRef="0">
    <hp:pic id="12345" zOrder="0" numberingType="PICTURE" textWrap="TOP_AND_BOTTOM">
      <hp:orgSz width="7200" height="7200"/>  <!-- 1 inch = 7200 HWP units -->
      <hp:curSz width="3600" height="3600"/>  <!-- Display: 0.5 inch -->
      <hc:img binaryItemIDRef="image1" bright="0" contrast="0" effect="REAL_PIC" alpha="0"/>
      <hp:sz width="3600" widthRelTo="ABSOLUTE" height="3600" heightRelTo="ABSOLUTE"/>
      <hp:pos treatAsChar="1" horzRelTo="COLUMN" horzAlign="CENTER" vertRelTo="PARA" vertAlign="TOP"/>
    </hp:pic>
    <hp:t/>  <!-- REQUIRED: empty text element after hp:pic -->
  </hp:run>
</hp:p>

Size units: HWP uses 1/7200 inch units. 1mm ≈ 283.5 units (7200 ÷ 25.4)

For safe image insertion using lxml, see references/image-insertion.md.

Page Break

<hp:p pageBreak="1" ...>  <!-- pageBreak="1" inserts break before paragraph -->

Differences from DOCX

Key difference: HWPX stores layout cache in linesegarray; DOCX doesn’t. This is why editing HWPX requires removing linesegarray.

For detailed XML structures (headers/footers, lists/numbering, paragraph formatting), see references/xml-reference.md.

Dependencies

npm install @ssabrojs/hwpxjs

• hwpxjs: npm install @ssabrojs/hwpxjs – reading, writing, HTML conversion, HWP→HWPX conversion
• pyhwp2md: Converting HWP/HWPX to Markdown (alternative)
• LibreOffice: PDF conversion (auto-configured via scripts/office/soffice.py)
• Poppler: pdftoppm for PDF to images