Paper Formatter - 本科毕业论文排版

Overview

This skill automates the formatting of Chinese undergraduate thesis Word documents (.docx) according to common national standards (GB/T 7713, GB/T 7714). It applies page setup, font and paragraph styles, heading hierarchy detection, figure/table caption formatting, page numbering, table of contents insertion, reference formatting, and PDF conversion.

When to Use

Trigger this skill when the user wants to:

• Format a thesis or academic paper in Word
• Adjust paper fonts, line spacing, margins, or indentation
• Generate or update a table of contents
• Format references according to GB/T 7714-2015
• Convert a Word document to PDF
• Check or fix paper formatting issues

Typical user phrases: "排版论文", "格式化毕业论文", "调整论文格式", "设置论文字体", "生成目录", "排版参考文献", "论文转PDF".

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ with python-docx installed
• For PDF conversion: Microsoft Word (docx2pdf) or LibreOffice
• The skill scripts use the managed Python venv at ~/.workbuddy/binaries/python/envs/default

Quick Start

1. Format a Paper

# Basic formatting (creates *_formatted.docx)
python scripts/format_paper.py thesis.docx

# Format with table of contents
python scripts/format_paper.py thesis.docx --add-toc

# Format in-place (overwrites original)
python scripts/format_paper.py thesis.docx --inplace

# Custom margins
python scripts/format_paper.py thesis.docx --margin-top 3.5 --margin-left 2.8

2. Format References

# Renumber and format references
python scripts/format_references.py thesis.docx

# Check only (no changes)
python scripts/format_references.py thesis.docx --check-only

3. Convert to PDF

# Auto-detect conversion method
python scripts/docx_to_pdf.py thesis.docx

# Use specific method
python scripts/docx_to_pdf.py thesis.docx --method libreoffice

Workflow

Full Thesis Formatting Process

Execute the following steps in order:

1. Backup: Copy the original document before any modification.

2. Run format_paper.py: Apply page setup, styles, heading detection, and page numbers.
   bash python scripts/format_paper.py input.docx --add-toc
   This produces input_formatted.docx.

3. Run format_references.py: Renumber and format the references section.
   bash python scripts/format_references.py input_formatted.docx --inplace

4. Review heading detection: Check the script output for heading counts. If headings are misclassified (e.g., a list item detected as a heading), manually fix the heading styles in Word.

5. Update TOC: Open the document in Word, right-click the table of contents, and select "Update Field" → "Update entire table".

6. Check references: Review the format_issues output from format_references.py. Manually add missing document type markers ([M], [J], [D], etc.) and verify author name formats.

7. Convert to PDF (optional):
   bash python scripts/docx_to_pdf.py input_formatted.docx

Scripts

scripts/format_paper.py

Main formatting script. Uses python-docx to:

• Set A4 page size and margins (top 2.5, bottom 2.5, left 2.75, right 2.5 cm by default; gutter on left)
• Configure Normal style: SimSun + Times New Roman, 12pt (xiao-4), fixed 21pt line spacing, 2-char first-line indent, 0pt before/after
• Configure Heading 1-3 styles: SimHei (hei-ti), sizes 16/12/10.5pt, with appropriate spacing
• Configure Caption style: SimHei, 10.5pt (wu-hao), centered, single line spacing
• Auto-detect headings by text patterns:
• "第一章" / "第X章" → Heading 1
• "摘要" / "目录" / "参考文献" / "致谢" etc. → Heading 1
• "1.1" pattern → Heading 2
• "1.1.1" pattern → Heading 3
• "1." / "1、" pattern → Heading 1 (short text only)
• Auto-detect figure/table captions ("图1-1..." / "表1-1...")
• Add centered page numbers in footer
• Insert TOC field after "目录" heading (with --add-toc flag)

Key options:
- --no-detect: Skip heading auto-detection (use existing styles only)
- --no-page-numbers: Skip page number insertion
- --add-toc: Insert table of contents field
- --margin-top/bottom/left/right: Custom page margins (cm)

scripts/format_references.py

Reference formatting helper. Uses python-docx to:

• Locate the "参考文献" section in the document
• Renumber references sequentially: [1] [2] [3]...
• Set font to SimSun + Times New Roman, 10.5pt (wu-hao)
• Apply flush-left formatting (no indent, top-aligned)
• Set single line spacing
• Check for common issues: missing type markers ([M]/[J]/[D] etc.), missing years

Key options:
- --check-only: Only report issues without modifying the document
- --inplace: Overwrite the original file

scripts/docx_to_pdf.py

PDF conversion utility. Supports two methods:
- docx2pdf (default on Windows): Uses Microsoft Word COM automation
- LibreOffice: Cross-platform, headless conversion

Auto-detects the best available method. Falls back automatically if one method fails.

Reference Documents

references/formatting_rules.md

Detailed formatting specifications for Chinese undergraduate theses:
- Document structure (cover → declaration → abstract → TOC → body → references → acknowledgments)
- Page setup (A4, margins, header/footer distance)
- Font/size/spacing for every element (title, headings, body, captions, references, page numbers)
- Page numbering scheme (Roman for front matter, Arabic for body)
- Section break instructions for split page numbering
- Figure, table, and formula formatting guidelines

Load this document when:
- The user asks about specific formatting requirements
- Manual adjustments are needed (e.g., split page numbering, cover page)
- The user has school-specific requirements to compare against

references/reference_styles.md

GB/T 7714-2015 reference citation format reference:
- Sequential numbering system rules
- Document type markers ([M], [J], [D], [C], [R], [S], [P], [N], [EB/OL])
- Author name formatting (Chinese and English)
- Complete format examples for each document type
- In-text citation formatting
- Common errors and corrections

Load this document when:
- The user asks how to format a specific reference
- Manual reference formatting is needed (scripts cannot auto-detect document types)
- Checking or correcting reference formatting issues

Limitations and Manual Steps

The scripts handle deterministic formatting automatically. The following require manual work or AI assistance:

1. Cover page: The cover page layout (title, name, student ID, etc.) must be formatted manually or using a school-provided template.

2. Split page numbering: Roman numerals for front matter (abstract, TOC) and Arabic for body requires section breaks and per-section footer settings. This must be done manually in Word.

3. Table of contents update: The script inserts a TOC field, but the actual content is generated by Word when the user right-clicks and selects "Update Field".

4. Reference content parsing: The script can renumber and format references, but cannot parse citation metadata (author, title, publisher) to apply GB/T 7714 formatting from scratch. Use the AI to help format each reference according to references/reference_styles.md.

5. Heading detection accuracy: Pattern-based detection may misclassify list items or short paragraphs as headings. Always review the script output and manually fix any misclassified paragraphs.

6. School-specific requirements: Default settings follow common national standards. If the user has school-specific requirements, adjust the command-line parameters or manually modify the formatted document.

Python Environment

All scripts require python-docx. The managed venv is at:

~/.workbuddy/binaries/python/envs/default

Run scripts using:

"~/.workbuddy/binaries/python/envs/default/Scripts/python.exe" scripts/format_paper.py input.docx

If python-docx is not installed:

"~/.workbuddy/binaries/python/envs/default/Scripts/pip.exe" install python-docx docx2pdf