External Content Import

When generating WordprocessingML documents, it is sometimes necessary to include existing document content (henceforth called external content) within the document. External content in a document is typically included because it was stored in a format other than the WordprocessingML format defined by this Office Open XML Standard.

In order to facilitate the inclusion of such content without requiring its conversion as a prerequisite to its inclusion in a document, WordprocessingML includes the facility for applications to implement the import of external content in any format as part of a WordprocessingML document. This functionality, called external content import, allows the inclusion of content of an arbitrary content type within the WordprocessingML package, which shall then be opened and merged into the main document when the package is consumed by applications which understand that content type.

example:

<html … >
  <body style="margin-left:200px;margin-top:50px">
    <p>Paragraph one.</p>
    <blockquote style="border:5px solid #00FFFF">Paragraph in a blockquote.</blockquote>
    <p>Paragraph two.</p>
  </body>
</html>

This content could be converted to its WordprocessingML equivalents using the XML syntax defined by this Office Open XML Standard, or a more basic tool can use the external content import to include the HTML document within a WordprocessingML package, allowing a subsequent consumer of that content to import the resulting HTML. When the resulting WordprocessingML package is opened, the HTML document shall be read (if it is an alternate format understood by the consuming application) and migrated into the appropriate location in the main WordprocessingML document. ]