How do you import Word document into DOORS

Is there a built-in tool to import Word documents into DOORS?
I can see that there is a standard script to export from DOORS to Word, but what can I use to go the other way?
Can anyone help me please?

Regards, Michael.
MikeCv - Tue Oct 13 23:15:23 EDT 2009

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
SystemAdmin - Wed Oct 14 02:47:39 EDT 2009

From DOORS Help:
You import documents from Microsoft Word into DOORS by exporting them from Microsoft Word.

To import a document from Word into DOORS:

In the left pane of the DOORS Explorer, click the project or folder that you want to import the document into. You must have create access to this folder or project.

Start Word and open the document you want to send to DOORS.
Click the Export to DOORS button on the Word toolbar, or click Tools > Export to DOORS. Note If you are running DOORS through Citrix, Word must also be running through Citrix or the import will not work.

In the Module Name box, enter the name of the module you want to export to.
In the Module Description box, enter a module description.
Optionally, in the Module Prefix box, enter the object identifier prefix.
In the Absolute Numbers Start At box, enter the object identifier starting number.
If you want to ignore section numbers in Word headings, select the Remove header numbers check box.
The auto-numbering produced by DOORS may be different from the auto-numbering in the original document. If you have references to any of them, you should store the original numbers.

If you want to capture Word paragraph styles, select the Capture Paragraph Styles check box. Click Export. The module is created and opened, and the document is imported to it.
Note: If you do not have the Export to DOORS functionality in your Word, you have to manually copy "doors.dot" to Word templates.

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
Peter_Albert - Wed Oct 14 02:56:25 EDT 2009

DOORS comes with a Word template file (doors.dot, to be found e.g. in C:\Program Files\Telelogic\DOORS_8.3\lib\word). To import a Word file into DOORS,

  • start DOORS and navigate to the folder where you want the module to appear
  • open the word file
  • attach the doors.dot to the file (In Word 2003 dot his via Tools --> Templates and Add-ins, then click "Add", navigate to the folder containing doors.dot, select doors.dot anc clock O.K.. Alternatively, copy doors.dot to the global word templates folder, then you can select the template directly from the dialogue box
  • now you will have a new button, and a new menu entry under Tools --> Export to DOORS. Click on the button and follow the instructions.

Regards,

Peter

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
Peter_Albert - Wed Oct 14 03:16:08 EDT 2009

SystemAdmin - Wed Oct 14 02:47:39 EDT 2009
From DOORS Help:

You import documents from Microsoft Word into DOORS by exporting them from Microsoft Word.

To import a document from Word into DOORS:

In the left pane of the DOORS Explorer, click the project or folder that you want to import the document into. You must have create access to this folder or project.

Start Word and open the document you want to send to DOORS.
Click the Export to DOORS button on the Word toolbar, or click Tools > Export to DOORS. Note If you are running DOORS through Citrix, Word must also be running through Citrix or the import will not work.

In the Module Name box, enter the name of the module you want to export to.
In the Module Description box, enter a module description.
Optionally, in the Module Prefix box, enter the object identifier prefix.
In the Absolute Numbers Start At box, enter the object identifier starting number.
If you want to ignore section numbers in Word headings, select the Remove header numbers check box.
The auto-numbering produced by DOORS may be different from the auto-numbering in the original document. If you have references to any of them, you should store the original numbers.

If you want to capture Word paragraph styles, select the Capture Paragraph Styles check box. Click Export. The module is created and opened, and the document is imported to it.
Note: If you do not have the Export to DOORS functionality in your Word, you have to manually copy "doors.dot" to Word templates.

I forgot to mention that all text from the Word file goes into "Object Heading" and "Object Text", so if you want to populate other attributes, this requires post-processing in DOORS.

Some other random tips for pre-processing the Word file prior to the import:
 

  • If track change is activated, accept all changes and deactivate track changes
  • If existent, delete the table of contents, list of figures, list of tables-* Remove paragraph indentations using Format --> Styles and Formatting
  • Check for cases where a Word Heading Style has been manually modified such as to appear as plain text; remove the heading style there, otherwise it ruins your Object hierarchy
  • Replace manual line breaks by paragraph marks
  • Finally, remove all field codes and hyperlinks (CTRL+A; then CTRL+SHIFT+F9)
  • Check for and replace some unicode characters which are supported by Word, but not by DOORS (e.g. for ligatures, also, the "lower / greater than or equal" characters are known to create problems). Below is a simple Word macro which replaces all problematic characters I have come around so far 
Sub replace_special_characters()
'
'
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    With Selection.Find
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = True
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64256)
        .Replacement.Text = "ff"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64257)
        .Replacement.Text = "fi"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64258)
        .Replacement.Text = "fl"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64259)
        .Replacement.Text = "ffi"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64260)
        .Replacement.Text = "ffl"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64261)
        .Replacement.Text = "ft"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(730)
        .Replacement.Text = "°"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(8804)
        .Replacement.Text = ChrW(61603)
        .Replacement.Font.Name = "Symbol"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(8805)
        .Replacement.Text = ChrW(61619)
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
 
End Sub


Regards,

Peter

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
Zetareticuli - Wed Oct 14 09:30:59 EDT 2009

An alternative if you don't want to use the word export plug-in would be to save the document as a rich text file and import the rich text. For small portions of a document like a single table, I find this is a pretty quick and easy approach. I copy the portion of the document that I'm interested in importing to DOORS to wordpad and save the document as RTF (Word RTF files seem to be a lot more bloated). Then you can import the .rtf file through the DOORS file menu.

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
mcnairk - Wed Oct 14 09:51:17 EDT 2009

I don't like the Word exporter that others have suggested; it seems to have a number of problems and I don't recommended it to my users for anything but the smallest of Word docs:
  • It's very slow (can take an hour for a really large doc and meanwhile any other work on your PC is severely limited)
  • Word often crashes during exporting
  • It hates embedded OLE (Word tables or graphics)

Instead, I suggest the following alternative using an intermediate RTF format which you import to DOORS:
  • Save the Word doc as an RTF doc (note file size will increase significantly)
  • Open the target module in exclusive write mode
  • File->Import->Rich Text Format->Browse for file location->Import->select the paragraph mappings you want (Defaults are usually OK unless you want to re-export to Word, but this is a nice feature that obviates some pre-processing).
  • In addition to the post processing that is normally required in DOORS after the import, such as deleting the TOC (since DOORS has an explorer that you can use as a TOC, and if you re-export to Word or RTF, the TOC will be regenerated), after using the RTF importer, you will also need to remove the spurious “Front Matter” section header, otherwise the subsequent section numbers will be off by one.

Your mileage may vary.

Ken.

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
Zetareticuli - Wed Oct 14 09:52:33 EDT 2009

Just as an addendum to what was mentioned previously, if you find that you are waiting on DOORS to finish a lengthy task which involves interfacing with Word (i.e. exporting from DOORS to Word or importing going the other way), you can always continue your work by opening a new process of Word. If you look up the command line switches for Word, there are a couple (the first that comes to mind is /n ) that will open an entirely new process of Word. DOORS and the first process can do their thing and you can continue your work in the second process.

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
MikeCv - Sun Nov 22 20:48:11 EST 2009

All okay now.
Thanks to all for your help.
Regards, Michael.

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
DMosey - Thu Oct 07 08:20:34 EDT 2010

Import from Word 2007 to DOORs 8.3
My Company upgraded from Office 2003 to Office 2007. Do I need to re-load the DOORs 8.3 client to get the import tool bar in MS Word and Excel?

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
Peter_Albert - Thu Oct 07 08:52:43 EDT 2010

DMosey - Thu Oct 07 08:20:34 EDT 2010
Import from Word 2007 to DOORs 8.3
My Company upgraded from Office 2003 to Office 2007. Do I need to re-load the DOORs 8.3 client to get the import tool bar in MS Word and Excel?

It should be enough to attach the doors.dot template (see above post) to the Office 2007 Word file.

Regards,

Peter

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
SystemAdmin - Tue Nov 06 08:06:43 EST 2012

Peter_Albert - Wed Oct 14 03:16:08 EDT 2009

I forgot to mention that all text from the Word file goes into "Object Heading" and "Object Text", so if you want to populate other attributes, this requires post-processing in DOORS.

Some other random tips for pre-processing the Word file prior to the import:
 

  • If track change is activated, accept all changes and deactivate track changes
  • If existent, delete the table of contents, list of figures, list of tables-* Remove paragraph indentations using Format --> Styles and Formatting
  • Check for cases where a Word Heading Style has been manually modified such as to appear as plain text; remove the heading style there, otherwise it ruins your Object hierarchy
  • Replace manual line breaks by paragraph marks
  • Finally, remove all field codes and hyperlinks (CTRL+A; then CTRL+SHIFT+F9)
  • Check for and replace some unicode characters which are supported by Word, but not by DOORS (e.g. for ligatures, also, the "lower / greater than or equal" characters are known to create problems). Below is a simple Word macro which replaces all problematic characters I have come around so far 
Sub replace_special_characters()
'
'
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    With Selection.Find
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = True
        .MatchCase = False
        .MatchWholeWord = False
        .MatchWildcards = False
        .MatchSoundsLike = False
        .MatchAllWordForms = False
    End With
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64256)
        .Replacement.Text = "ff"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64257)
        .Replacement.Text = "fi"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64258)
        .Replacement.Text = "fl"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64259)
        .Replacement.Text = "ffi"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64260)
        .Replacement.Text = "ffl"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(64261)
        .Replacement.Text = "ft"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(730)
        .Replacement.Text = "°"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(8804)
        .Replacement.Text = ChrW(61603)
        .Replacement.Font.Name = "Symbol"
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = ChrW(8805)
        .Replacement.Text = ChrW(61619)
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
 
End Sub


Regards,

Peter

Is it possible that text import from Word goes to different attributes, not only Object Heading and Object Text?

I need that during import process, normal text (that shall be imported as object text), shall be splitted by tabs in Object Text, attribute 1, attribute 2, etc...

Thanks!!

Re: How do you import Word document into DOORS
SystemAdmin - Tue Nov 06 16:14:03 EST 2012

SystemAdmin - Tue Nov 06 08:06:43 EST 2012
Is it possible that text import from Word goes to different attributes, not only Object Heading and Object Text?

I need that during import process, normal text (that shall be imported as object text), shall be splitted by tabs in Object Text, attribute 1, attribute 2, etc...

Thanks!!

The short answer is "No".

The longer answer is that MS Word has a hideously complicated Object Model and buried within this Object Model is the content of the document which is defined in a Rich Text Format (RTF). RTF is not structured in a format that makes it easy to map data to multiple specific attributes.

Whilst not impossible to do, there would have to be very strict rules about the structure of a MS Word document to be able to support an import to specific attributes beyond the "Object Heading" and "Object Text" attributes. Trying to get authors to work to those strict rules would be very difficult.

The import format that DOORS supports for mapping data to multiple specific attributes is the Comma Separated Values (CSV) spreadsheet format. If the data in the MS Word doc is already in a table format, you might be able to copy this into MS Excel and save in CSV format but there are many things that can go wrong here and it requires a lot of trial and error as CSV format only supports plain old text, no graphics and no sophisticated styles.

Alternatively, you can consider modifying the MS Word document to insert your own unique delimiters between the chunks of data that need to go to specific attributes, import the document, then use DXL to chomp out the chunks of data between each delimiter and copy to a specific attribute. This also requires a lot of trial and error.
Paul Miller,
Melbourne, Australia