If you want to go from Word to SVG, then you’ll want to convert OMML to MathML. I thought I’d mention it here, as it can apparently be used to work with MathML. My client referenced an XML editor called Oxygen XML Editor (not free). Mozilla, of course, has the MathML Reference. W3.org has a nice, short introduction page for MathML, check out What is MathML? Be ready with your finger on F12 so you can inspect the markup! This site has some nice explanations and examples: MathML in SVG. Within the foreignObject tag, you will create a tag to hold your equation markup. The trick seems to be to use a element within your SVG. It is possible to have equation-text within an SVG block, although in the past, it wasn’t possible. If you want to programmatically query Word for its equation objects, and extract the OMML from Word, start with this VBA snippet: ActiveDocument.OMaths(1).Range.WordOpenXML But there seems to be another major standard called MathML.

Microsoft Word uses an xml format called OMath XML to describe its equations. While investigating this scenario, I ran across some interesting tidbits regarding equation markup that I’d like to share. Over time, you could build up a library of missing symbols to have at the ready, since they’re just characters in a special font. The method isn’t 100% effective, as some symbols seem to be ignored.

Use Character Map and the Cambria Math font to replace any characters that didn’t copy over.

Your equation magically appears as Visio text and lines!

Choose Group > Ungroup from the context menu.

You get an equation-shaped mess of nonsense

In Visio: right-click and choose Paste Special.

Here are the simple steps to get a Word equation into Visio, so that you can either manipulate the parts, or export it to SVG:

So it’s not perfect, but it’s better than running through a bunch of conversion applications, I guess. I copied them, then pasted them into some of the blank shapes that resulted from the conversion (see the dark-blue, vertical bars amongst the selected shapes). I fired up Character Map, chose the font Cambria Math, then found the missing characters. The fraction line is off, and the integral sign and parentheses are missing. They’re not part of the actual graphics, as you can see once we deselect, and turn off the grid: This should export to SVG just fine! Don’t mind the blue rectangles, those are just the selection highlighting. When I deleted the ugly shape, I noticed that for a split second, the proper equation appeared. Luckily, I didn’t spend too much time on this Frankenstein process… Replace the SVG image with an SVG foreignObject element.Find the corresponding SVG elements in the exported files.When the user then exported the Visio page to SVG, the add-in would:.This would be OMath XML which Word uses to describe equations. Adding some behind-the-scenes data to the image shape.Capturing a screenshot of the equation (somehow).The add-in would then import the equation to Visio by:.Press (another) special Get Equation button on my add-in’s Ribbon.That gave me this:īeing half-engineer, I immediately started dreaming up a convoluted solution to her problem. I copied an equation from Word, then pasted it into Visio. Yikes, math is hard! It Can’t Be That Hard…

However, I did recognize some terms like “import”, “ MathML“, “convert”, “Oxygen”. I remember her emitting a lengthy stream gibberish (which she politely apologized for). My client described a convoluted process with lots of details I didn’t follow. While they create the equations with no problems in Microsoft Word, they were having trouble getting those equations into the SVG step of their process. Recently it was brought to my attention that they were having trouble with mathematical equations. I’ve developed an add-in for Visio that they use to capture screenshots, import images in bulk, replace images with newer versions, resize images to standard sizes, export multi-page Visio documents as single files, add special footers to pages, sort pages by names, and more! Yeah, I know. A lot of the work involves bringing images, screenshots together on a Visio page, adding notations and other vector-based elements, then exporting the results as SVG and PNG for further manipulation by their content management system. I have a long-time client whose team uses Visio as part of their extensive documentation processes.

If you’ve just got your morning coffee and like to read a bit of a story, then settle in for some nerdy prose… The Real-world Problem If you’re looking for a solution in a hurry, just skip to the bottom and read A Very Simple Solution. I ran across a scenario where I needed to get a Word equation into Visio, and have it export to SVG.

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