Open and read .docx files directly in Visual Studio Code with page-accurate and semantic views.

Features

Visual mode renders pages, headers, footers, tables, images, footnotes, and document sizing with docx-preview.
Text mode converts the document to clean, theme-aware semantic HTML with mammoth.
In-document search (Ctrl/Cmd + F) with real-time text highlighting and match navigation.
Document outline (TOC) sidebar to quickly inspect headings and jump to sections.
Comments and tracked changes viewer panel displaying reviewer notes, additions, and deletions.
Export formats: Export to sanitized semantic HTML, Markdown (.md), or print/save as PDF.
Zoom from 25% to 400% using the toolbar or Ctrl/Cmd keyboard shortcuts.
Persistent state remembers rendering mode, zoom, and scroll position while the editor remains open.
Automatic reload updates the preview when the source file changes on disk.
Large-file transfer sends documents to the webview in 1 MB chunks.
VS Code theme support covers light, dark, high-contrast, and forced-color modes.
Secure webview uses a strict Content Security Policy, nonce-protected scripts, restricted external links, and sanitized text output.

ShowDocx visual and text viewer preview

Usage

Open any .docx file. ShowDocx is registered as the default custom editor.
Use Visual for the Word-like page layout or Text for a clean reading view.
Press Ctrl/Cmd + F to search within the document.
Open the Outline or Comments sidebars from the toolbar to navigate structure and reviews.
Use the toolbar or Ctrl/Cmd + +, -, and 0 to control zoom.
Export the document as HTML, MD (Markdown), or PDF from the toolbar or Command Palette.

To choose ShowDocx explicitly, right-click a .docx file and select Open with ShowDocx.

Commands

Command	Purpose
`ShowDocx: Find in Document`	Open in-document search bar (`Ctrl/Cmd + F`)
`ShowDocx: Export as HTML`	Export sanitized semantic HTML
`ShowDocx: Export as Markdown`	Export clean Markdown document (`.md`)
`ShowDocx: Export as PDF`	Open print / save as PDF dialogue
`ShowDocx: Zoom In`	Increase zoom by 10%
`ShowDocx: Zoom Out`	Decrease zoom by 10%
`ShowDocx: Reset Zoom`	Reset zoom to 100%
`ShowDocx: Toggle Visual/Text Mode`	Switch rendering engines

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`showDocx.defaultMode`	`visual`	Initial `visual` or `text` rendering mode
`showDocx.defaultZoom`	`100`	Initial zoom level from 25 to 400
`showDocx.maxFileSizeMb`	`100`	Maximum file size accepted by the viewer
`showDocx.autoReload`	`true`	Reload when the DOCX changes on disk

Installation

Install ShowDocx from the Visual Studio Marketplace, search for ShowDocx in the VS Code Extensions view, or run:

code --install-extension showdocx.show-docx

For manual or offline installation, download show-docx-1.1.0.vsix from the latest GitHub release, then run:

code --install-extension show-docx-1.1.0.vsix

You can also use Extensions: Install from VSIX... from the VS Code Command Palette.

Development

npm ci
npx playwright install chromium
npm run generate:fixtures
npm run verify
npm run package

Press F5 in VS Code to start the Extension Development Host and open test/workspace/simple.docx.

Verification

npm run verify

verify runs linting, TypeScript checks, unit tests, VS Code Extension Host tests, and Chromium webview tests. Integration tests download a VS Code test runtime on first use. Linux environments require Xvfb.

Architecture

ShowDocx is a CustomReadonlyEditorProvider. The extension host reads and watches the DOCX binary, validates size and ZIP signatures, then transfers the document to a sandboxed webview. The browser bundle selects docx-preview or mammoth, keeps rendered modes cached, and persists UI state through the VS Code webview state API.

The extension and webview are independently bundled by esbuild for Node 18 and Chromium 114, matching the minimum VS Code 1.85 runtime.

The pinned docx-preview compatibility changes are stored as a versioned patch-package patch, so local and CI builds use the same renderer code.

Privacy

Documents are processed entirely on your machine inside the VS Code extension host and sandboxed webview. ShowDocx does not upload document contents, include telemetry, or contact an external service. External links are opened only after an explicit click.

Known Limitations

.doc binary files are not supported.
Table of contents, bookmarks, advanced Word fields, and some hyperlinks are limited by the open-source rendering engines.
Visual mode prioritizes page fidelity, but highly complex Word layouts may differ from Microsoft Word.
HTML export is semantic and intentionally does not reproduce the exact page layout.
Password-protected or encrypted documents are not supported.

Publishing

Tags matching the package version, such as v1.1.0, run the full verification suite, package a VSIX, generate a SHA-256 checksum, and create a draft GitHub release.

Stable releases are also published under the showdocx publisher on the Visual Studio Marketplace. Marketplace publishing is currently a separate manual release step.