ODT File Manager & Editor

Create, parse, and edit ODT (OpenDocument Text) files locally using Python and odfdo. Use when the user asks to create, edit, read, update, append to, inspect, or manipulate any ODT file. Works with the nextcloud-aio-oc skill for NextCloud integration — that skill handles downloading and uploading the binary file; this skill handles all document-level editing.

ODT File Manager

Local ODT document creation and editing powered by odfdo.

Library: odfdo v3.20+ — actively maintained, single dep (lxml), full ODF support.

Required Setup

bash

pip install odfdo

Skill Boundaries

This skill is purely local — it has no network access and knows nothing about NextCloud.

For NextCloud workflows, pair with nextcloud-aio-oc:

Step	Skill
Find file on NextCloud	nextcloud-aio-oc → node scripts/nextcloud.js files search
Download binary ODT	nextcloud-aio-oc → python3 scripts/files_binary.py download
Edit / create ODT	odt-filemgr-oc → python3 scripts/odt_tool.py ...
Upload binary ODT	nextcloud-aio-oc → python3 scripts/files_binary.py upload

Scripts live at: ~/.openclaw/skills/odt-filemgr-oc/scripts/

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Workflows

Edit an existing ODT (NextCloud)

bash

NC=~/.openclaw/skills/nextcloud-aio-oc/scripts
ODT=~/.openclaw/skills/odt-filemgr-oc/scripts

# 1. Download
python3 $NC/files_binary.py download "/Documents/MyDoc.odt" /tmp/MyDoc.odt

# 2. Inspect
python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py inspect /tmp/MyDoc.odt

# 3. Edit
python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py append /tmp/MyDoc.odt --text "New Section" --heading 2
python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py append /tmp/MyDoc.odt --text "Section content here."

# 4. Upload back
python3 $NC/files_binary.py upload /tmp/MyDoc.odt "/Documents/MyDoc.odt"

Create a new ODT and push to NextCloud

bash

# 1. Create locally
python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py create /tmp/NewDoc.odt --title "Q1 Report"

# 2. Add content
python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py append /tmp/NewDoc.odt --text "Summary" --heading 2
python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py append /tmp/NewDoc.odt --text "Results were positive across all metrics."

# 3. Push to NextCloud
python3 $NC/files_binary.py upload /tmp/NewDoc.odt "/Documents/Q1 Report.odt"

Edit a local ODT (no NextCloud)

bash

python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py inspect   myfile.odt
python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py to-text   myfile.odt
python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py append    myfile.odt --text "Added paragraph."
python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py replace   myfile.odt --find "draft" --sub "final"
python3 $ODT/odt_tool.py set-meta  myfile.odt --title "Final Report"

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odt_tool.py Commands

Command	Description
inspect <file>	Show metadata + paragraph/heading/table structure
to-text <file>	Extract all text content in document order
create <file> [--title T]	Create blank ODT (optional H1 title)
append <file> --text T [--heading N] [--style S]	Append heading (N=1–6) or paragraph
replace <file> --find F --sub S [--regex]	Find and replace text
set-meta <file> [--title T] [--subject S] [--description D]	Update metadata
set-font <file> --font F [--size N] [--no-preserve-mono]	Set font across all style layers (default + all named/inline overrides)
set-outline <file> --numbered | --plain	Toggle heading numbering (1.1.1 or none)
merge-styles <file> --template T	Apply all styles from a template ODT

---

Custom Python Edits

For table edits, style changes, or multi-step operations, write inline Python:

python

from odfdo import Document, Header, Paragraph

doc = Document("/tmp/file.odt")
body = doc.body

# Read all content in order
for child in body.children:
    if isinstance(child, Header):
        print(f"H{child.level}: {child.inner_text}")
    elif isinstance(child, Paragraph) and child.inner_text.strip():
        print(f"[{child.style}]: {child.inner_text}")

# Add content
body.append(Header(2, "New Section"))
body.append(Paragraph("Content here."))

# Table edit
table = body.get_table_by_name("MyTable")
table.set_value(0, 0, "Updated cell")

doc.save("/tmp/file.odt", pretty=True)

For the full odfdo API (tables, lists, spans, styles, metadata), see REFERENCE.md.

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Key Rules

1. Always inspect before editing a file you haven't seen.
2. Temp files: use /tmp/ for working files; clean up after upload.
3. Styles: for complex style systems (colors, spacing, borders), use merge-styles with a template rather than generating styles from scratch. set-font and set-outline work safely on any document without a template.

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Troubleshooting

Error	Fix
ModuleNotFoundError: odfdo	pip install odfdo
zipfile.BadZipFile	File corrupted or not a real ODT — re-download
Heading doesn't appear as H1	Use Header(1, "text"), not Paragraph("text", style="Heading 1")
Font still shows as Liberation in Collabora	ODT has 6 font attributes per style rule. Old approach only set 3 (style:font-name-*). Collabora renders from fo:font-family — now all 6 are set. Re-run set-font.
Font name must match exactly	LibreOffice/Collabora font names are case-sensitive: "Noto Sans" not "noto sans"
set-outline changes not visible	Some documents override numbering via paragraph styles — use merge-styles with a clean template instead