Show and Tell: Exporting publication-ready Word (.docx) from Markdown with Quarto (centered math equations, versatile tables & dynamic TOC)

[ls18166407597-design]

Hi Quarto community! 👋

When writing papers or reports in Markdown, many of us struggle when the final submission strictly requires Microsoft Word (.docx). Standard docx exports often hit practical styling roadblocks: equation numbers break onto new lines, fonts inherit unwanted Word theme defaults, and multi-section pagination (Roman i, ii front-matter + Arabic 1, 2 body) is tricky to automate.

To solve this, we built and open-sourced md-to-word, an automated publishing pipeline and AI Agent Skill built on top of Quarto.

What it solves:

1. Centered Math with Right-Aligned Numbering: Automatically post-processes numbered math blocks into a 3-column borderless layout where equations stay centered and equation numbers (1) / (1.1) are strictly aligned to the right margin.
2. Versatile & Declarative Tables: Declarative support for academic three-line tables, full gridlines, top/bottom lines, and borderless tables. Table headers automatically repeat on subsequent pages across page breaks.
3. Pure Word 365 Base Template: CJK and Latin fonts are cleanly separated without Word theme inheritance pollution.
4. Independent Section Pagination & Dynamic TOC: Supports native Word dynamic TOC fields ({{< toc >}} with dot leaders) alongside Roman front-matter and Arabic body pagination via custom {{< section >}} markers.
5. Deterministic Quality Gates: Pre-flight syntax validation, post-flight numerical consistency check, and OpenXML style auditing.

It also comes with two out-of-the-box verified demo showcases (an academic thesis and a corporate whitepaper) and bilingual docs.

Repo: https://github.com/ls18166407597-design/md-to-word

It is completely free and MIT-licensed. Hope this is helpful to anyone looking to produce publication-grade Word documents from Quarto! Feedback and ideas are warmly welcomed.