LaTeX Equations in MS Word/OpenOffice?

Question

How can I turn something like:

\[
H = \sum_{x \in X} p_x \log p_x
\]

into an image file that can be used to place into a MS Word or OpenOffice Document?

Solution 1

There are several ways:

1. You can use LaTeX2HTML. Perl based It will convert the entire document, but one side-effect is that all the formulae are converted to images.
2. L2P. Perl based. Uses imagemagick. Just the math - you pass in the equation on the command line.
3. There is latexmath2png. Python based. Just does the math.
4. Install LyX. Write your equeations and save as a Word doc.

The conversion tools could be run in windows, but they are mostly intended to run under linux. On windows they might require some tweaking. LyX runs just fine in mac, windows & linux.

Solution 2

My personal "folk" solution: goto http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sandbox, and insert your formula between <math> and </math> tags, then force preview and save formula image as a file. :)

Solution 3

There's some option (not installed by default) called the "Microsoft Equation Editor".

MathType is a related product which can do LaTeX.

OOoLatex is a set of macros designed to bring the power of LaTeX into OpenOffice.

Solution 4

In the recent versions of Word, you can insert a LaTeX equation, with Insert -> Symbols -> Equation -> Insert new equation.

In the cell that appears you can write something similar to LaTeX syntax (sorry, I have the Italian edition):

pressing Enter you got:

Of course, not all the functionalities of LaTeX are supported, but it's a beginning.

Pay attention that big documents with many equations can cause problems (using LaTeX directly is always preferable... but not always possible).

Here there is a video on how to insert LaTeX equations in Word: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/write-an-equation-or-formula-1d01cabc-ceb1-458d-bc70-7f9737722702.

Solution 5

I use Humanized Enso along with the beta latex product: http://www.google.com/interstitial?url=http://www.humanized.com/enso/beta/all/ (Currently this site seems to be infested with malware, so don't go there, though the software is completely trustworthy because the creator Aza Raskin is a VERY well known person). Now select your tex/latex expression and press Caps-L and you're done. NOT perfect, but works for my basic needs, and mostly because Enso is something I can't live without, so its really no extra installation for me.

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Comments

[Jeremy Powell]

Yep, I run Ubuntu, so no worries about Windows.

[Toc]

With this service mathurl.com is even simpler.

[syockit]

New site is here. Quite pretty. humanized.com/enso/beta/ensotexanywhere

[ZoFreX]

I think it'd be better to use a dedicated service like the one Toc suggested rather than tax Wikimedia's servers?

[ZoFreX]

Microsoft equation editor is under-used. It's not as good as LaTeX by a long shot, but if you only need a handful of equations in a document it often makes do.

[slhck]

Are you sure? That just inserts a new equation, and those are not LaTeX.

[Hi-Angel]

There's one sad thing, though — the both editors are too "latexy", which itself pretty deprecated. Nowadays peoples uses such a thing which is called Unicode. And, if you enter in the equation a \in A, that would be fine, but a ∈ A triggers an error.

[CarLaTeX]

@slhck But you can use something similar to LaTeX syntax, see my answer.

[slhck]

Could you please explain what features are supported in comparison to LaTeX? When you say "something similar", it's unclear what that means. Is there a documentation page available? That would be helpful.

[CarLaTeX]

@slhck Search "equation" in the Word Guide, there is a video, too

[CarLaTeX]

@slhck Look also at the other answers of this post.

[slhck]

Could you provide a reference/a link still? That would be much more helpful for future readers.

[CarLaTeX]

@slhck I added the link of the Word Guide.