Office Word MCP server

Provides a bridge to Microsoft Word for creating and modifying documents with features like text formatting, table manipulation, image scaling, and style management
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Setup instructions
Provider
gongrzhe
Release date
Mar 25, 2025
Language
Python
Package
Stats
16.7K downloads
333 stars

Office-Word-MCP-Server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI assistants to create, read, and manipulate Microsoft Word documents through a standardized interface. It serves as a bridge between AI systems and Word documents, providing rich editing capabilities and document management functions.

Installation Options

Installing via Smithery

To install Office Word Document Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @GongRzhe/Office-Word-MCP-Server --client claude

Manual Installation

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.8 or higher
  • pip package manager

Basic Installation Steps

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/GongRzhe/Office-Word-MCP-Server.git
cd Office-Word-MCP-Server

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Using the Setup Script

Alternatively, use the provided setup script which handles prerequisites, virtual environment, dependencies, and MCP configuration:

python setup_mcp.py

Configuration for Claude Desktop

Method 1: After Local Installation

Add the server to your Claude for Desktop configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "word-document-server": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/path/to/word_mcp_server.py"]
    }
  }
}

Method 2: Without Installation (Using uvx)

Configure Claude for Desktop to use the server without local installation:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "word-document-server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "office-word-mcp-server", "word_mcp_server"]
    }
  }
}

Configuration file locations:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Remember to restart Claude for Desktop after configuration.

Features and Usage

Document Management

  • Create new documents
  • Extract text and analyze structure
  • View document properties
  • List available documents
  • Create copies of documents
  • Merge multiple documents
  • Convert to PDF

Content Creation

  • Add headings with different levels
  • Insert paragraphs with styling
  • Create formatted tables
  • Add images with scaling
  • Insert page breaks
  • Add footnotes and endnotes

Text and Table Formatting

  • Format text (bold, italic, underline)
  • Change text color and font properties
  • Apply custom styles
  • Search and replace text
  • Format tables with borders and styles
  • Create header rows with distinct formatting

Example Usage Instructions

Once configured, you can ask Claude to perform operations like:

  • "Create a new document called 'report.docx' with a title page"
  • "Add a heading and three paragraphs to my document"
  • "Insert a 4x4 table with sales data"
  • "Format the word 'important' in paragraph 2 to be bold and red"
  • "Search and replace all instances of 'old term' with 'new term'"
  • "Create a custom style for section headings"
  • "Apply formatting to the table in my document"

API Reference

Document Creation and Properties

create_document(filename, title=None, author=None)
get_document_info(filename)
get_document_text(filename)
get_document_outline(filename)
list_available_documents(directory=".")
copy_document(source_filename, destination_filename=None)
convert_to_pdf(filename, output_filename=None)

Content Addition

add_heading(filename, text, level=1)
add_paragraph(filename, text, style=None)
add_table(filename, rows, cols, data=None)
add_picture(filename, image_path, width=None)
add_page_break(filename)

Text Formatting

format_text(filename, paragraph_index, start_pos, end_pos, bold=None,
            italic=None, underline=None, color=None, font_size=None, font_name=None)
search_and_replace(filename, find_text, replace_text)
delete_paragraph(filename, paragraph_index)
create_custom_style(filename, style_name, bold=None, italic=None,
                    font_size=None, font_name=None, color=None, base_style=None)

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  1. Missing Styles

    • Documents may lack required styles for heading and table operations
    • The server will attempt to create missing styles or use direct formatting
    • For best results, use templates with standard Word styles
  2. Permission Issues

    • Ensure the server has permission to read/write to document paths
    • Use the copy_document function to create editable copies of locked documents
    • Check file ownership and permissions if operations fail
  3. Image Insertion Problems

    • Use absolute paths for image files
    • Verify image format compatibility (JPEG, PNG recommended)
    • Check image file size and permissions

Debugging

Enable detailed logging by setting the environment variable:

export MCP_DEBUG=1  # Linux/macOS
set MCP_DEBUG=1     # Windows

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "word-document-server" '{"command":"python","args":["/path/to/word_mcp_server.py"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "word-document-server": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/word_mcp_server.py"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "word-document-server": {
            "command": "python",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/word_mcp_server.py"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect

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