LaTeX has a very recognizable “default” look. If you routinely read working papers, you almost certainly have come across quite a few of them. You could very well be a seasoned LaTeX user youself.
Now, for one reason or another, sometimes you just need to use Word, and getting Word output to look like LaTeX is no easy task. Why might you want to make a Word document look like LaTeX? There are many motivations–perhaps you prefer the neat styling, or perhaps you do not want readers with big LaTeX-ego to discover that you used Word.
Here’s how I do it personally.
- First you need the “LaTeX font”. Half of the LaTeX looks comes from the font. LaTeX uses Computer Modern by default. While there is a Word compatible port of the font, it lacks many characters that you would need in a word processor. What you need to use instead is Latin Modern, which is an expansion on the former. You can get OpenType Latin Modern fonts here. Usually it is sufficient to download only lmroman12-regular.otf, lmroman12-bold.otf and lmroman12-italic.otf. After downloading, go to [Control Panel] -> [Fonts]. You can simply drag the fonts into the window that shows up to install them.
- Second you need to mimic LaTeX’s default styling. This gives the remaining half of the look, and much more complicated that the first half. It takes a bit of patience to make measurements of LaTeX spacing and translate them into Word. Here is a template. It looks kind of ugly in Word, but comes out great in pdf. The template takes reference to Laudo Ogura‘s LaTeX sample. Definitely take a look at his site if you want to learn LaTeX.
A big plus of Word 2007 is the new build-in equation editor uses a TeX-like syntax, making the transition to and from LaTeX much easier than before. On the other hand, the equation editor is also the biggest problem–you cannot use another font, and the default does not look anywhere like LaTeX’s output.
Thank you very much, It is indeed very useful technique.
the same awesome output with no headache.
Thank you! Sick of using LaTeX but have LaTeX-ego markers for my reports. This should be wonderfully useful :)
great tips! thanks for sharing. This really make my whole report looks professional and tempting to read
Wonderful tips! However, I noticed a problem while embedding the LM Roman typesetting into a Word 2010 document: it looks like it is not embedded and when another reader opens the file in a computer without these fonts, he/she will not read the document correctly. Dis anybody experience the same? Some suggestions?
Thx!
He generado el pdf con word 2013 en base a DefaultLateX.docx pero no se ve como el ejemplo. ¿Con que programa generaste el pdf?
Dear Author,
thank you very much for this very useful post! The Latex-Word-template looks great, I like it very much :)
But, is there really no workaround about the equations having the wrong font?
Greetings
I use Adobe Acrobat Pro to export the sample PDF, as Word’s built-in PDF export function will not embed the LM Roman font.
The math fonts have a lot more glyphs than usual fonts. This post have links to three other compatible fonts, including Latin Modern Math.
What a good tips,, I use this font type now and it is looked like from LaTex document.,.
Thanks so much
Thank you,very simple and useful
Thanks very much; very helpful. I love the font, but don’t see the point in devoting months to becoming a LaTeX whizz because of some “rite of passage”. Many journals won’t accept it anyway!