R help - Dec 2023 - Help request: Parsing docx files for key words and appending to a spreadsheet

Hello

I am trying to work through a problem, but feel like I've gone down a 
rabbit hole. I'd very much appreciate any help.

The task: I have several directories of multiple (some directories, up 
to 2,500+) *.docx files (newspaper articles downloaded from Lexis+) that 
I want to iterate through to append to a spreadsheet only those articles 
that satisfy a condition (i.e., a specific keyword is present for >= 50% 
coverage of the subject matter). Lexis+ has a very specific structure 
and keywords are given in the row "Subject".

I'd like to be able to accomplish the following:

(1) Append the title, the month, the author, the number of words, and 
page number(s) to a spreadsheet

(2) Read each article and extract keywords (in the docs, these are 
listed in 'Subject' section as a list of keywords with a percentage 
showing the extent to which the keyword features in the article (e.g., 
FAST FASHION (72%)) and to append the keyword and the % coverage to the 
same row in the spreadsheet. However, I want to ensure that the keyword 
coverage meets the threshold of >= 50%; if not, then pass onto the next 
article in the directory. Rinse and repeat for the entire directory.

So far, I've tried working through some Stack Overflow-based solutions, 
but most seem to use the textreadr package, which is now deprecated; 
others use either the officer or the officedown packages. However, these 
packages don't appear to do what I want the program to do, at least not 
in any of the examples I have found, nor in the vignettes and relevant 
package manuals I've looked at.

The first point is, is what I am intending to do even possible using R? 
If it is, then where do I start with this? If these docx files were 
converted to UTF-8 plain text, would that make the task easier?

I am not a confident coder, and am really only just getting my head 
around R so appreciate a steep learning curve ahead, but of course, I 
don't know what I don't know, so any pointers in the right direction 
would be a big help.

Many thanks in anticipation

Andy

Hi Andy:

I don?t have an answer but I do have what I hope is some friendly advice. 
Generally the more information you can provide,  the more likely you will get
help that is useful.  In your case you say that you tried several packages and
they didn?t do what you wanted.  Providing that code,  as well as why they
didn?t do what you wanted (be specific)  would greatly facilitate things.

Happy new year,

-Roy

> On Dec 29, 2023, at 10:14 AM, Andy <phaedrusv at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello
> 
> I am trying to work through a problem, but feel like I've gone down a
rabbit hole. I'd very much appreciate any help.
> 
> The task: I have several directories of multiple (some directories, up to
2,500+) *.docx files (newspaper articles downloaded from Lexis+) that I want to
iterate through to append to a spreadsheet only those articles that satisfy a
condition (i.e., a specific keyword is present for >= 50% coverage of the
subject matter). Lexis+ has a very specific structure and keywords are given in
the row "Subject".
> 
> I'd like to be able to accomplish the following:
> 
> (1) Append the title, the month, the author, the number of words, and page
number(s) to a spreadsheet
> 
> (2) Read each article and extract keywords (in the docs, these are listed
in 'Subject' section as a list of keywords with a percentage showing the
extent to which the keyword features in the article (e.g., FAST FASHION (72%))
and to append the keyword and the % coverage to the same row in the spreadsheet.
However, I want to ensure that the keyword coverage meets the threshold of >=
50%; if not, then pass onto the next article in the directory. Rinse and repeat
for the entire directory.
> 
> So far, I've tried working through some Stack Overflow-based solutions,
but most seem to use the textreadr package, which is now deprecated; others use
either the officer or the officedown packages. However, these packages don't
appear to do what I want the program to do, at least not in any of the examples
I have found, nor in the vignettes and relevant package manuals I've looked
at.
> 
> The first point is, is what I am intending to do even possible using R? If
it is, then where do I start with this? If these docx files were converted to
UTF-8 plain text, would that make the task easier?
> 
> I am not a confident coder, and am really only just getting my head around
R so appreciate a steep learning curve ahead, but of course, I don't know
what I don't know, so any pointers in the right direction would be a big
help.
> 
> Many thanks in anticipation
> 
> Andy
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

checkout the 'officer' package

Thanks

Jim Holtman
*Data Munger Guru*


*What is the problem that you are trying to solve?Tell me what you want to
do, not how you want to do it.*


On Fri, Dec 29, 2023 at 10:14?AM Andy <phaedrusv at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello
>
> I am trying to work through a problem, but feel like I've gone down a
> rabbit hole. I'd very much appreciate any help.
>
> The task: I have several directories of multiple (some directories, up
> to 2,500+) *.docx files (newspaper articles downloaded from Lexis+) that
> I want to iterate through to append to a spreadsheet only those articles
> that satisfy a condition (i.e., a specific keyword is present for >= 50%
> coverage of the subject matter). Lexis+ has a very specific structure
> and keywords are given in the row "Subject".
>
> I'd like to be able to accomplish the following:
>
> (1) Append the title, the month, the author, the number of words, and
> page number(s) to a spreadsheet
>
> (2) Read each article and extract keywords (in the docs, these are
> listed in 'Subject' section as a list of keywords with a percentage
> showing the extent to which the keyword features in the article (e.g.,
> FAST FASHION (72%)) and to append the keyword and the % coverage to the
> same row in the spreadsheet. However, I want to ensure that the keyword
> coverage meets the threshold of >= 50%; if not, then pass onto the next
> article in the directory. Rinse and repeat for the entire directory.
>
> So far, I've tried working through some Stack Overflow-based solutions,
> but most seem to use the textreadr package, which is now deprecated;
> others use either the officer or the officedown packages. However, these
> packages don't appear to do what I want the program to do, at least not
> in any of the examples I have found, nor in the vignettes and relevant
> package manuals I've looked at.
>
> The first point is, is what I am intending to do even possible using R?
> If it is, then where do I start with this? If these docx files were
> converted to UTF-8 plain text, would that make the task easier?
>
> I am not a confident coder, and am really only just getting my head
> around R so appreciate a steep learning curve ahead, but of course, I
> don't know what I don't know, so any pointers in the right
direction
> would be a big help.
>
> Many thanks in anticipation
>
> Andy
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
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