Convert to LaTeX

When you need this page: If you have a draft

Paste a section of your draft from Word, Google Docs, a spreadsheet, or a Markdown or text file; the page writes it as LaTeX for the starter. It is a first pass: read it next to your original, and move one section at a time.

Nothing is uploaded. The page converts your text in your browser; nothing you paste is loaded or run, and nothing is saved.

The converter needs JavaScript, which is off or not available in this browser. The same steps by hand are under without the converter.

What it converts

In your draft	In the LaTeX
Heading 1, 2, 3 (or `#`, `##`, `###` in Markdown)	`\section`, `\subsection`, `\subsubsection`. With A new chapter, the first level becomes `\chapter`, in CAPITALS, with a `\label`
Paragraphs	Paragraphs, with a blank line between them
Bold and italics	`\textbf{...}` and `\emph{...}`
Bulleted and numbered lists	`itemize` and `enumerate`, one `\item` each
Links to web and e-mail addresses	`\url{...}` or `\href{...}{...}`
A table, or cells copied from Excel or Google Sheets	The starter's table: caption above, a `\label`, and rules from `booktabs`
`%` `&` `_` `#` `$` `{` `}` `~` `^` `\`	`\%` `\&` `\_` `\#` `\$` and so on, so they print as typed
Greek letters and math signs, such as α and ±	`\ensuremath{\alpha}`, `\ensuremath{\pm}`
In Markdown: $x$ and `$$ ... $$`	$x$ unchanged; a numbered `equation` with a `\label`

Choose Part of a chapter for a section that goes into an existing chapter file, and A new chapter for a whole chapter in a file of its own.

Preview, beside LaTeX, shows the result roughly as a page would: numbered headings, lists, and tables with the caption above. It is drawn by this page, not your PDF, so fonts and spacing differ, math shows as its LaTeX, and N stands for the chapter's number. Copy and Download .tex always give the LaTeX.

What it leaves for you

Under the LaTeX, the page lists what it did not convert, with a link to the guide section that shows how. Show where marks the lines a point is about in the LaTeX, or in the preview; press it again for the next place.

Pictures: a % line marks where each one was. Save the picture in figures/ and add a figure.
Footnotes: each marker stays as text, such as [1]. Move the footnote text into \footnote{...} at its marker.
Equations from Word: each is marked [equation]. Write it again in LaTeX (equations).
Comments from Word or Google Docs are left out.
Citations: typed citations and citation-manager fields stay as text. Change each one to \parencite{key} with the key from references.bib (cite a source).
Cross-references: "see Figure 3" stays as typed; change it to Figure~\ref{fig:...} (cross-references).
Table captions: a line such as "Table 2: Visits by site" right above or below a table becomes its caption; otherwise the caption says to write one.
Merged table cells are split into separate cells; check them.
Files: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files are not read yet. Open the file, select the text, copy it, and paste it here. A long .docx can go through Pandoc instead.

Put it in your thesis

Part of a chapter: open the chapter file in chapters/ where the text belongs, and paste it below the \chapter{...} and \label{...} lines.
A new chapter: Download .tex, save it in chapters/ with a name that keeps the order, such as 04-methods.tex, and add \include{chapters/04-methods} to main.tex after the other \include lines (add a chapter).
Compile. If an error appears, it is almost always in the part you just pasted (fixing problems). Then compare every heading, table, and number with your original.

Without the converter

The same steps by hand, which also work without JavaScript:

Copy the text into a chapter file (add a chapter).
Mark the headings with \section{...} or \subsection{...}, bold with \textbf{...}, and italics with \emph{...}.
Put a backslash before special characters in ordinary text: % → \%, & → \&, _ → \_, $ → \$, # → \#.
Rebuild tables from the table example, or with a spreadsheet helper.
Compile, and fix the first error before moving the next section.

Bring your draft has the full route for Word, Google Docs, Markdown, and LaTeX papers, including Pandoc for long documents.

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