How do I save a gt docx table from within Quarto?

[robertprince]

Description

I wish to save a gt docx table from Quarto and am receiving the following error message:

Pandoc can convert to DOCX, but not to DOC.
Error:
! pandoc document conversion failed with error 22

My r code is:

---

title: "Trial3"
format: html
editor: visual

{r}

library(car)

library(tidyverse)

library(gtsummary)

library(flextable)

library(officer)

library(gt)

tab_1 <-
gtcars |>
dplyr::select(model, year, hp, trq) |>
dplyr::slice(1:5) |>
gt(rowname_col = "model") |>
tab_stubhead(label = "car")

tab_1

tab_1 |> gtsave("tab_1.docx")

I am using Quarto version 1.6.32 on a Windows 10 pc

[mcanouil]

Could you properly format your post using code blocks for code and terminal outputs? Thanks.
If your code contains code blocks, you need to enclose it using more backticks, i.e., usually four ````.
See https://quarto.org/bug-reports.html#formatting-make-githubs-markdown-work-for-us.

Could you also ensure to describe all the steps required to reproduce the error?
Remove everything not useful/required, i.e., do we need all the R packages? I believe gt is enough.

[Steinthal]

You're absolutely right about missing formatting and your assumption that gtis enough.
@robertprince seems to be new to Quarto (and Pandoc?) and asked the same question in the Pandoc forum. I took the code from there for my answer below.

[robertprince]

@mcanouil and @Steinthal you are both correct that I am clearly new to Quarto and Pandoc and to seeking help on this forum. My apologies if I inadvertently make mistakes as I navigate trying to resolve the problem that I am experiencing. Thank you for responding to my query.

BTW The full message that I am getting is:

Registered S3 method overwritten by 'rmarkdown':
method from
print.paged_df
Unknown output format doc
Pandoc can convert to DOCX, but not to DOC.
Error: pandoc document conversion failed with error 22

[Steinthal]

Please read the FQA for Markdown Users. My take from the FAQ is you don’t need rmarkdown when using Quarto.

Different R packages can conflict with each other and that's what happened with your definitions.
Hence, try to use only those packages necessary for your task (and for an example for this forum).

[Steinthal]

@robertprince, as mcanouil mentioned, you don't need flextableand officer.

This example does create the docxfile:

---
title: "Trial3"
---

```{r}
#| warning: false
#| message: false
#| echo: false
#| output: asis
library(gt)
library(car)
library(tidyverse)
library(gtsummary)

tab_1 <-
gtcars |>
dplyr::select(model, year, hp, trq) |>
dplyr::slice(1:5) |>
gt(rowname_col = "model") |>
tab_stubhead(label = "car")

tab_1

tab_1 |> gtsave("tab_1.docx")
```

I assume you want to use gtsummaryto further style the table. For the simple table you create for the test it is not necessary.

[robertprince]

BTW The file without the tab_1 |> gtsave("tab_1.docx") code at the end renders fine on this pc. It must have something to do about saving the docx file or the gtsave command.

[mcanouil]

Maybe (as a workaround) put it in a separate code cell with #| include: false.

[robertprince]

@mcanouil I suspect that since I am using a business laptop I may have permissions to use tab_1 |> gtsave("tab_1.rtf") to save a rtf file but I do not to have permissions to use tab_1 |> gtsave("tab_1.docx") to save a docx file. This is extremely strange behavior. I have relocated the Quarto project folder and this allows me to save the docx file. Not ideal and I will have to engage the IT department about this behavior. Thank you so much for all your assistance.

[Steinthal]

I doubt that there are different permissions for docx and rtf files.

If you encounter the error again, please check if the rmarkdownpackage has been loaded. If yes, please untick the box in front of the entry.

[cderv]

@robertprince about the issues you get

Pandoc can convert to DOCX, but not to DOC.
Error:
! pandoc document conversion failed with error 22

I believe this comes from gtsave() which uses Pandoc internally to render the HTML table to a DOCX table. Something the wrong extension is detected. I can't reproduce, by I am pretty sure it comes from the rmarkdown::pandoc_convert() calls done by gt

when I try to run the same command from the RStudio Console I receive the following Error message:
Error: unexpected symbol in "quarto render"

quarto is a Command Line Interface (CLI) tool. It means it is to be called in a Terminal. It is not a R function or package. So quarto render in the R console means nothing. You need to use it in the Terminal from RStudio IDE. Or use the quarto R package throuhg quarto::quarto_render() that will call the CLI for your in the background.

I suspect that since I am using a business laptop I may have permissions to use tab_1 |> gtsave("tab_1.rtf") to save a rtf file but I do not to have permissions to use tab_1 |> gtsave("tab_1.docx") to save a docx file.

It is quite odd, and I don't have a clue on why this PC is not allowing this. Possible something the in the project, or the environment, that makes gt consider the wrong file extension. 🤷

[Luccan97]

I was having the same error and I found the answer here:
"The problem is that gtsave have problem with overwriting .docx documents (that's not the case with .rtf)"

so... change the file name or delete the old one.

rstudio/gt#1726

[ecotrustcesar]

I came upon the same problem. In my case I was not using gt, just straight out pandoc_convert. My solution was to specify both the from and to arguments in the function, such as:

 rmarkdown::pandoc_convert(
    input   = "myfile.docx",
    from    = "docx",
    to      = "html",
    output  = out)