Issues with cover page and table of contents when converting HTML to DOCX

[Mystery-cyf]

Hi Pandoc team,

I'm using pandoc 3.7.0.2 to convert an HTML file to DOCX, and I ran into two issues during the process.

Problem 1: Adding a cover page (with image) before the table of contents
I would like the generated DOCX file to have:

A cover page with an image,

Followed by a table of contents on the second page, and then

The rest of the content.

Currently, I can't figure out how to insert a proper cover page that appears before the TOC, with the TOC starting on the next page.

Problem 2: Page numbers in TOC all show "1"
I used the --toc option and successfully generated a table of contents. However, all items in the TOC show page number 1, even though the content spans multiple pages.

Command used:
pandoc project.html -o output.docx
--reference-doc=reference.docx
--toc
--lua-filter=pagebreak.lua
--metadata-file=meta.yaml
Is there something I'm doing wrong in terms of configuration? Or are there known limitations around these two issues?

Thanks for your help!

[jgm]

The generated table of contents contains fields that will update automatically to the right pages, but it may require saving the document. (Also, are you using Word or something else to view the docx?)

Cover page is possible but tricky. It requires some fooling around with raw OpenXML and a custom template. Don't have time now to elaborate.

[Mystery-cyf]

Thanks for your response! I wrote a Lua script that inserts the table of contents at the [top] position, so I was able to work around the cover page issue. However, I'm still trying to figure out how to get the page numbers in the TOC to update correctly. I'm opening the .docx file in Word, and it does prompt to update the TOC, but even after updating, the page numbers are still incorrect. Looks like I need to dig a bit deeper into how to force Word to refresh them properly.

[rnwst]

When you have the document open in Word, does the issue persist even after you have updated the document by pressing Ctrl + A and then F9?

[Mystery-cyf]

Using F9 in Word to refresh the page numbers does work. However, I hope users can update the page numbers more easily. If it's currently necessary to open Word to update them, I’ll consider other ways to update the page numbers automatically or in a simpler way.

[rnwst]

Regarding creating the cover page, you may find this article useful.

[Mystery-cyf]

thx