save_flex_docx: Save a gtsummary table to a Word file

In gtsummary: Presentation-Ready Data Summary and Analytic Result Tables

Save a gtsummary table to a Word file

Description

Save a gtsummary table or a flextable to a Word (.docx) file using the flextable package.

This function is highly experimental. Its arguments and behavior are likely to change in future releases, and it may eventually be spun off into a separate package (as this function works with any flextable object in addition to gtsummary tables). Use with that in mind.

The table is written into the body of the Word document. The body, header, and footer arguments are transformers applied to the (source) flextable to build, respectively, the content placed in the document body and in the Word page header and footer regions (which repeat on every page). Each is a function of a flextable, a static flextable, or NULL.

By default the footnote region of the table (footnotes, source notes, and abbreviations) is moved out of the body and into the Word footer as a flextable, followed by a right-aligned "Page X of Y" line built from live Word fields. Compose your own behavior with flextable functions such as flextable::delete_part(), flextable::add_footer_lines(), and flextable::as_word_field().

A collection of tables is also accepted: a tbl_split object (from tbl_split_by_rows() or tbl_split_by_columns()), or a plain list of flextables. Each table is written to its own Word section (one table per page) with the body/header/footer transformers applied independently to each.

Usage

save_flex_docx(
  x,
  path,
  body = function(x) flextable::delete_part(x, part = "footer"),
  footer = function(x) {
     x %>% flextable::delete_part(part = "header") %>%
    flextable::delete_part(part = "body") %>% flextable::add_footer_lines(values =
    flextable::as_paragraph("Page ", flextable::as_word_field("PAGE"), " of ",
    flextable::as_word_field("NUMPAGES"))) %>% flextable::align(i =
    flextable::nrow_part(x, "footer"), part = "footer", align = "right") %>%
    flextable::set_table_properties(layout = "autofit", width = 1)
 },
  header = NULL,
  template = NULL,
  pr_section = NULL,
  ...
)

Arguments

x	(gtsummary, tbl_split, flextable, or list) a gtsummary table, a tbl_split object (a list of gtsummary tables), a flextable object, or a plain list of flextable objects
path	(string) file path to write the Word (.docx) file to
body	(function or NULL) a transformer applied to the source flextable to produce the flextable placed in the document body. Default ⁠\(x) flextable::delete_part(x, part = "footer")⁠ removes the footnote region from the body (it is relocated to the Word footer by the footer default). NULL uses the source flextable unchanged.
footer, header	(function, flextable, or NULL) what to place in the Word page footer/header region: a transformer applied to the source flextable (returning a flextable or NULL), a static flextable, or NULL for nothing. The footer default keeps only the table's footnote region (deleting the header and body parts), appends a right-aligned "Page X of Y" line of live Word fields (flextable::as_word_field()), and fits it to the page width. The header default is NULL (the caption stays in the body with the table).
template	(string) an optional file path to a Word (.docx) document used as the base for the output. Its page setup (size, orientation, margins) and body content are carried through; its header/footer text is not (those regions are managed by save_flex_docx()). See the Using a Word template section. Default is NULL.
pr_section	(officer::prop_section) an optional officer::prop_section() object used as the base Word section, giving fine-grained control over page margins, page size, orientation, and section columns (e.g. officer::prop_section(page_margins = officer::page_mar(top = 0.5))). Only its geometry is used: save_flex_docx() always owns the header/footer regions, so any header_default/footer_default set on pr_section are ignored. For a collection (tbl_split or a list of flextables) the same geometry is applied to every table's section and the paging type is fixed to "nextPage" (any type on pr_section is ignored) so tables page correctly. Overrides the save_flex_docx-lst:pr_section theme element. Default is NULL.
...	These dots are for future extensions and must be empty.

Value

the original object x (invisibly)

Using a Word template

The template argument accepts a path to a Word (.docx) document used as the base for the output. Its page setup (size, orientation, margins, section columns) and any body content (e.g. a cover page or introductory text) are carried through, with the table written into the body after that content.

save_flex_docx() manages the Word header and footer regions itself (via the header/footer arguments), so a template's own header/footer text is not carried through — whatever save_flex_docx() places in a region (or leaves empty) takes precedence and blanks out the template's text there. This is intentional: header/footer text in a template and table placement in the header/footer are not meant to be mixed. Because the default footer places a table, a template's header/footer text is superseded by default. Put the content you want in the header/footer into the header/footer arguments rather than into the template.

See Also

as_flex_table()

Examples

theme_gtsummary_compact()

# Example 1 ----------------------------------
# Default behavior is to place the footnote in the footer and add 'Page X of Y'
tbl <-
  trial |>
  tbl_summary(by = trt, include = c(age, grade)) |>
  modify_caption("**Table 1. Patient Characteristics**")

# by default the footnotes move to the Word footer with a page-number line
save_flex_docx(tbl, path = tempfile(fileext = ".docx"))

# keep the whole table (including footnotes) in the body, nothing in the footer
save_flex_docx(
  tbl,
  path = tempfile(fileext = ".docx"),
  body = NULL,
  footer = NULL
)

# Example 2 ----------------------------------
# This example places a header typically found in the pharmaceutical space,
# including protocol number, table title/number, and sub-population label.

# place a static report header (with a live "Page X of Y" field) in the header
header_ft <-
  data.frame(
    col1 = c("Protocol: ABC123", NA),
    col2 = c("Table 14.3.6 Adverse Event Rates by SOC and PT", "Safety Population"),
    col3 = c(NA_character_, NA_character_),
    stringsAsFactors = FALSE
  ) |>
  flextable::flextable() |>
  flextable::delete_part(part = "header") |>
  flextable::align(j = 1, align = "left", part = "body") |>
  flextable::align(j = 2, align = "center", part = "body") |>
  flextable::align(j = 3, align = "right", part = "body") |>
  flextable::compose(
    i = 1, j = 3,
    value = flextable::as_paragraph(
      "Page ", flextable::as_word_field("PAGE"),
      " of ", flextable::as_word_field("NUMPAGES")
    ),
    part = "body"
  ) |>
  flextable::border_remove() |>
  flextable::fontsize(size = 8, part = "all") |>
  flextable::padding(padding.top = 0, padding.bottom = 0, part = "all") |>
  flextable::set_table_properties(layout = "autofit", width = 1)
save_flex_docx(tbl, path = tempfile(fileext = ".docx"), header = header_ft)

# a split table is written with one table per section/page
trial |>
  tbl_summary(by = trt, include = c(age, marker, grade), missing = ~"no") |>
  tbl_split_by_rows(variables = marker) |>
  save_flex_docx(path = tempfile(fileext = ".docx"))

# customize the Word page margins and orientation via a prop_section()
save_flex_docx(
  tbl,
  path = tempfile(fileext = ".docx"),
  pr_section = officer::prop_section(
    page_margins = officer::page_mar(top = 0.5, bottom = 0.5),
    page_size = officer::page_size(orient = "landscape")
  )
)

reset_gtsummary_theme()

gtsummary documentation built on Aug. 26, 2026, 9:07 a.m.