Convert word (or pdf) version of CLMU technical note to rst format

What sort(s) of documentation issue is this?

Something is missing.
Something is (or might be) incorrect or outdated.
Something is confusing.
Something is broken.

What part(s) of the documentation does this concern?

Technical Note (science and design of the model)
User's Guide (using the model and related tools)
Somewhere else (e.g., README file, tool help text, or code comment): Please specify
I don't know

Describe the issue

Convert the CLMU technical note (published in 2010, 178 pages, includes MathType equations) from its current format (word or pdf) into rst format.

Begin from original tech note word document, now located on my laptop at:
Documents/Oleson/Urban/Urban_Tech_Note_CLM6/CLMU_Tech_Note.docx

Convert equations to LaTeX in word from MathType tab and save to:
Documents/Oleson/Urban/Urban_Tech_Note_CLM6/CLMU_Tech_Note_CLM6.docx

Transfer to Glade: /glade/u/home/oleson/CLMU_Tech_Note/CLMU_Tech_Note_CLM6.docx

Convert to rst:
pandoc -s -f docx -t rst CLMU_Tech_Note_CLM6.docx -o CLMU_Tech_Note_CLM6.rst

Use sphinx-quickstart to initialize a new documentation project:

module load conda
conda activate ctsm_pylib
sphinx_quickstart (answer the questions)
pip install sphinx-math-dollar

Edit source/conf.py to add:
extensions = ['sphinx_math_dollar','sphinx.ext.mathjax']

mv CLMU_Tech_Note_CLM6.rst source/
make clean
make html
View build/html/CLMU_Tech_Note_CLM6.html using Casper Login VNC Desktop

Most of the equations are not rendering properly, although some actually look good.

First question that comes to mind:
Have you also tested a conversion from pdf to .rst?
If so, did it work better or worse?

"Pandoc can convert to PDF, but not from PDF."
Maybe there is an alternative package that can do that...

I thought I might ask AI to make the conversion for us. Gemini wrote me a python script that I have not tried, yet. Otherwise, the free versions of gemini and copilot have not worked because the former cannot upload docs that large and the latter cannot upload docs altogether unless we pay.

Next steps:

Now tried gemini's python script, and I have an .rst file that I will run through the docs build
Try cgd's paid version of claude? UPDATE This was the most successful option
From googledocs I saved the .docx as .md; look at that as an alternative
Rerun gemini's python script, but on Keith's .docx with MathType equations

See /glade/u/home/oleson/CLMU_Tech_Note/CLMU_Tech_Note.docx for the version with MathType equations.

@slevis-lmwg

@slevis-lmwg Markdown is fully supported in our docs!

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Convert word (or pdf) version of CLMU technical note to rst format #4175

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Convert word (or pdf) version of CLMU technical note to rst format #4175

Description

What sort(s) of documentation issue is this?

What part(s) of the documentation does this concern?

Describe the issue

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olyson commented on Aug 13, 2026

slevis-lmwg commented on Aug 18, 2026

olyson commented on Aug 18, 2026

slevis-lmwg commented on Aug 18, 2026

olyson commented on Aug 19, 2026

samsrabin commented on Aug 20, 2026

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