Place: Word 97-2003 .doc files place as area type with their formatting

File > Place reads a Word 97-2003 document (a compound file named .doc,
or one that holds a WordDocument stream) and sets its main text as area
type, as it does for .rtf and .docx files. The text comes from the
piece table, in 16-bit Unicode or compressed 8-bit pieces. Formatting
is resolved from the style sheet's default font, the paragraph style,
the character style and the direct character and paragraph properties,
and keeps the same properties the .docx reader maps.

Table cells are separated by tabs and each row is a paragraph, and a
field places as its result. Hidden and deleted text, pictures, headers,
footers, notes, comments and text boxes are left out, and the reply's
warnings name each kind of content left out or changed once. Word 6.0
and Word 95 documents, encrypted documents and documents last saved
with fast save are refused, and so are structures that lie outside
their streams.

The compound file is read with the cfb crate (MIT), which adds one
package to Cargo.lock.

docs/file-format-parity.md

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ from the public specifications, and users' own `.ai` files are used locally only
 
 | | Illustrator | VectorCraft | Notes |
 |---|---:|---:|---|
-| Formats opened or placed | ~30 | 27 | missing: FreeHand, CorelDRAW, DWG, HEIC/HEIF, PICT, Pixar, Word `.doc`, PS |
+| Formats opened or placed | ~30 | 28 | missing: FreeHand, CorelDRAW, DWG, HEIC/HEIF, PICT, Pixar, PS |
 | Formats saved (Save As) | 6 (AI, AIT, PDF, EPS, SVG, SVGZ) | 6 + native | `.ai` written PDF-compatible (no Illustrator editing data) or as legacy version 7 (layers and groups, one artboard per file) |
 | Formats exported | ~16 | 17 | missing: DWG, 3D (OBJ/USDA/glTF); extra: GIF/PNG-8 palette export, DXF up to 2018, layered PSD |
 | **Overall (weighted by use)** | | **~75%** | `.ai` and PDF dominate the weighting |
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ the app's own editing copy of a file (an EPS after its `%%EOF`, a `.ai`'s `AIPri
 | Text `.txt` | place, export | place (Text Import Options) | yes | |
 | RTF `.rtf` | place | place (area type with fonts, size, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, caps, superscript and subscript, color, alignment, indents and paragraph spacing) | no | `tests/textimport.rs`, `place/rtf.rs`; fuzzed (`text_import_fuzz.rs`); `\'hh` bytes read as Windows-1252 or Mac Roman only |
 | Word `.docx` | place | place (area type with the document's styles and its fonts, size, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, caps, superscript and subscript, color, alignment, indents and paragraph spacing) | no | `tests/textimport.rs`, `place/docx.rs`; fuzzed (`text_import_fuzz.rs`); list numbers, pictures and text boxes are left out |
-| Word `.doc` | place | no | no | |
+| Word `.doc` | place | place (area type with the same formatting as `.docx`, from the style sheet's styles and direct formatting; Word 97 and later) | no | `tests/textimport.rs`, `place/doc.rs`; fuzzed (`text_import_fuzz.rs`); pictures, headers, footers, notes, comments and text boxes are left out with a warning; encrypted and fast-saved documents are refused |
 | CSS | export (CSS Properties) | — | yes | |
 | OBJ / USDA / glTF | 3D export | — | no | needs 3D (gap G3) |
 | Affinity `.af`, `.afdesign`, `.afpub` | no | yes (beyond Illustrator) | no (#665) | 51 pinned files, [affinity-validation.md](affinity-validation.md) |

docs/mcp.md

@@ -3832,6 +3832,18 @@ more than 16 MiB or nests elements more than 256 deep, and a document with more
 paragraphs or runs are refused.
 `file.place` answers `format: "docx"`.
 
+A Word 97-2003 document (a compound file named `.doc`, or one that holds a `WordDocument` stream; an RTF file named
+`.doc` is placed as RTF) is placed the same way and keeps the same formatting, taken from the style sheet's default
+font, the paragraph style and the character style (and the styles each is based on) and direct formatting. Its main
+text is read; table cells are separated by tabs and each row is a paragraph, and a field places as its result. Hidden
+and deleted text, field instructions, pictures and embedded objects, headers, footers, notes, comments and text boxes
+are left out, and `warnings` names each kind of content left out or changed once (pictures and objects, fields,
+tracked changes, tables, and the other stories the document has). Documents saved by Word 6.0 or Word 95, encrypted or
+password-protected documents and documents last saved with fast save are refused, and so are a stream larger than
+64 MiB, a document with more than 4 MiB of text, 100,000 pieces, 16,384 pages of properties or 100,000 paragraphs or
+runs, and one whose structures lie outside their streams.
+`file.place` answers `format: "doc"`.
+
 ## PDF presets
 
 `pdf.preset.list` lists the built-in presets (`VectorCraft Default`, which preserves editing, then High Quality Print,

docs/target-app-parity.md

@@ -1093,6 +1093,7 @@ Moved from the ROADMAP's "Shipped so far" on 2026-10-10. Update it when a featur
   - File › Place reads RTF files as area type with their formatting: each run's font, size, bold and italic, underline, strikethrough, caps, superscript or subscript, baseline shift and color, and each paragraph's alignment, indents, space before and after and direction. Table cells are separated by tabs; hidden text, pictures, headers, footers and notes are left out (`file.place`, `crates/engine/src/tests/textimport.rs`).
   - File › Place reads Word `.docx` documents as area type with the same formatting, taken from the document defaults, the paragraph and character styles (their toggle properties reversing each other) and direct formatting, the theme's fonts included. Table rows are paragraphs with their cells separated by tabs; hidden and deleted text, field instructions, pictures, headers, footers and notes are left out (`file.place`, `crates/engine/src/tests/textimport.rs`).
   - A Word paragraph justified with a low, medium or high kashida length places justified with Insert Kashidas set to Short, Medium or Long (`file.place`, `crates/engine/src/tests/textimport.rs`).
+  - File › Place reads Word 97-2003 `.doc` documents as area type with the same formatting, read from the main text's pieces, the style sheet's paragraph and character styles and direct formatting. Table rows are paragraphs with their cells separated by tabs and fields place as their results; hidden and deleted text, pictures, headers, footers, notes, comments and text boxes are left out, and `warnings` names each kind left out or changed. Encrypted documents, documents last saved with fast save and Word 6.0 and Word 95 documents are refused (`file.place`, `crates/engine/src/tests/textimport.rs`).
   - On the desktop, File › Place reads and decodes files off the UI thread, one at a time, and places each once it is read, with "Placing" in the status bar and the busy spinner until then: the Place dialog's OK, a file dropped on the canvas, a click or drag of the place cursor, and the OK of the PDF, DXF and text import options. The files and thumbnails the place cursor is loaded with are read the same way, and the Place dialog's lines about its files are read on a thread of their own. Files are placed in the order they were started; a file is not placed while a dialog is open or a drag is under way, and a file whose document was closed meanwhile is not placed. `file.place` and `file.place.queue` over MCP and scripts reply as before.
   - The pixels of a PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP file that Place decodes to check them are kept in the image store the renderers share, so the canvas's first frame with the placed image draws them without decoding the file again on the UI thread: File › Place, a file dropped on the canvas, a click or drag of the place cursor, `file.place`, and Paste of such an image. A CMYK JPEG is still decoded when it is first drawn (`crates/ui-egui/src/placing.rs`, `crates/render/src/tests.rs`).
   - A photo whose EXIF orientation turns or flips it (a camera held upright or upside down) is placed and opened upright, as it was taken; the image is stored as it is seen (#4284).