1. Prefer visual review (layout, tables, diagrams).
If `soffice` and `pdftoppm` are available, convert DOCX -> PDF -> PNGs.
Or use `scripts/render_docx.py` (requires `pdf2image` and Poppler).
If these tools are missing, install them or ask the user to review rendered pages locally.
2. Use `python-docx` for edits and structured creation (headings, styles, tables, lists).
3. After each meaningful change, re-render and inspect the pages.
4. If visual review is not possible, extract text with `python-docx` as a fallback and call out layout risk.
5. Keep intermediate outputs organized and clean up after final approval.
SynapticSkills