Microsoft Research has made available for download an "add-in" that can save chemical engineers time while writing. Assigned to the
Outercurve Foundation as an
open-source project, the Chemistry Add-in for Microsoft Word will do the following:
- allow for easy insertion and modification of chemical-related info such as formulas, labels, and 2-D depictions, within Microsoft Word
- provides the ability to store and expose chemical information in a semantically rich manner
- allow for the creation of inline "chemical zones," the rendering of print-ready visual depictions of chemical structures
The Add-In uses CML (
Chemical Mark-up Language), a version of XML that not only enables chemical writing in Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010 but also includes the data behind the writing. According to
Microsoft Research:
The Chemistry Add-in and CML help make chemistry documents open, readable, and easily accessible to humans as well as other technologies. The Chemistry Add-in supports publishing and data-mining scenarios for authors, readers, publishers, and others throughout the chemical information community.
Watch a video about the Microsoft Word Chemical Add-In:
Download the Chemistry Add-In from Microsoft.
