docling-project/docling · error · ImportError

The 'odfdo' package is required to process OpenDocument file

Error message

The 'odfdo' package is required to process OpenDocument files. Install it with `pip install 'docling-slim[format-opendocument]'`.

What it means

ImportError raised by _OdfBaseBackend.__init__ when the odfdo dependency is not installed (_ODFDO_AVAILABLE is False at module import time). The slim docling install excludes ODF backends; the message names the exact extra to install.

Source

Thrown at docling/backend/opendocument_backend.py:161

        raise RuntimeError(
            f"OpenDocument backend could not load document with hash {document_hash}"
        ) from e


class _OdfBaseBackend(DeclarativeDocumentBackend):
    """Shared loading / validation logic for ODT, ODS and ODP backends."""

    _odf_type: str = ""  # "text", "spreadsheet" or "presentation"

    @override
    def __init__(
        self,
        in_doc: InputDocument,
        path_or_stream: BytesIO | Path,
        options: OdsBackendOptions | None = None,
    ) -> None:
        if not _ODFDO_AVAILABLE:
            raise ImportError(_INSTALL_HINT) from _ODFDO_IMPORT_ERROR
        super().__init__(in_doc, path_or_stream, options)
        self.path_or_stream: BytesIO | Path = path_or_stream
        self.valid: bool = False
        self.odf_obj: OdfDocument = _load_odf_document(
            path_or_stream, self.document_hash
        )
        if self._odf_type and self.odf_obj.get_type() != self._odf_type:
            raise RuntimeError(
                f"Expected an OpenDocument {self._odf_type!r} but got "
                f"{self.odf_obj.get_type()!r}"
            )
        self.valid = True

    @override
    def is_valid(self) -> bool:
        return self.valid

    @override

View on GitHub (pinned to 61d76f1ff3)

Solutions

1. pip install 'docling-slim[format-opendocument]' or install the full 'docling' package.
2. Verify: python -c "import odfdo" succeeds after install.
3. Add the extra to requirements/Dockerfile and rebuild the image.
4. Alternatively pre-convert ODF files to another supported format if you cannot add dependencies.

Example fix

# before
pip install docling-slim
# -> ImportError: The 'odfdo' package is required...

# after
pip install 'docling-slim[format-opendocument]'

try:
    import odfdo
    ODF_OK = True
except ImportError:
    ODF_OK = False
assert ODF_OK, "install 'docling-slim[format-opendocument]'"

try:
    backend = OdtDocumentBackend(in_doc, path)
except ImportError as e:
    logger.error('missing extra: %s', e)
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Passing an ODT/ODS/ODP InputFormat document to a docling-slim installation without the format-opendocument extra; __init__ raises before any file I/O happens.

Common situations: Minimal Docker images, docling-slim installs tuned for PDF-only pipelines, CI caches from before ODT support was needed.

Related errors

• The 'python-docx' package is required to process Word files.
• Libreoffice not found
• LibreOffice is required to convert a .{source_suffix} file t
• The 'openpyxl' package is required to process Excel files. I
• The 'python-pptx' package is required to process PowerPoint

AI-assisted analysis of docling-project/docling@61d76f1ff3 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/216caa0d6e393269. Report an issue: GitHub.