No browsers currently have the code necessary to render Word Documents, and as far as I know, there are no client-side libraries that currently exist for rendering them either.

However, if you only need to display the Word Document, but don't need to edit it, you can use Google Documents' Viewer via an <iframe> to display a remotely hosted .doc/.docx.

<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://remote.url.tld/path/to/document.doc&embedded=true"></iframe>

Solution adapted from "How to display a word document using fancybox".

Example:

JSFiddle

However, if you'd rather have native support, in most, if not all browsers, I'd recommend resaving the .doc/.docx as a PDF file Those can also be independently rendered using PDF.js by Mozilla.

Edit:

Huge thanks to cubeguerrero for posting the Microsoft Office 365 viewer in the comments.

<iframe src='https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/embed.aspx?src=http://remote.url.tld/path/to/document.doc' width='1366px' height='623px' frameborder='0'>This is an embedded <a target='_blank' href='http://office.com'>Microsoft Office</a> document, powered by <a target='_blank' href='http://office.com/webapps'>Office Online</a>.</iframe>

One more important caveat to keep in mind, as pointed out by lightswitch05, is that this will upload your document to a third-party server. If this is unacceptable, then this method of display isn't the proper course of action.

Live Examples:

Google Docs Viewer

Microsoft Office Viewer

Answer from Brandon Anzaldi on Stack Overflow
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Nutrient
nutrient.io › web › viewer › office documents
JavaScript Office document viewer | Nutrient
With our JavaScript Office document viewer, developers can quickly embed a customizable and responsive Office file viewer into any JavaScript-based web application, ensuring smooth integration and enhanced user experience.
Top answer
1 of 11
376

No browsers currently have the code necessary to render Word Documents, and as far as I know, there are no client-side libraries that currently exist for rendering them either.

However, if you only need to display the Word Document, but don't need to edit it, you can use Google Documents' Viewer via an <iframe> to display a remotely hosted .doc/.docx.

<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/gview?url=http://remote.url.tld/path/to/document.doc&embedded=true"></iframe>

Solution adapted from "How to display a word document using fancybox".

Example:

JSFiddle

However, if you'd rather have native support, in most, if not all browsers, I'd recommend resaving the .doc/.docx as a PDF file Those can also be independently rendered using PDF.js by Mozilla.

Edit:

Huge thanks to cubeguerrero for posting the Microsoft Office 365 viewer in the comments.

<iframe src='https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/embed.aspx?src=http://remote.url.tld/path/to/document.doc' width='1366px' height='623px' frameborder='0'>This is an embedded <a target='_blank' href='http://office.com'>Microsoft Office</a> document, powered by <a target='_blank' href='http://office.com/webapps'>Office Online</a>.</iframe>

One more important caveat to keep in mind, as pointed out by lightswitch05, is that this will upload your document to a third-party server. If this is unacceptable, then this method of display isn't the proper course of action.

Live Examples:

Google Docs Viewer

Microsoft Office Viewer

2 of 11
51

The answers by Brandon and fatbotdesigns are both correct, but having implemented the Google docs preview, we found multiple .docx files that couldn't be handled by Google. Switched to the MS Office Online preview and works likes a charm.

My recommendation would be to use the MS Office Preview URL over Google's.

https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/embed.aspx?src=http://remote.url.tld/path/to/document.doc' 
Discussions

Anybody know of an in-browser viewer for DOCX files
Protip: Search on GitHub and filter by language. Have a look here and see if any of these will do the trick: https://github.com/search?l=JavaScript&q=docx&type=Repositories&utf8=%E2%9C%93 More on reddit.com
🌐 r/javascript
11
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July 4, 2016
Displaying any file (xls, xlsx, doc, docx, pdf, txt and image type) in React, similar to Dropbox's file viewer
I don't think there is a client-side only solution that can display Office file types without some backend help. There're probably third party services, some free or paid. React or not, it doesn't really matter. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/reactjs
4
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July 16, 2019
Is it safe to open unknown PDF on Evince Document viewer? How to check if the PDF file has embedded any scripts?

Upload it to virustotal to scan it. Though it already looks fishy. (Cannot blindly take extension name at face value. As it can be easily disguised.)

More on reddit.com
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July 29, 2019
Why are GNOME Documents and Evince separate applications?
GNOME is a free and open-source software environment project supported by a non-profit foundation. Together, the community of contributors and the Foundation create a computing platform and software ecosystem, composed entirely of free software, that is designed to be elegant, efficient, and ... More on reddit.com
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February 15, 2023 - Atalasoft JavaScript library for presenting images and documents, including PDF Forms, on a web page.. Latest version: 11.5.9, last published: 22 days ago. Start using web-document-viewer in your project by running `npm i web-document-viewer`. There ...
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