ISO/IEC TR 30114-1:2016

Information technology - Extensions of Office Open XML file formats - Part 1: Guidelines

ISO/IEC TR 30114-1:2016 gives guidelines for the use of extensibility mechanisms in ISO/IEC 29500 (Office Open XML). In particular, it makes clear which of these mechanisms supports lossless round tripping.

Technologies de l'information — Extensions de formats de fichiers Office Open XML — Partie 1: Lignes directrices

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 07-Dec-2016
• ICS: 35.060 - Languages used in information technology
• ICS: 35.240.30 - IT applications in information, documentation and publishing
• Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34 - Document description and processing languages
• Drafting Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34/WG 4 - Office Open XML
• Current Stage: 9093 - International Standard confirmed
• Start Date: 17-Sep-2021
• Completion Date: 30-Oct-2025

Relations

• Consolidated By: ISO 19085-8:2017 - Woodworking machines - Safety - Part 8: Belt sanding and calibrating machines for straight workpieces
• Effective Date: 06-Jun-2022

Overview

ISO/IEC TR 30114-1:2016 - Information technology - Extensions of Office Open XML file formats - Part 1: Guidelines - is a technical report that provides guidance on using extensibility mechanisms in Office Open XML (OOXML / ISO/IEC 29500). It explains the primary extension approaches available to OOXML authors and implementers, and clarifies which mechanisms support lossless round tripping (preserving extension data when files are opened and saved by other applications). This is guidance (not normative) and is intended to improve interoperability and predictable handling of extended content.

Key topics

• Two main extension approaches:
  • Markup Compatibility and Extensibility (MCE) (ISO/IEC 29500-3): includes
    • Ignorable elements and attributes - lightweight custom markup (e.g., adding a paragraph metadata tag). Easy to add but typically not preserved by applications that don’t understand the namespace.
    • Alternate Content Blocks (ACBs) - provide choice/fallback pairs so consumers that understand an alternate representation (e.g., ODF paragraph content) can use it; fallback keeps basic OOXML compliance.
    • Application-defined extension elements (extLst in SpreadsheetML) - predefined extension points that make round-tripping preservation more practical (e.g., cell-level model input/output metadata).
  • Embedding foreign Open Packaging Conventions (OPC) parts - add binary or XML parts (e.g., embedded video or an ONIX metadata XML) via package relationships and content types; such parts are likely to be preserved even when unrecognized.
• Guidance on where each mechanism is appropriate and implications for round-tripping and interoperability.
• Examples of XML snippets and packaging entries illustrating common practices.

Practical applications

• Software vendors and document-processing applications implementing OOXML features and extensions.
• Interoperability engineers and standards implementers who need to decide how to add custom metadata or alternate representations without breaking compliance.
• Digital preservationists and content management teams who must ensure metadata or embedded assets survive round trips across different applications.
• Solution architects embedding non-XML assets (video, binary data) or rich XML metadata (ONIX) into OOXML packages.

Who should use this standard

• Application developers working with WordprocessingML, SpreadsheetML, PresentationML
• Implementers of OOXML readers/writers focused on data preservation and round-tripping
• Organizations needing guidance on safe extensions for long-term document fidelity

Related standards

• ISO/IEC 29500‑1 (OOXML fundamentals and markup)
• ISO/IEC 29500‑2 (Open Packaging Conventions)
• ISO/IEC 29500‑3 (Markup Compatibility and Extensibility - MCE)
• ISO/IEC 26300 (OpenDocument Format, for interoperability scenarios)

Keywords: ISO/IEC TR 30114-1:2016, Office Open XML, OOXML extensibility, MCE, OPC, round tripping, Alternate Content Blocks, ignorable attributes, extLst.

Standards Content (Sample)

TECHNICAL ISO/IEC TR
REPORT 30114-1
First edition
2016-12-15
Information technology — Extensions
of Office Open XML file formats —
Part 1:
Guidelines
Technologies de l’information — Extensions de formats de fichiers
Office Open XML —
Partie 1: Lignes directrices
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2016
© ISO/IEC 2016, Published in Switzerland
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior
written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of
the requester.
ISO copyright office
Ch. de Blandonnet 8 • CP 401
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Fax [phone]
[e-mail]
www.iso.org
ii © ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Adding markup or other data to OOXML documents . 1
4.1 General . 1
4.2 Markup Compatibility and Extensibility (MCE): Ignorable elements and attributes
(ISO/IEC 29500-3) . 1
4.3 MCE: Alternate Content Blocks (ISO/IEC 29500-3) . 2
4.4 MCE: Application-defined extension elements (ISO/IEC 29500-3) . 3
4.5 Embedding foreign Open Packaging Conventions (OPC) parts . 4
Bibliography . 5
© ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved iii

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee,
ISO/IEC JTC 1.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for
the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the
Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment,
as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
The committee responsible for this document is ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, SC 34, Document
description and processing languages.
A list of all parts in the ISO/IEC 30114 series, published under the general title Information technology —
Extensions of Office Open XML file formats, can be found on the ISO website.
iv © ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved

Introduction
ISO/IEC 29500 was designed to allow the addition of markup and other data to Office Open XML
(OOXML) documents, and to allow OOXML applications unaware of such markup and date to provide
reasonable results. ISO/IEC TR 30114-1 provides guidance for such additions, and also specifies a
collection of such additions.
© ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved v

TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/IEC TR 30114-1:2016(E)
Information technology — Extensions of Office Open XML
file formats —
Part 1:
Guidelines
1 Scope
This document gives guidelines for the use of extensibility mechanisms in ISO/IEC 29500 (Office Open
XML). In particular, it makes clear which of these mechanisms supports lossless round tripping.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
No terms and definitions are listed in this document.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
4 Adding markup or other data to OOXML documents
4.1 General
There are two main ways to add extra markup or other data to Office Open XML (OOXML) documents:
— Using the extension mechanisms described in ISO/IEC 29500-3, Markup Compatibility and
Extensibility (MCE) offers three primary mechanisms for extending XML files, each with its own
advantages and disadvantages.
— Embedding foreign Open Packaging Conventions (OPC) parts.
4.2 Markup Compatibility and Extensibility (MCE): Ignorable elements and attributes
(ISO/IEC 29500-3)
The most commonly used extension mechanism, marking elements or attributes as ignorable, allows
lightweight additions to be made to existing markup.
A good use of ignorable markup would be the addition of a custom metadata tag onto a paragraph in a
WordprocessingML document. This could be accomplished by declaring a custom namespace, marking
it as ignorable, and adding the attribute to the p element in that namespace. The relevant portions of the
resulting document.xml part might resemble the following:
© ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved 1


"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:w="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main"
xmlns:mymeta="http://mywordprocessorapp.com/metadata" mc:Ignorable="mymeta">

w:rsidRDefault="00120C37">

hello




Ignorable markup can be used anywhere in XML parts and requires minimal markup. It allows custom
markup to be added to documents while retaining the document’s conformance with the standard
and allowing it to be opened by a third-party application without errors. However, ignorable elements
and attributes will almost definitely be lost if file
...