Chem4Word is a new Chemistry Add-in for Word, from Microsoft Research. This add-in is a tool for writing and rendering semantically rich chemistry information in Microsoft Word documents. This project is a partnership with Peter Murray-Rust of the University of Cambridge.

Chem4Word makes it easier for students, chemists and researchers to insert and modify chemical information, such as labels, formulas and 2-D depictions, from within Microsoft Office Word. Designed for and tested on both Word 2007 and Word 2010, it harnesses the power of Chemical Markup Language (XML for chemistry), making it possible not only to author chemical content in Word, but also to include the data behind those structures.  Chem4Word and Chemical Markup Language make chemistry documents open, readable and easily accessible, not just to other humans, but also to other technologies.

Microsoft Research worked closely with key individuals in the field of chemistry to develop this tool, but Microsoft Office provides the tools and resources to enable other domains to develop on top of Office applications.

The beta release of the Chemistry Add-in for Word is available for free download.

Details: MSDN | Microsoft Research| Chem4word Guide.