fix(docx): fix short-row DOCX table (#2943)

**Summary**
The DOCX format allows a table row to start late and/or end early,
meaning cells at the beginning or end of a row can be omitted. While
there are legitimate uses for this capability, using it in practice is
relatively rare. However, it can happen unintentionally when adjusting
cell borders with the mouse. Accommodate this case and generate accurate
`.text` and `.metadata.text_as_html` for these tables.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-## 0.13.7-dev1
+## 0.13.7-dev2
 
 ### Enhancements
 
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 
 ### Fixes
 
+* **`partition_docx()` handles short table rows.** The DOCX format allows a table row to start late and/or end early, meaning cells at the beginning or end of a row can be omitted. While there are legitimate uses for this capability, using it in practice is relatively rare. However, it can happen unintentionally when adjusting cell borders with the mouse. Accommodate this case and generate accurate `.text` and `.metadata.text_as_html` for these tables.
+
 ## 0.13.6
 
 ### Enhancements

test_unstructured/partition/docx/test_docx.py

@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
     Address,
     CompositeElement,
     Element,
-    ElementType,
     Footer,
     Header,
     ListItem,
@@ -132,6 +131,133 @@ def but_the_text_of_a_merged_cell_appears_only_once(self):
         table = docx.Document(example_doc_path("docx-tables.docx")).tables[2]
         assert " ".join(_DocxPartitioner()._iter_table_texts(table)) == "a b c d e"
 
+    def it_can_partition_tables_with_incomplete_rows(self):
+        """DOCX permits table rows to start late and end early.
+
+        It is relatively rare in the wild, but DOCX tables are unique (as far as I know) in that
+        they allow rows to start late, like in column 3, and end early, like the last cell is in
+        column 5 of a 7 column table.
+
+        A practical example might look like this:
+
+                       +------+------+
+                       | East | West |
+            +----------+------+------+
+            | Started  |  25  |  32  |
+            +----------+------+------+
+            | Finished |  17  |  21  |
+            +----------+------+------+
+        """
+        elements = iter(partition_docx(example_doc_path("tables-with-incomplete-rows.docx")))
+
+        e = next(elements)
+        assert e.text.startswith("Example of DOCX table ")
+        # --
+        # ┌───┬───┐
+        # │ a │ b │
+        # ├───┼───┤
+        # │ c │ d │
+        # └───┴───┘
+        e = next(elements)
+        assert type(e).__name__ == "Table"
+        assert e.text == "a b c d"
+        assert e.metadata.text_as_html == (
+            "<table>\n"
+            "<thead>\n<tr><th>a  </th><th>b  </th></tr>\n</thead>\n"
+            "<tbody>\n<tr><td>c  </td><td>d  </td></tr>\n</tbody>\n"
+            "</table>"
+        )
+        # --
+        # ┌───┐
+        # │ a │
+        # ├───┼───┐
+        # │ b │ c │
+        # └───┴───┘
+        e = next(elements)
+        assert type(e).__name__ == "Table"
+        assert e.text == "a b c", f"actual {e.text=}"
+        assert e.metadata.text_as_html == (
+            "<table>\n"
+            "<thead>\n<tr><th>a  </th><th>  </th></tr>\n</thead>\n"
+            "<tbody>\n<tr><td>b  </td><td>c </td></tr>\n</tbody>\n"
+            "</table>"
+        ), f"actual {e.metadata.text_as_html=}"
+        # --
+        # ┌───────┐
+        # │   a   │
+        # ├───┬───┼───┐
+        # │ b │ c │ d │
+        # └───┴───┴───┘
+        e = next(elements)
+        assert type(e).__name__ == "Table"
+        assert e.text == "a b c d", f"actual {e.text=}"
+        assert e.metadata.text_as_html == (
+            "<table>\n"
+            "<thead>\n<tr><th>a  </th><th>a  </th><th>  </th></tr>\n</thead>\n"
+            "<tbody>\n<tr><td>b  </td><td>c  </td><td>d </td></tr>\n</tbody>\n"
+            "</table>"
+        ), f"actual {e.metadata.text_as_html=}"
+        # --
+        # ┌───┬───┐
+        # │   │ b │
+        # │ a ├───┼───┐
+        # │   │ c │ d │
+        # └───┴───┴───┘
+        e = next(elements)
+        assert type(e).__name__ == "Table"
+        assert e.text == "a b c d", f"actual {e.text=}"
+        assert e.metadata.text_as_html == (
+            "<table>\n"
+            "<thead>\n<tr><th>a  </th><th>b  </th><th>  </th></tr>\n</thead>\n"
+            "<tbody>\n<tr><td>a  </td><td>c  </td><td>d </td></tr>\n</tbody>\n"
+            "</table>"
+        ), f"actual {e.metadata.text_as_html=}"
+        # -- late-start, early-end, and >2 rows vertical span --
+        # ┌───────┬───┬───┐
+        # │   a   │ b │ c │
+        # └───┬───┴───┼───┘
+        #     │   d   │
+        # ┌───┤       ├───┐
+        # │ e │       │ f │
+        # └───┤       ├───┘
+        #     │       │
+        #     └───────┘
+        e = next(elements)
+        assert type(e).__name__ == "Table"
+        assert e.text == "a b c d e f", f"actual {e.text=}"
+        assert e.metadata.text_as_html == (
+            "<table>\n"
+            "<thead>\n"
+            "<tr><th>a  </th><th>a  </th><th>b  </th><th>c  </th></tr>\n"
+            "</thead>\n<tbody>\n"
+            "<tr><td>   </td><td>d  </td><td>d  </td><td>   </td></tr>\n"
+            "<tr><td>e  </td><td>d  </td><td>d  </td><td>f  </td></tr>\n"
+            "<tr><td>   </td><td>d  </td><td>d  </td><td>   </td></tr>\n"
+            "</tbody>\n"
+            "</table>"
+        ), f"actual {e.metadata.text_as_html=}"
+        # --
+        # -- The table from the specimen file we received with the bug report. --
+        e = next(elements)
+        assert type(e).__name__ == "Table"
+        assert e.text == "Data More Dato WTF? Strange Format", f"actual {e.text=}"
+        assert e.metadata.text_as_html == (
+            "<table>\n"
+            "<thead>\n"
+            "<tr><th>Data   </th><th>Data   </th><th>      </th></tr>\n"
+            "</thead>\n"
+            "<tbody>\n"
+            "<tr><td>Data   </td><td>Data   </td><td>      </td></tr>\n"
+            "<tr><td>Data   </td><td>Data   </td><td>      </td></tr>\n"
+            "<tr><td>       </td><td>More   </td><td>      </td></tr>\n"
+            "<tr><td>Dato   </td><td>       </td><td>      </td></tr>\n"
+            "<tr><td>WTF?   </td><td>WTF?   </td><td>      </td></tr>\n"
+            "<tr><td>Strange</td><td>Strange</td><td>      </td></tr>\n"
+            "<tr><td>       </td><td>Format </td><td>Format</td></tr>\n"
+            "</tbody>\n"
+            "</table>"
+        ), f"actual {e.metadata.text_as_html=}"
+
     # -- page-break behaviors --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     def it_places_page_breaks_precisely_where_they_occur(self):
@@ -299,11 +425,7 @@ def test_parition_docx_from_team_chat():
         "0:0:3.270 --> 0:0:4.250\nJames Bond\nUmm.",
         "saved-by Dennis Forsythe",
     ]
-    assert [e.category for e in elements] == [
-        ElementType.UNCATEGORIZED_TEXT,
-        ElementType.UNCATEGORIZED_TEXT,
-        ElementType.TABLE,
-    ]
+    assert [type(e) for e in elements] == [Text, Text, Table]
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("infer_table_structure", [True, False])
@@ -687,7 +809,7 @@ def test_partition_docx_raises_TypeError_for_invalid_languages():
         filename = "example-docs/handbook-1p.docx"
         partition_docx(
             filename=filename,
-            languages="eng",  # pyright: ignore[reportGeneralTypeIssues]
+            languages="eng",  # pyright: ignore[reportArgumentType]
         )