Fix DOCX tables inside SDT content controls not being parsed

docling/backend/msword_backend.py

@@ -486,16 +486,27 @@ def _in_textbox(elem):
             # Check for the sdt containers, like table of contents
             elif tag_name == "sdt":
                 sdt_content = element.find(
-                    ".//w:sdtContent", namespaces=MsWordDocumentBackend._BLIP_NAMESPACES
+                    ".//w:sdtContent",
+                    namespaces=MsWordDocumentBackend._BLIP_NAMESPACES,
                 )
+
                 if sdt_content is not None:
-                    # Iterate paragraphs, runs, or text inside <w:sdtContent>.
-                    paragraphs = sdt_content.findall(
-                        ".//w:p", namespaces=MsWordDocumentBackend._BLIP_NAMESPACES
-                    )
-                    for p in paragraphs:
-                        te = self._handle_text_elements(p, doc)
-                        added_elements.extend(te)
+                    for child in sdt_content:
+                        child_tag = etree.QName(child).localname
+
+                        if child_tag == "tbl":
+                            try:
+                                t = self._handle_tables(child, doc)
+                                added_elements.extend(t)
+                            except Exception:
+                                _log.debug(
+                                    "could not parse table inside sdt",
+                                    exc_info=True,
+                                )
+
+                        elif child_tag == "p":
+                            te = self._handle_text_elements(child, doc)
+                            added_elements.extend(te)
             # Check for Text
             elif tag_name == "p":
                 # "tcPr", "sectPr"
@@ -1985,7 +1996,6 @@ def _handle_tables(
         num_rows = len(table.rows)
         num_cols = len(table.columns)
         _log.debug(f"Table grid with {num_rows} rows and {num_cols} columns")
-
         if num_rows == 1 and num_cols == 1:
             cell_element = table.rows[0].cells[0]
             # In case we have a table of only 1 cell, we consider it furniture
@@ -2000,7 +2010,6 @@ def _handle_tables(
             data=data, parent=self.parents[level - 1], content_layer=self.content_layer
         )
         elem_ref.append(docling_table.get_ref())
-
         cell_set: set[CT_Tc] = set()
         for row_idx, row in enumerate(table.rows):
             _log.debug(f"Row index {row_idx} with {len(row.cells)} populated cells")

tests/test_backend_msword.py

@@ -851,3 +851,37 @@ def test_text_after_drawingml_images(documents):
             "Skipping DrawingML text extraction test."
         )
         pytest.skip(f"Test document '{name}' not available")
+
+
+def test_sdt_table_parsing(tmp_path):
+    from docx import Document
+    from docx.oxml import OxmlElement
+
+    doc = Document()
+
+    table = doc.add_table(rows=2, cols=2)
+    table.cell(0, 0).text = "Feature"
+    table.cell(0, 1).text = "Action"
+
+    table.cell(1, 0).text = "Test"
+    table.cell(1, 1).text = "Verify"
+
+    tbl_xml = table._tbl
+
+    sdt = OxmlElement("w:sdt")
+    sdt_pr = OxmlElement("w:sdtPr")
+    sdt_content = OxmlElement("w:sdtContent")
+
+    sdt_content.append(tbl_xml)
+
+    sdt.append(sdt_pr)
+    sdt.append(sdt_content)
+
+    doc._body._element.append(sdt)
+
+    docx_path = tmp_path / "sdt_table.docx"
+    doc.save(docx_path)
+
+    conv_result = get_converter().convert(docx_path)
+
+    assert len(conv_result.document.tables) == 1