diff --git a/app/MindWork AI Studio/Tools/Rust/FileTypes.cs b/app/MindWork AI Studio/Tools/Rust/FileTypes.cs
index 57f58202..aa71bda8 100644
--- a/app/MindWork AI Studio/Tools/Rust/FileTypes.cs	
+++ b/app/MindWork AI Studio/Tools/Rust/FileTypes.cs	
@@ -94,9 +94,11 @@ public static class FileTypes
     /// <remarks>
     /// This is not a user-selectable type, it mirrors the formats the Rust runtime hands to
     /// Pandoc. Every other document type is read by the runtime itself, so it must never depend
-    /// on a Pandoc installation. The name is not localized because it is never shown.
+    /// on a Pandoc installation. Word and OpenDocument text files (.docx, .odt) used to be listed
+    /// here as well; the runtime reads them on its own now. The name is not localized because it
+    /// is never shown.
     /// </remarks>
-    private static readonly FileTypeFilter PANDOC_CONVERTED = FileTypeFilter.Leaf("Pandoc conversion", "docx", "odt", "html", "htm");
+    private static readonly FileTypeFilter PANDOC_CONVERTED = FileTypeFilter.Leaf("Pandoc conversion", "html", "htm");
 
     /// <summary>
     /// Determines whether reading the given file needs Pandoc.
diff --git a/app/MindWork AI Studio/wwwroot/changelog/v26.8.1.md b/app/MindWork AI Studio/wwwroot/changelog/v26.8.1.md
index 153072c4..47f1a1bf 100644
--- a/app/MindWork AI Studio/wwwroot/changelog/v26.8.1.md	
+++ b/app/MindWork AI Studio/wwwroot/changelog/v26.8.1.md	
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 - Added CSV and TSV files to the file types you can attach. AI Studio was already able to read them, but they could not be selected.
 - Improved how your organization's configuration behaves when a configuration plugin is present but cannot be loaded, e.g. because of an error in the plugin. Such a plugin still manages your app, so its settings, providers, data sources, profiles, and chat templates now stay in place instead of being removed.
 - Improved reading large files from slow locations such as network drives. AI Studio now waits considerably longer before it gives up, and it tells you when it does.
+- Improved how Word documents (`.docx`) and OpenDocument text files (`.odt`) are read. AI Studio now reads them itself instead of handing them to Pandoc, so these documents no longer need a Pandoc installation. It reads them page by page, which keeps even large documents responsive, and it now picks up more of the document: the title, the author, headers and footers, footnotes, endnotes, and comments.
 - Changed how approvals for assistant plugins combine when your organization deploys several configurations. They now add up, so a department can approve additional assistant plugins without repeating the approvals of the company-wide configuration. Previously, the last configuration replaced all earlier approvals, which silently required a new security check for those assistants.
 - Fixed attached files reaching the AI as empty documents when AI Studio could not read them. The AI then answered as if your file had no content, and nothing pointed to a problem. AI Studio now names the cause instead, for example, an unavailable network drive, a file another program is blocking, a protected PDF, or a scanned PDF without a text layer, and it no longer attaches such a file.
 - Fixed files that are open in another program being reported as an unrecognized file type. AI Studio now tells you that the file is currently open elsewhere and asks you to close it. This also works for files on shared network drives, where a colleague might have the file open.
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@
 - Fixed executable programs with a harmless file extension being read as text. They are now recognized by their content and refused.
 - Fixed a single unreadable page of a PDF silently cutting off the rest of the document. The remaining pages are now used, and AI Studio tells you which pages are missing.
 - Fixed a single unreadable sheet of a spreadsheet silently dropping all remaining sheets.
-- Fixed PDFs, text files, spreadsheets, and presentations requiring Pandoc. Only Word documents, OpenDocument text files, and HTML files need Pandoc, so every other file can now be attached and read without it.
+- Fixed PDFs, text files, spreadsheets, and presentations requiring Pandoc. Only HTML files need Pandoc now, so every other file can be attached and read without it.
 - Fixed attached files that are temporarily unavailable, disappearing from your message without a word. This could happen when a file was stored on a network drive.
 - Fixed the file preview showing an empty document when reading the file failed. It now shows what went wrong, so the preview again answers what AI Studio will hand to the AI.
 - Fixed the file preview looking like an empty file while AI Studio was still reading it. Larger documents and PDFs need a moment to be read, and until now that moment looked like a file without any content. The preview now says that it is still loading and shows the content as soon as it is ready.
diff --git a/documentation/Setup.md b/documentation/Setup.md
index 0b0630a9..039952d0 100644
--- a/documentation/Setup.md
+++ b/documentation/Setup.md
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ Confirm the installation of the required GNOME runtime from Flathub when Flatpak
 
 #### Pandoc Extension (Strongly Recommended)
 
-Pandoc is required for essential file features, including regular file attachments in chats, importing and converting Office documents, and other document-based functionality. We therefore strongly recommend installing the Pandoc extension. AI Studio checks whether a compatible Pandoc version is already available.
+Pandoc is required for some file features, namely attaching HTML files and exporting chats as a Word document. Every other file type, PDFs, Word and OpenDocument text files, spreadsheets, and presentations among them, is read by AI Studio itself and works without Pandoc. We still recommend installing the Pandoc extension so that all file features are available. AI Studio checks whether a compatible Pandoc version is already available.
 
 For Intel/AMD, download `MindWork.AI.Studio.Plugin.Pandoc_x86_64.flatpak` and run: