C# Alternate Way to Find and Replace Text in Word Document

Question

I am looking for alternate ways to search through the word document for certain text and then replace it with another text. My current works using the Find and Replace method however I was wondering if there are other ways to do this.

One method I tried was to go through paragraph by paragraph and search that for the text, swap it out, then paste that into a new word document and save it. However this made things a lot more complicated when it came to images, textbooks, tables etc. Also the formatting did not get preserved so that was another issue.

My current code is as follows:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;

namespace Test
{
    static class Program
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            //Create a new microsoft word file
            Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application fileOpen = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application();
            //Open a already existing word file into the new document created
            Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Document document = fileOpen.Documents.Open(@"C:\Users\dpatel\Desktop\Test1.docx", ReadOnly: false);
            //Make the file visible 
            fileOpen.Visible = true;
            document.Activate();
            //The FindAndReplace takes the text to find under any formatting and replaces it with the
            //new text with the same exact formmating (e.g red bold text will be replaced with red bold text)
            FindAndReplace(fileOpen, "useless", "very useful");
            //Save the editted file in a specified location
            //Can use SaveAs instead of SaveAs2 and just give it a name to have it saved by default
            //to the documents folder
            document.SaveAs2(@"C:\Users\dpatel\Desktop\NewFile1");
            //Close the file out
            fileOpen.Quit();
        }
        //Method to find and replace the text in the word document. Replaces all instances of it
        static void FindAndReplace(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application fileOpen, object findText, object replaceWithText)
        {
            object matchCase = false;
            object matchWholeWord = true;
            object matchWildCards = false;
            object matchSoundsLike = false;
            object matchAllWordForms = false;
            object forward = true;
            object format = false;
            object matchKashida = false;
            object matchDiacritics = false;
            object matchAlefHamza = false;
            object matchControl = false;
            object read_only = false;
            object visible = true;
            object replace = 2;
            object wrap = 1;
            //execute find and replace
            fileOpen.Selection.Find.Execute(ref findText, ref matchCase, ref matchWholeWord,
                ref matchWildCards, ref matchSoundsLike, ref matchAllWordForms, ref forward, ref wrap, ref format, ref replaceWithText, ref replace,
                ref matchKashida, ref matchDiacritics, ref matchAlefHamza, ref matchControl);
        }
    }
}

Solution 1

Turns out there is no alternative to finding and replacing text. The only way is to scan a document, extract text, then if it matches, to issue a replacement. Which is essentially the same as "find and replace". There are variations to the method however like choosing to search through textboxes only, tables only etc.

Solution 2

You could do as I have done. Sorry for possible bad coding, but works great

using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;

 var application = new Word.Application();
        string path = Path.GetDirectoryName(Path.GetFullPath("YourDocsName.doc"));
        object path_YourDocsName = path + @"\folder\YourDocsName.doc";

        object o = Missing.Value;
        object oFalse = false;
        object oTrue = true;

        Word._Application app = null;
        Word.Documents docs = null;
        Word.Document doc = null;

        try
        {
            app = new Word.Application();
            app.Visible = false;
            app.DisplayAlerts = Word.WdAlertLevel.wdAlertsNone;

            docs = app.Documents;
            doc = docs.Open(ref path_YourDocsName, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);
            doc.Activate();           
        
            foreach (Word.Range range in doc.StoryRanges)
            {
                
                Word.Find find = range.Find;
                object findText = "[Todays date]";
                //  object findText = { "[Todays date]","[]" };
                object replacText = todaysdate;   //gets todays date and time to doc
                object replace = Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll;
                object findWrap = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue;
                find.Execute(ref replaceThis, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref oFalse, ref o,
                    ref o, ref findWrap, ref o, ref replaceThisWith,
                    ref replace, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);

                Word.Find find1 = range.Find;
                object findText1 = "[doc content]";
                object replacText1 = Name;
                object replace1 = Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll;
                object findWrap1 = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue;
                find.Execute(ref findText1, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref oFalse, ref o,
                    ref o, ref findWrap1, ref o, ref replacText1,
                    ref replace1, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);

                Word.Find find2 = range.Find;
                object findText2 = "[doc content]";
                object replacText2 = Somestringyouneed;
                object replace2 = Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll;
                object findWrap2 = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue;
                find.Execute(ref findText2, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref oFalse, ref o,
                    ref o, ref findWrap2, ref o, ref replacText2,
                    ref replace2, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);

                Word.Find find3 = range.Find;
                object findText3 = "[Doc content]";
                object replacText3 = somesecondstringyouneed;
                object replace3 = Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll;
                object findWrap3 = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue;
                find.Execute(ref findText3, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref oFalse, ref o,
                    ref o, ref findWrap3, ref o, ref replacText3,
                    ref replace3, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);

                Word.Find find4 = range.Find;
                object findText4 = "[doc content]";
                object replacText4 = somesecondstringyouneed;
                object replace4 = Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll;
                object findWrap4 = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue;
                find.Execute(ref findText4, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref oFalse, ref o,
                    ref o, ref findWrap4, ref o, ref replacText4,
                    ref replace4, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);

                Word.Find find5 = range.Find;
                object findText5 = "[doc content]";
                object replacText5 = somesecondstringyouneed;
                object replace5 = Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll;
                object findWrap5 = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue;
                find.Execute(ref findText5, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref oFalse, ref o,
                    ref o, ref findWrap5, ref o, ref replacText5,
                    ref replace5, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);

                Word.Find find6 = range.Find;
                object findText6 = "[doc content]";
                object replacText6 = somesecondstringyouneed;
                object replace6 = Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll;
                object findWrap6 = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue;
                find.Execute(ref findText6, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref oFalse, ref o,
                    ref o, ref findWrap6, ref o, ref replacText6,
                    ref replace6, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);

                Word.Find find7 = range.Find;
                object findText7 = "[doc content]";
                object replacText7 = somesecondstringyouneed;
                object replace7 = Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll;
                object findWrap7 = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue;
                find.Execute(ref findText7, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref oFalse, ref o,
                    ref o, ref findWrap7, ref o, ref replacText7,
                    ref replace7, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);

                Word.Find find8 = range.Find;
                object findText8 = "[doc content]";
                object replacText8 = somesecondstringyouneed;
                object replace8 = Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll;
                object findWrap8 = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue;
                find.Execute(ref findText8, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref oFalse, ref o,
                    ref o, ref findWrap8, ref o, ref replacText8,
                    ref replace8, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);

                Word.Find find9 = range.Find;
                object findText9 = "[doc content]";
                object replacText9 = somesecondstringyouneed;
                object replace9 = Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll;
                object findWrap9 = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue;
                find.Execute(ref findText9, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref oFalse, ref o,
                    ref o, ref findWrap9, ref o, ref replacText9,
                    ref replace9, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o);

                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(find);
                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(find1);
                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(find2);
                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(find3);
                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(find4);
                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(find5);
                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(find6);
                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(find7);
                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(find8);
                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(find9);
                Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(range);
            }
            var path_YourDocsName = path + @"\folder\YourDocsName.doc";
            Console.WriteLine(path_YourDocsName);
            doc.SaveAs(path_YourDocsName);
            ((Word._Document)doc).Close(ref o, ref o, ref o);
            doc.Close();
            app.Quit(ref o, ref o, ref o);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.StackTrace);
        }
        finally
        {
            if (doc != null) Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(doc);

            if (docs != null) Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(docs);

            if (app != null) Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(app);
        }

Solution 3

You may try using GroupDocs.Redaction for .NET in order to find and replace the desired word or phrase in the Word documents.

using (Document doc = Redactor.Load("C:\\candy.docx"))
{
     doc.RedactWith(new ExactPhraseRedaction("candy", new ReplacementOptions("[replaced]")));
     // Save the document to "candy_Redacted.docx" file.
     doc.Save(new SaveOptions() { AddSuffix = true, RasterizeToPDF = false }); 
} 

Disclosure: I work as Developer Evangelist at GroupDocs.