Retrieve application property values from a word processing document

This topic shows how to use the classes in the Open XML SDK for Office to programmatically retrieve an application property from a Microsoft Word document, without loading the document into Word. It contains example code to illustrate this task.

Retrieving Application Properties

To retrieve application document properties, you can retrieve the ExtendedFilePropertiesPart property of a WordprocessingDocument object, and then retrieve the specific application property you need. To do this, you must first get a reference to the document, as shown in the following code.

C#

using (WordprocessingDocument document = WordprocessingDocument.Open(fileName, false))
{

Visual Basic

Using document As WordprocessingDocument = WordprocessingDocument.Open(fileName, False)

Given the reference to the WordprocessingDocument object, you can retrieve a reference to the ExtendedFilePropertiesPart property of the document. This object provides its own properties, each of which exposes one of the application document properties.

C#

if (document.ExtendedFilePropertiesPart is null)
{
    throw new ArgumentNullException("ExtendedFilePropertiesPart is null.");
}

var props = document.ExtendedFilePropertiesPart.Properties;

Visual Basic

If document.ExtendedFilePropertiesPart Is Nothing Then
    Throw New ArgumentNullException("ExtendedFileProperties is Nothing")
End If

Dim props = document.ExtendedFilePropertiesPart.Properties

Once you have the reference to the properties of ExtendedFilePropertiesPart, you can then retrieve any of the application properties, using simple code such as that shown in the next example. Note that the code must confirm that the reference to each property isn't null of Nothing before retrieving its Text property. Unlike core properties, document properties aren't available if you (or the application) haven't specifically given them a value.

C#

if (props.Company is not null)
    Console.WriteLine("Company = " + props.Company.Text);

if (props.Lines is not null)
    Console.WriteLine("Lines = " + props.Lines.Text);

if (props.Manager is not null)
    Console.WriteLine("Manager = " + props.Manager.Text);

Visual Basic

If props.Company IsNot Nothing Then
    Console.WriteLine("Company = " & props.Company.Text)
End If

If props.Lines IsNot Nothing Then
    Console.WriteLine("Lines = " & props.Lines.Text)
End If

If props.Manager IsNot Nothing Then
    Console.WriteLine("Manager = " & props.Manager.Text)
End If

Sample Code

The following is the complete code sample in C# and Visual Basic.

C#

using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;
using System;
static void GetApplicationProperty(string fileName)
{
    using (WordprocessingDocument document = WordprocessingDocument.Open(fileName, false))
    {

        if (document.ExtendedFilePropertiesPart is null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("ExtendedFilePropertiesPart is null.");
        }

        var props = document.ExtendedFilePropertiesPart.Properties;

        if (props.Company is not null)
            Console.WriteLine("Company = " + props.Company.Text);

        if (props.Lines is not null)
            Console.WriteLine("Lines = " + props.Lines.Text);

        if (props.Manager is not null)
            Console.WriteLine("Manager = " + props.Manager.Text);
    }
}

Visual Basic

Imports System.Runtime.Serialization
Imports DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging

Module Module1

    Sub Main(args As String())
        GetPropertyValues(args(0))
    End Sub

    Public Sub GetPropertyValues(ByVal fileName As String)
        Using document As WordprocessingDocument = WordprocessingDocument.Open(fileName, False)

            If document.ExtendedFilePropertiesPart Is Nothing Then
                Throw New ArgumentNullException("ExtendedFileProperties is Nothing")
            End If

            Dim props = document.ExtendedFilePropertiesPart.Properties

            If props.Company IsNot Nothing Then
                Console.WriteLine("Company = " & props.Company.Text)
            End If

            If props.Lines IsNot Nothing Then
                Console.WriteLine("Lines = " & props.Lines.Text)
            End If

            If props.Manager IsNot Nothing Then
                Console.WriteLine("Manager = " & props.Manager.Text)
            End If
        End Using
    End Sub
End Module

See also

• Open XML SDK class library reference