How to: Programmatically format text in documents

Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

You can use the Range object to format text in a Microsoft Office Word document.

Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and VSTO Add-in projects for Word. For more information, see Features available by Office application and project type.

The following example selects the first paragraph in the document and changes the font size, the font name, and the alignment. It then selects the range and displays a message box to pause before executing the next section of code. The next section calls the Undo method of the Document host item (for a document-level customization) or the Document class (for a VSTO Add-in) three times. It applies the Normal Indent style and displays a message box to pause the code. Then the code calls the Undo method once, and displays a message box.

Document-level customization example

To format text using a document-level customization

1. The following example can be used in a document-level customization. To use this code, run it from the ThisDocument class in your project.

   Private Sub RangeFormat()
   
       ' Set the Range to the first paragraph.
       Dim rng As Word.Range = Me.Paragraphs(1).Range
   
       ' Change the formatting. To change the font size for a right-to-left language, 
       ' such as Arabic or Hebrew, use the Font.SizeBi property instead of Font.Size.
       rng.Font.Size = 14
       rng.Font.Name = "Arial"
       rng.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = Word.WdParagraphAlignment.wdAlignParagraphCenter
   
       rng.Select()
       MessageBox.Show("Formatted Range")
   
       ' Undo the three previous actions.
       Me.Undo(Times:=3)
   
       rng.Select()
       MessageBox.Show("Undo 3 actions")
   
       ' Apply the Normal Indent style.
       rng.Style = "Normal Indent"
   
       rng.Select()
       MessageBox.Show("Normal Indent style applied")
   
       ' Undo a single action.
       Me.Undo()
   
       rng.Select()
       MessageBox.Show("Undo 1 action")
   End Sub
   

   private void RangeFormat() 
   { 
       // Set the Range to the first paragraph. 
       Word.Range rng = this.Paragraphs[1].Range;
   
       // Change the formatting. To change the font size for a right-to-left language, 
       // such as Arabic or Hebrew, use the Font.SizeBi property instead of Font.Size.
       rng.Font.Size = 14; 
       rng.Font.Name = "Arial"; 
       rng.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = Word.WdParagraphAlignment.wdAlignParagraphCenter;
   
       rng.Select(); 
       MessageBox.Show("Formatted Range"); 
   
       // Undo the three previous actions. 
       object numTimes3 = 3; 
       this.Undo(ref numTimes3); 
   
       rng.Select(); 
       MessageBox.Show("Undo 3 actions"); 
   
       // Apply the Normal Indent style. 
       object indentStyle = "Normal Indent"; 
       rng.set_Style(ref indentStyle); 
   
       rng.Select(); 
       MessageBox.Show("Normal Indent style applied"); 
   
       // Undo a single action. 
       object numTimes1 = 1; 
       this.Undo(ref numTimes1); 
   
       rng.Select(); 
       MessageBox.Show("Undo 1 action"); 
   }
   

VSTO Add-in Example

To format text using a VSTO Add-in

1. The following example can be used in a VSTO Add-in. This example uses the active document. To use this code, run it from the ThisAddIn class in your project.

   Private Sub RangeFormat()
   
       ' Set the Range to the first paragraph.
       Dim document As Word.Document = Me.Application.ActiveDocument
       Dim rng As Word.Range = document.Paragraphs(1).Range
   
       ' Change the formatting. To change the font size for a right-to-left language, 
       ' such as Arabic or Hebrew, use the Font.SizeBi property instead of Font.Size.
       rng.Font.Size = 14
       rng.Font.Name = "Arial"
       rng.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = Word.WdParagraphAlignment.wdAlignParagraphCenter
   
       rng.Select()
       MessageBox.Show("Formatted Range")
   
       ' Undo the three previous actions.
       document.Undo(Times:=3)
   
       rng.Select()
       MessageBox.Show("Undo 3 actions")
   
       ' Apply the Normal Indent style.
       rng.Style = "Normal Indent"
   
       rng.Select()
       MessageBox.Show("Normal Indent style applied")
   
       ' Undo a single action.
       document.Undo()
   
       rng.Select()
       MessageBox.Show("Undo 1 action")
   End Sub
   

   private void RangeFormat()
   {
       // Set the Range to the first paragraph. 
       Word.Document document = this.Application.ActiveDocument;
       Word.Range rng = document.Paragraphs[1].Range;
   
       // Change the formatting. To change the font size for a right-to-left language, 
       // such as Arabic or Hebrew, use the Font.SizeBi property instead of Font.Size.
       rng.Font.Size = 14;
       rng.Font.Name = "Arial";
       rng.ParagraphFormat.Alignment = Word.WdParagraphAlignment.wdAlignParagraphCenter;
   
       rng.Select();
       MessageBox.Show("Formatted Range");
   
       // Undo the three previous actions. 
       object numTimes3 = 3;
       document.Undo(ref numTimes3);
   
       rng.Select();
       MessageBox.Show("Undo 3 actions");
   
       // Apply the Normal Indent style. 
       object indentStyle = "Normal Indent";
       rng.set_Style(ref indentStyle);
   
       rng.Select();
       MessageBox.Show("Normal Indent style applied");
   
       // Undo a single action. 
       object numTimes1 = 1;
       document.Undo(ref numTimes1);
   
       rng.Select();
       MessageBox.Show("Undo 1 action");
   }
   

See also

• How to: Programmatically define and select ranges in documents
• How to: Programmatically insert text into Word documents
• How to: Programmatically search for and replace text in documents