Install an open-source FileFormat.Words for .NET, learn how to read Docx file in C# programmatically. This API offers methods to build a Word file viewer.

How Do I Open a Docx File in C#

Overview

It is not easy to build business software that deals with file creation and manipulation immensely. Time and man hours are critical factors but opting for relevant third-party libraries plays a vital role in the development phase. Therefore, let’s go through an open-source .NET library that offers a wide range of methods to manipulate Word files programmatically. This API not only lets you create/edit Word files but you can also read business Docs/Docx files. We are talking about FileFormat.Words is a complete package of features necessary to process Word documents programmatically. However, this blog post will answer your question(i.e. How do I open a Docx file in C#?). Moreover, you will be able to build a Word file reader by the end of this article.

We will cover the following points in this guide:

Word File Viewer – API Installation

Please visit this link to go through the installation process in detail. Otherwise, it is quite easy to install, whether you can install it using its NuGet package or by running the following command in NuGet Package Manager.

Install-Package FileFormat.Words

How Do I Open a Docx file in C#

Once this open-source .NET API is installed, you can start writing the code right away. Let’s build a Word file reader component for your business software. There are multiple methods and properties to read a Docx/Docs file but we will use some prominent methods/properties.

You may follow the following steps and the code snippet:

using FileFormat.Words;
using FileFormat.Words.Table;
namespace Example
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Initialize an instance of the Document class and load the Docx/Docs file. 
            using (Document doc1 = new Document("/Docs.docx"))
            {
                // Instantiate an object of the Body class.
                Body body1 = new Body(doc1);
                // Invoke the getDocumentTables method that returns the total number of tables in a document.
                Console.WriteLine("Total Number of Tables " + body1.getDocumentTables.Count());
                int i = 0;
                // The getDocumentTables property returns the table properties.
                foreach (Table props in body1.getDocumentTables)
                {
                    // The ExistingTableHeaders property returns the table headers.
                    foreach (string tableHeader in props.ExistingTableHeaders)
                    {
                        i++;
                        Console.WriteLine("Header"+i+": "+tableHeader);
                    }
                    // Call NumberOfRows property to access the table rows.
                    Console.WriteLine("Number of rows "+props.NumberOfRows);
                    // Use NumberOfColumns property to fetch number of columns.
                    Console.WriteLine("Number of columns " + props.NumberOfColumns);
                    // Access the number of cells using NumberOfCells property.
                    Console.WriteLine("Number of cells " + props.NumberOfCells);
                    Console.WriteLine("Cell width " + props.CellWidth);
                    // The TableBorder property is used to read the border style.
                    Console.WriteLine("Border style " + props.TableBorder);
                    // Use the TablePosition property to get the position of the table.
                    Console.WriteLine("Table position " + props.TablePosition);
                    Console.WriteLine(" ");
                }

                // Invoke the ExtractImagesFromDocument method to get all the images from a Word document.
                List<Stream> imageParts = Image.ExtractImagesFromDocument(doc1);
                int imageCount = imageParts.Count;
                Console.WriteLine($"Total number of images: {imageCount}");
                // Call the GetParagraphs method to retrieve all the document paragraphs.
                List<Paragraph> paras = body1.GetParagraphs();

                Console.WriteLine("The number of Paragraphs " + paras.Count());
                foreach (Paragraph p in paras)
                {
                    // The LinesSpacing property is used to know the spacing between the lines.
                    Console.WriteLine("Line spacing "+p.LinesSpacing);
                    // The Indent property is used to know the value of indentation.
                    Console.WriteLine("Indent value "+p.Indent);
                    // Get the text of the paragraph by calling the Text property.
                    Console.WriteLine(p.Text);
                }

            }

        }

    }
}

The above code snippet reads a Word file that contains one paragraph, one table, and an image. However, you can see the output in the image below:

word file reader

Conclusion

We are ending this blog post here. We hope that you have the answer to your question(i.e. How do I open a Docx file in C#?). In addition, we have gone through the code snippet that reads an existing Word document programmatically. Now, you can easily build a module that works like a Word file viewer. Further, do not forget to visit the documentation of FileFormat.Words for .NET. 

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Contribute

Since FileFormat.Words for .NET is an open-source project and is available on GitHub. So, the contribution from the community is much appreciated.

Ask a Question

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Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

How do I open a DOCX file without Word?

You can open Docx/Docs files using this open-source .NET library FileFormat.Words. Moreover, you can build a Word file reader module for your business application using this library.

See Also