Adding html text to Word using Interop

Question

I'm trying to add some HTML formatted text to Word using Office Interop. My code looks like this:

Clipboard.SetText(notes, TextDataFormat.Html);
pgCriteria.Range.Paste();

but it's throwing a Command Failed exception. Any idea?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 02 '10 at 16:52

3

After spending several hours the solutions is to use this excellent class http://blogs.msdn.com/jmstall/pages/sample-code-html-clipboard.aspx

answered Mar 02 '10 at 16:52

Albert

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Link is broken. – Chris Mar 26 '16 at 14:53

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 18 '20 at 09:31

3

This worked for me on Windows 7 and Word 2007:

public static void pasteHTML(this Range range, string html)
{
    Clipboard.SetData(
      "HTML Format",
      string.Format("Version:0.9\nStartHTML:80\nEndHTML:{0,8}\nStart" + "Fragment:80\nEndFragment:{0,8}\n", 80 + html.Length) + html + "<");
      range.Paste();
}

Sample use: range.pasteHTML("a<b>b</b>c");

Probably a bit more reliable way without using the clipboard is to save the HTML fragment in a file and use InsertFile. Something like:

public static void insertHTML(this Range range, string html) {
    string path = System.IO.Path.GetTempFileName();
    System.IO.File.WriteAllText(path, "<html>" + html); // must start with certain tag to be detected as html: <html> or <body> or <table> ...
    range.InsertFile(path, ConfirmConversions: false);
    System.IO.File.Delete(path); }

edited Feb 18 '20 at 09:31

ibrahim mahrir

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answered Jan 15 '16 at 15:45

Slai

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Yeah, (+ 1 to you) using clipboard looks strange here – DanilGholtsman Dec 12 '16 at 11:41
@R2D2 not sure what you mean .. but the clipboard is usually the least reliable way, because of the tiny chance of another application using it at the same time. I usually apply the formats programmatically for smaller ranges, or use templates with AutoText Building Blocks. – Slai Oct 26 '17 at 18:16
I am suing the clip board as the html I am loading is coming from a DB, Yes its bad I know. I am saying that the code needs to be marked as a Single thread to access the Clipboard – Lord Darth Vader Oct 27 '17 at 06:58
For the `insertHTML` solution, in the context of Outlook interop, don't forget to set `Attachment: false` so the HTML file will not be added as attachment! – Indigo May 20 '23 at 13:44

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 06 '19 at 14:39

It is kind of tricky to add the html in a word document. The best way is creating a temporary file and than insert this file to selected range of the word. The trick is to leverage the InsertFile function of the Range. This allows us to insert arbitrary HTML strings by first saving them as files to a temporary location on disk.

The only trick is that < html/> must be the root element of the document.

I use something like this at one of my project.

   private static string HtmlHeader => "<html lang='en' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><head><meta charset='utf-8' /></ head >{0}</html>";
   public static string GenerateTemporaryHtmlFile(Range range,string htmlContent)
    {
        string path = Path.GetTempFileName();
        File.WriteAllText(path, string.Format(HtmlHeader , htmlContent));
        range.InsertFile(FileName: tmpFilePath, ConfirmConversions: false);
        return path;
    }

it is important to adding

charset='utf-8'

to head of html file other wise you may see unexpected characters at your word document after you insert file.

In the context of Outlook interop, don't forget to set `Attachment: false` so the HTML file will not be added as attachment! — Indigo, May 20 '23 at 13:44

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 26 '17 at 12:59

Just build a temporary html file with your html content and insert it like below.

// 1- Sample HTML Text
var Html = @"<h1>Sample Title</h1><p>Lorem ipsum dolor <b>his sonet</b> simul</p>";

// 2- Write temporary html file
var HtmlTempPath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), $"{Path.GetRandomFileName()}.html");
File.WriteAllText(HtmlTempPath, $"<html>{Html}</html>");

// 3- Insert html file to word
ContentControl ContentCtrl = Document.ContentControls.Add(WdContentControlType.wdContentControlRichText, Missing);
ContentCtrl.Range.InsertFile(HtmlTempPath, ref Missing, ref Missing, ref Missing, ref Missing);

In the context of Outlook interop, don't forget to set `Attachment: false` so the HTML file will not be added as attachment! — Indigo, May 20 '23 at 13:44

Adding html text to Word using Interop

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