Apache poi word maven

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a word document using apache poi or write to a word document using apache poi API. Microsoft word document is a great tool to document your stuff. This example is tested on both 3.15 and 4.1.1 versions of Apache POI library. I am also going to show you how to use build tools maven and gradle for the application.

We will create here a Java application to create word document using apache poi library. Using apache poi library is very easy for any kind of activities in word document.

Prerequisites

Eclipse 4.12, JDK 1.8 or 12, Maven 3.6.1, Gradle 5.6, Apache POI 3.15 to 4.1.1

Create Project

You basically need to create a maven or gradle project in eclipse. The name of the project is word-apache-poi.

Once the project is created and eclipse finishes build then you need to modify the pom.xml file as shown below.

Here we will add apache poi API as a dependency for working with microsoft word document or even you can work with open source word document.

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
	<groupId>com.roytuts</groupId>
	<artifactId>word-apache-poi</artifactId>
	<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
	<packaging>jar</packaging>
	
	<properties>
		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
		<java.version>1.8</java.version>
		<poi.version>3.15</poi.version>
	</properties>
	
	<dependencies>
		<!-- apache poi for xlsx, docx etc reading/writing -->
		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
			<artifactId>poi-ooxml</artifactId>
			<version>${poi.version}</version>
		</dependency>
	</dependencies>
	
	<build>
		<plugins>
			<plugin>
				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
				<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
				<configuration>
					<source>${java.version}</source>
					<target>${java.version}</target>
				</configuration>
			</plugin>
		</plugins>
	</build>
</project>

If you want to use gradle build script to create your project then use below build script to setup the project. Here also we have used the same apache poi version as you have seen in the above maven based pom.xml file.

plugins {
    id 'java-library'
}

sourceCompatibility = 12 or 1.8
targetCompatibility = 12 or 1.8

repositories {
    jcenter()
}

dependencies {
    implementation 'org.apache.poi:poi-ooxml:4.1.1 or 3.15'
}

Create Word File

Create below class to create WordDocx.docx file.

The below source code creates a word document and writes sample texts to different paragraphs in different formats.

The first paragraph writes texts with justify alignments. It also adds first line with indent.

The second paragraph writes test with left alignment. It also adds first line with indent.

The third paragraph texts are italic with left alignment. The fourth paragraph texts are bold with left alignment.

The fifth paragraph texts are strike-through with left alignment. The sixth paragraph texts are undelined with left alignment.

Finally we create the output WordDocx.docx file in the root directory of the project. You can also save the file anywhere you want. This will create a word document using apache poi.

package com.roytuts.word.apache.poi;

import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

import org.apache.poi.xwpf.usermodel.ParagraphAlignment;
import org.apache.poi.xwpf.usermodel.UnderlinePatterns;
import org.apache.poi.xwpf.usermodel.XWPFDocument;
import org.apache.poi.xwpf.usermodel.XWPFParagraph;
import org.apache.poi.xwpf.usermodel.XWPFRun;

public class WordDocx {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		createWordDocument("WordDocx.docx");
	}

	public static void createWordDocument(final String outputFileName) {
		// create a document
		XWPFDocument doc = new XWPFDocument();

		// create a paragraph with justify alignment
		XWPFParagraph p1 = doc.createParagraph();

		// first line indentation in the paragraph
		p1.setFirstLineIndent(400);

		// justify alignment
		p1.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.DISTRIBUTE);

		// wrap words
		p1.setWordWrapped(true);

		// insert page break after this paragraph
		// p1.setPageBreak(true);
		// XWPFRun object defines a region of text with a common set of
		// properties
		XWPFRun r1 = p1.createRun();
		String t1 = "Sample Paragraph Post. This is a sample Paragraph post. Sample Paragraph text is being cut and pasted again and again. This is a sample Paragraph post. peru-duellmans-poison-dart-frog."
				+ " Sample Paragraph Post. This is a sample Paragraph post. Sample Paragraph text is being cut and pasted again and again. This is a sample Paragraph post. peru-duellmans-poison-dart-frog.";
		r1.setText(t1);

		// create a paragraph with left alignment
		XWPFParagraph p2 = doc.createParagraph();

		// first line indentation in the paragraph
		p2.setFirstLineIndent(400);

		// left alignment
		p2.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.LEFT);

		// wrap words
		p2.setWordWrapped(true);

		// insert page break after this paragraph
		// p2.setPageBreak(true);
		// XWPFRun object defines a region of text with a common set of
		// properties
		XWPFRun r2 = p2.createRun();
		String t2 = "Sample Paragraph Post. This is a sample Paragraph post. Sample Paragraph text is being cut and pasted again and again. This is a sample Paragraph post. peru-duellmans-poison-dart-frog."
				+ " Sample Paragraph Post. This is a sample Paragraph post. Sample Paragraph text is being cut and pasted again and again. This is a sample Paragraph post. peru-duellmans-poison-dart-frog.";
		r2.setText(t2);

		// create a paragraph with ITALIC text
		XWPFParagraph p3 = doc.createParagraph();

		// left alignment
		p3.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.LEFT);

		// wrap words
		p3.setWordWrapped(true);

		// XWPFRun object defines a region of text with a common set of
		// properties
		XWPFRun r3 = p3.createRun();
		String t3 = "Sample Paragraph Post. This is a sample Paragraph post. Sample Paragraph text is being cut and pasted again and again. This is a sample Paragraph post. peru-duellmans-poison-dart-frog.";
		r3.setText(t3);

		// make text italic
		r3.setItalic(true);

		// create a paragraph with BOLD text
		XWPFParagraph p4 = doc.createParagraph();

		// left alignment
		p4.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.LEFT);

		// wrap words
		p4.setWordWrapped(true);

		// XWPFRun object defines a region of text with a common set of
		// properties
		XWPFRun r4 = p4.createRun();
		String t4 = "Sample Paragraph Post. This is a sample Paragraph post. Sample Paragraph text is being cut and pasted again and again. This is a sample Paragraph post. peru-duellmans-poison-dart-frog.";
		r4.setText(t4);

		// make text bold
		r4.setBold(true);

		// create a paragraph with Strike-Through text
		XWPFParagraph p5 = doc.createParagraph();

		// left alignment
		p5.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.LEFT);

		// wrap words
		p5.setWordWrapped(true);

		// XWPFRun object defines a region of text with a common set of
		// properties
		XWPFRun r5 = p5.createRun();
		String t5 = "Sample Paragraph Post. This is a sample Paragraph post. Sample Paragraph text is being cut and pasted again and again. This is a sample Paragraph post. peru-duellmans-poison-dart-frog.";
		r5.setText(t5);

		// make StrikeThrough
		r5.setStrikeThrough(true);

		// create a paragraph with Underlined text
		XWPFParagraph p6 = doc.createParagraph();

		// left alignment
		p6.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.LEFT);

		// wrap words
		p6.setWordWrapped(true);

		// XWPFRun object defines a region of text with a common set of
		// properties
		XWPFRun r6 = p6.createRun();
		String t6 = "Sample Paragraph Post. This is a sample Paragraph post. Sample Paragraph text is being cut and pasted again and again. This is a sample Paragraph post. peru-duellmans-poison-dart-frog.";
		r6.setText(t6);

		// make Underlined
		r6.setUnderline(UnderlinePatterns.SINGLE);

		// write to a docx file
		FileOutputStream fo = null;
		try {
			// create .docx file
			fo = new FileOutputStream(outputFileName);

			// write to the .docx file
			doc.write(fo);
		} catch (IOException e) {
		} finally {
			if (fo != null) {
				try {
					fo.close();
				} catch (IOException e) {
					e.printStackTrace();
				}
			}
			if (doc != null) {
				try {
					doc.close();
				} catch (IOException e) {
					e.printStackTrace();
				}
			}
		}
	}

}

Related Posts:

• add images to word document using apache poi
• create table in word document using apache poi
• create header and footer in word document using apache poi

Testing the Application

Run the above class to see the output in WordDocx.docx file. The file is created under root directory of the project.

Now open the created word document you should see the expected output similar to below image.

Hope you have got an idea how to create a word document using apache poi.

Source Code

Download

Thanks for reading.

Microsoft Word Processing in Java with Apache POI

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
    <artifactId>poi-ooxml</artifactId>
    <version>3.15</version>
</dependency>

public static String logo = "logo-leaf.png";
public static String paragraph1 = "poi-word-para1.txt";
public static String paragraph2 = "poi-word-para2.txt";
public static String paragraph3 = "poi-word-para3.txt";
public static String output = "rest-with-spring.docx";

public String convertTextFileToString(String fileName) {
    try (Stream<String> stream
      = Files.lines(Paths.get(ClassLoader.getSystemResource(fileName).toURI()))) {

        return stream.collect(Collectors.joining(" "));
    } catch (IOException | URISyntaxException e) {
        return null;
    }
}

XWPFDocument document = new XWPFDocument();

XWPFParagraph title = document.createParagraph();
title.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.CENTER);

XWPFRun titleRun = title.createRun();
titleRun.setText("Build Your REST API with Spring");
titleRun.setColor("009933");
titleRun.setBold(true);
titleRun.setFontFamily("Courier");
titleRun.setFontSize(20);

XWPFParagraph subTitle = document.createParagraph();
subTitle.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.CENTER);

XWPFRun subTitleRun = subTitle.createRun();
subTitleRun.setText("from HTTP fundamentals to API Mastery");
subTitleRun.setColor("00CC44");
subTitleRun.setFontFamily("Courier");
subTitleRun.setFontSize(16);
subTitleRun.setTextPosition(20);
subTitleRun.setUnderline(UnderlinePatterns.DOT_DOT_DASH);

XWPFParagraph image = document.createParagraph();
image.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.CENTER);

XWPFRun imageRun = image.createRun();
imageRun.setTextPosition(20);

Path imagePath = Paths.get(ClassLoader.getSystemResource(logo).toURI());
imageRun.addPicture(Files.newInputStream(imagePath),
  XWPFDocument.PICTURE_TYPE_PNG, imagePath.getFileName().toString(),
  Units.toEMU(50), Units.toEMU(50));

XWPFParagraph para1 = document.createParagraph();
para1.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.BOTH);
String string1 = convertTextFileToString(paragraph1);
XWPFRun para1Run = para1.createRun();
para1Run.setText(string1);

XWPFParagraph para2 = document.createParagraph();
para2.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.RIGHT);
String string2 = convertTextFileToString(paragraph2);
XWPFRun para2Run = para2.createRun();
para2Run.setText(string2);
para2Run.setItalic(true);

XWPFParagraph para3 = document.createParagraph();
para3.setAlignment(ParagraphAlignment.LEFT);
String string3 = convertTextFileToString(paragraph3);
XWPFRun para3Run = para3.createRun();
para3Run.setText(string3);

FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(output);
document.write(out);
out.close();
document.close();

static WordDocument wordDocument;

@BeforeClass
public static void generateMSWordFile() throws Exception {
    WordTest.wordDocument = new WordDocument();
    wordDocument.handleSimpleDoc();
}

Path msWordPath = Paths.get(WordDocument.output);
XWPFDocument document = new XWPFDocument(Files.newInputStream(msWordPath));
List<XWPFParagraph> paragraphs = document.getParagraphs();
document.close();

XWPFParagraph title = paragraphs.get(0);
XWPFRun titleRun = title.getRuns().get(0);

assertEquals("Build Your REST API with Spring", title.getText());
assertEquals("009933", titleRun.getColor());
assertTrue(titleRun.isBold());
assertEquals("Courier", titleRun.getFontFamily());
assertEquals(20, titleRun.getFontSize());

assertEquals("from HTTP fundamentals to API Mastery",
  paragraphs.get(1).getText());
assertEquals("What makes a good API?", paragraphs.get(3).getText());
assertEquals(wordDocument.convertTextFileToString
  (WordDocument.paragraph1), paragraphs.get(4).getText());
assertEquals(wordDocument.convertTextFileToString
  (WordDocument.paragraph2), paragraphs.get(5).getText());
assertEquals(wordDocument.convertTextFileToString
  (WordDocument.paragraph3), paragraphs.get(6).getText());

In this article we will be discussing about ways and techniques to read word documents in Java using Apache POI library. The word document may contain images, tables or plain text. Apart from this a standard word file has header and footers too. Here in the following examples we will be parsing a word document by reading its different paragraph, runs, images, tables along with headers and footers. We will also take a look into identifying different styles associated with the paragraphs such as font-size, font-family, font-color etc.

Maven Dependencies

Following is the poi maven depedency required to read word documents. For latest artifacts visit here

pom.xml

	<dependencies>
		<dependency>
                     <groupId>org.apache.poi</groupId>
                     <artifactId>poi-ooxml</artifactId>
		     <version>3.16</version>
                 </dependency>
	</dependencies>

Reading Complete Text from Word Document

The class XWPFDocument has many methods defined to read and extract .docx file contents. getText() can be used to read all the texts in a .docx word document. Following is an example.

TextReader.java

public class TextReader {
	
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	 try {
		   FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("test.docx");
		   XWPFDocument xdoc = new XWPFDocument(OPCPackage.open(fis));
		   XWPFWordExtractor extractor = new XWPFWordExtractor(xdoc);
		   System.out.println(extractor.getText());
		} catch(Exception ex) {
		    ex.printStackTrace();
		}
 }

}

Reading Headers and Foooters of Word Document

Apache POI provides inbuilt methods to read headers and footers of a word document. Following is an example that reads and prints header and footer of a word document. The example .docx file is available in the source which can be downloaded at the end of thos article.

HeaderFooter.java

public class HeaderFooterReader {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		
		try {
			FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("test.docx");
			XWPFDocument xdoc = new XWPFDocument(OPCPackage.open(fis));
			XWPFHeaderFooterPolicy policy = new XWPFHeaderFooterPolicy(xdoc);

			XWPFHeader header = policy.getDefaultHeader();
			if (header != null) {
				System.out.println(header.getText());
			}

			XWPFFooter footer = policy.getDefaultFooter();
			if (footer != null) {
				System.out.println(footer.getText());
			}
		} catch (Exception ex) {
			ex.printStackTrace();
		}

	}

}

Output

This is Header

This is footer

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Read Each Paragraph of a Word Document

Among the many methods defined in XWPFDocument class, we can use getParagraphs() to read a .docx word document paragraph wise.This method returns a list of all the paragraphs(XWPFParagraph) of a word document. Again the XWPFParagraph has many utils method defined to extract information related to any paragraph such as text alignment, style associated with the paragrpahs.

To have more control over the text reading of a word document,each paragraph is again divided into multiple runs. Run defines a region of text with a common set of properties.Following is an example to read paragraphs from a .docx word document.

ParagraphReader.java

public class ParagraphReader {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		try {
			FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("test.docx");
			XWPFDocument xdoc = new XWPFDocument(OPCPackage.open(fis));

			List paragraphList = xdoc.getParagraphs();

			for (XWPFParagraph paragraph : paragraphList) {

				System.out.println(paragraph.getText());
				System.out.println(paragraph.getAlignment());
				System.out.print(paragraph.getRuns().size());
				System.out.println(paragraph.getStyle());

				// Returns numbering format for this paragraph, eg bullet or lowerLetter.
				System.out.println(paragraph.getNumFmt());
				System.out.println(paragraph.getAlignment());

				System.out.println(paragraph.isWordWrapped());

				System.out.println("********************************************************************");
			}
		} catch (Exception ex) {
			ex.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
}

Reading Tables from Word Document

Following is an example to read tables present in a word document. It will print all the text rows wise.

TableReader.java

public class TableReader {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		try {
			FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("test.docx");
			XWPFDocument xdoc = new XWPFDocument(OPCPackage.open(fis));
			Iterator bodyElementIterator = xdoc.getBodyElementsIterator();
			while (bodyElementIterator.hasNext()) {
				IBodyElement element = bodyElementIterator.next();

				if ("TABLE".equalsIgnoreCase(element.getElementType().name())) {
					List tableList = element.getBody().getTables();
					for (XWPFTable table : tableList) {
						System.out.println("Total Number of Rows of Table:" + table.getNumberOfRows());
						for (int i = 0; i < table.getRows().size(); i++) {

							for (int j = 0; j < table.getRow(i).getTableCells().size(); j++) {
								System.out.println(table.getRow(i).getCell(j).getText());
							}
						}
					}
				}
			}
		} catch (Exception ex) {
			ex.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
}

Reading Styles from Word Document

Styles are associated with runs of a paragraph. There are many methods available in the XWPFRun class to identify the styles associated with the text.There are methods to identify boldness, highlighted words, capitalized words etc.

StyleReader.java

public class StyleReader {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		try {
			FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("test.docx");
			XWPFDocument xdoc = new XWPFDocument(OPCPackage.open(fis));

			List paragraphList = xdoc.getParagraphs();

			for (XWPFParagraph paragraph : paragraphList) {

				for (XWPFRun rn : paragraph.getRuns()) {

					System.out.println(rn.isBold());
					System.out.println(rn.isHighlighted());
					System.out.println(rn.isCapitalized());
					System.out.println(rn.getFontSize());
				}

				System.out.println("********************************************************************");
			}
		} catch (Exception ex) {
			ex.printStackTrace();
		}

	}

}

Reading Image from Word Document

Following is an example to read image files from a word document.

public class ImageReader {

	public static void main(String[] args) {

		try {
			FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("test.docx");
			XWPFDocument xdoc = new XWPFDocument(OPCPackage.open(fis));
			List pic = xdoc.getAllPictures();
			if (!pic.isEmpty()) {
				System.out.print(pic.get(0).getPictureType());
				System.out.print(pic.get(0).getData());
			}

		} catch (Exception ex) {
			ex.printStackTrace();
		}
	}

}

Conclusion

I hope this article served you that you were looking for. If you have anything that you want to add or share then please share it below in the comment section.

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