Code examples in word

Welcome to our Word VBA / Macros Mega-Guide!

This page contains:

1. 1. Word VBA Tutorial PDF (Free Download)
   2. Word VBA “Cheat Sheet” containing a list of the most commonly used Word VBA code snippets
   3. Full Word VBA / Macro tutorial.
   4. Searchable list of all of our Word VBA Macro Tutorials

You might also be interested in our Interactive VBA Tutorial for Excel.  While some of the examples / exercises are specific to Excel VBA, much of the content is generic to all VBA and you may find it useful to learn concepts like If Statements, Loops, MessageBoxes, and more.

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VBA PDF (Free Downloads)

Download our free Microsoft Word VBA Tutorial! Or VBA Tutorials for other Office Programs!

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Word VBA Examples “CheatSheet”

Below you will find simple VBA code examples for working with Microsoft Word.

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Word VBA Macro Tutorial

This is a tutorial for using VBA with Microsoft Word. This tutorial will teach you how to write a simple Macro and interact with Documents, Ranges, Selections, and Paragraphs.

Note: If you’re brand new to Macros / VBA you might also find this article useful: How to write VBA Macros from Scratch.

VBA is the programming language used to automate Microsoft Office programs including Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Access.

Macros are blocks of VBA code that perform specific tasks.

When you Record a Macro, Word will write VBA code into a Macro, allowing you to repeat your actions. You can see a list of all available Macros from View > Macros.

After recording a Macro, you will be able to edit the Macro from the Macro List:

When you click Edit, you open the VBA Editor. Using the VBA Editor you can edit recorded Macros or write a Word Macro from scratch. To access the VBA Editor use the shortcut ALT + F11 or click Visual Basic from the Developer Ribbon.

Simple Word Macro Example

This is a simple example of a Word VBA Macro. It performs the following tasks:

• Opens a Word Document
• Writes to Document
• Closes and Saves the Word Document.

Sub WordMacroExample()

    'Open Doc & Assign to Variable
    Dim oDoc As Document
    Set oDoc = Documents.Open("c:UserssomeoneNewDocument.docx")
    
    'Write To Doc
    Selection.TypeText "www.automateexcel.com"
    Selection.TypeParagraph
    
    'Save and Close Doc
    oDoc.Save
    oDoc.Close
    
End Sub

Word Macro Basics

All VBA code must be stored within procedures like this. To create a procedure in VBA type “Sub WordMacroExample” (Where “WordMacroExample” is your desired Macro name) and press ENTER. VBA will automatically add the parenthesis and End Sub.

Word Document Object

When interacting with Microsoft Word in VBA, you will frequently reference Word “Objects”. The most common objects are:

Application Object – Microsoft Word itself

Document Object – A Word document

Range Object – A part of a Word document

Selection Object – A selected range or cursor location.

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Application

Application is the “top-level” object. All other objects in Word can be reached through it.

In addition to accessing other Word objects, there are “application-level” settings that can be applied:

Application.Options.AllowDragAndDrop = True

This is an example of accessing the “Selection” of “Windows(1)” with in the Application:

Application.Windows(1).Selection.Characters.Count

However, the most common Word objects can be accessed directly, without typing the full hierarchy. So instead, you can (and should) just type:

Selection.Characters.Count

Documents

ActiveDocument

Often, you will have two or more documents opened in Word and you will need specify which specific Word Document to interact with. One way to specify which document is to use ActiveDocument. For example:

ActiveDocument.PrintOut

…would print the ActiveDocument. The ActiveDocument is the document in Word which “has focus”

To switch the ActiveDocument, use the Activate command:

Documents("Example.docx").Activate

ThisDocument

Instead of using ActiveDocument to reference the active document, you can use ThisDocument to reference the document where the macro is stored. ThisDocument will never change.

ThisDocument.PrintOut

Document Variables

However, for more complicated macros, it can be hard to keep track of the Active Document. It can also be frustrating to switch back and forth between documents.

Instead, you can use Document variables.

This macro will assign the ActiveDocument to a variable and then  print the document using the variable:

Sub VarExample()
    Dim oDoc As Document
    Set oDoc = ActiveDocument
    oDoc.PrintOut
End Sub

Document Methods

Open Document

To Open a Word Document:

Documents.Open "c:UsersSomeOneDesktopTest PM.docx"

We recommend always assigning a Document to a variable upon opening it:

Dim oDoc as Document
Set oDoc = Documents.Open("c:UsersSomeOneDesktopTest PM.docx")

Create New Document

To create a new Word Document:

Documents.Add

We can instruct Word to create a new doc based on some template:

Documents.Add Template:="C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeTemplatesMyTemplate.dotx"

As always, it is useful and huge problem saver to assign document to variable upon creating or opening:

Dim oDoc as Document
Set oDoc = Documents.Add (Template:="C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeTemplatesMyTemplate.dotx")

Save Document

To save a document:

ActiveDocument.Save

or SaveAs:

ActiveDocument.SaveAs FileName:= c:UsersSomeOneDesktoptest2.docx", FileFormat:=wdFormatDocument

Close Document

To close a Document and save changes:

ActiveDocument.Close wdSaveChanges

or without saving changes:

ActiveDocument.Close wdDoNotSaveChanges

Print Document

This will print the active Document:

ActiveDocument.PrintOut

Range, Selection, Paragraphs

Range and Selection are probably the most important objects in Word VBA, certainly the most used.

Range refers to some portion of document, usually, but not necessarily, text.

Selection refers to selected text (or other object like pictures) or, if nothing is selected, an insertion point.

Paragraphs represent paragraphs in document. Its less important than it sounds, because you can’t directly access paragraph text (you need to access particular paragraph range to make modifications).

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Range

Range can be any part of document, including entire document:

Dim oRange As Range
Set oRange = ActiveDocument.Content

or it can be small as one character.

Another example, this range would refer to first word in document:

Dim oRange As Range
Set oRange = ActiveDocument.Range.Words(1)

Usually, you would want to get range which refers to specific part of document and then modify it.

In the following example we will make the first word of second paragraph bold:

Dim oRange As Range
Set oRange = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(2).Range.Words(1)
oRange.Bold = True

Set Range Text

To set the text value of a Range:

Dim oRange As Range
Set oRange = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(2).Range.Words(1)
oRange.Text = “Hello ”

(Tip: Note the space after “Hello”. Because word object includes space after word, with just “hello” we would get “Hellonext word”)

There are hundreds of things which you can do with ranges. Just a few examples (these assume you are already made object variable oRange referring to range of interest):

Change font

oRange.Font.Name = "Arial"

Display in message box number of characters in particular range

MsgBox oRange.Characters.Count

Insert some text before it

oRange.InsertBefore "this is inserted text "

Add a footnote to range

ActiveDocument.Footnotes.Add Range:=oRange, _
Text:="Read more at automateexcel.com."

Copy it to clipboard

oRange.Copy
Often you need to change to what is particular range referring. So you can start it’s start and end
oRange.Start = 5
oRange.End = 50

After above code, oRange would refer to text starting with fifth and ending with 50th character in document.

Selection

Selection is even more widely used than Range, because it is easier to work with Selections than Ranges, IF your macro ONLY interacts with the ActiveDocument.

First select the desired part of your document.  For example select the second paragraph in active document:

ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(2).Range.Select

Then you can use the Selection Object to type some text:

Selection.TypeText "Some text"

We can type some paragraphs bellow “Some text”:

Selection.TypeText "Some text"
Selection.TypeParagraph

Often, it’s necessary to know if some text is selected or we have just a insertion point:

If Selection.Type <> wdSelectionIP Then
    Selection.Font.Bold = True
Else
    MsgBox "You need to select some text."
End If

When working with Selection object we want to place insertion point to particular place, and issue commands starting from this point.

Beginning of document:

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory, Extend:=wdMove

Beginning of current line:

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdLine, Extend:=wdMove

The Extend parameter wdMove moves the insertion point. Instead, you could use wdExtend which will select all text between the current insertion point.

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdLine, Extend:=wdExtend

Move Selection

The most useful method for changing position of insertion point is Move. To move Selection two characters forward:

Selection.Move Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=2

to move it backwards, use negative number for Count parameter:

Selection.Move Unit:=wdCharacter, Count:=-2

Unit parameter can be wdCharacter, wdWord, wdLine, or more (use Word VBA help to see others).

To move words instead:

Selection.Move unit:=wdWord, Count:=2

Selection is easier to work with (compared to ranges) because it is like a robot using Word, mimicking human user. Where Insertion point is – some action would take place. But, this means that you must take care where insertion point is! This is not easy after many steps in code. Otherwise, Word would change text in not desired place.

In the case you need some property or method not available in Selection object you can always easily obtain range associated with selection:

Set oRange = Selection.Range

TIP: Using Selection is often easier than using ranges, but also it’s way slower (important when you deal with big documents)

Paragraphs

You can’t directly use Paragraphs object to change text:

ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).Text = "No, it wouldn't work"

Above wouldn’t work (actually it will throw an error). You need to first obtain range associated with particular paragraph:

ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).Range.Text = "It works now :)"

But you can directly change its style:

ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).Style = "Normal"

or change its paragraph level formatting:

ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).LeftIndent = 10

or maybe you want to keep this paragraph on the same line with next paragraph:

ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).KeepWithNext = True

Make paragraph centered:

ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).Alignment = wdAlignParagraphCenter

It is VERY useful to assign a particular paragraph to object variable.  If we assign particular paragraph to variable we don’t have to worry if the first paragraph becomes the second because we inserted one paragraph before it:

dim oPara as Paragraph
Set oPara = Selection.Paragraphs(1) ‘here we assign first paragraph of current selection to variable

Here is an example where we insert a paragraph above the first paragraph, but we can still reference the old first paragraph because it was assigned to a variable:

Sub ParagraphExample()
    Dim oPara As Paragraph
    Set oPara = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1)
    MsgBox oPara.Range.Text
    oPara.Range.InsertParagraphBefore 'Insert Paragraph
    MsgBox oPara.Range.Text
End Sub

Paragraph object is very frequently used in loops:

Sub LoopThroughParagraphs()

    Dim oPara As Paragraph
    For Each oPara In ActiveDocument.Paragraphs
        'do something with it. We will just display
        'paragraph text if its style is "Heading 4"
        If oPara.Style = "Heading 4" Then
            MsgBox oPara.Range.Text
        End If
    Next oPara

End Sub

Word VBA Tutorial Conclusion

This tutorial covered the basics of Word VBA. If you’re new to VBA, you should also review our general VBA Tutorial to learn more about Variables, Loops, MessageBoxes, Settings, Conditional Logic and much more.

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Word Macro Examples

Word VBA FAQs

What is a Word Macro?

A Macro is a general term that refers to a set of programming instructions that automates tasks. Word Macros automate tasks in Word using the VBA programming language.

Does word have VBA?

Yes, Microsoft Word has the VBA Editor. It can be accessed with by pressing ALT + F11 or by navigating to Developer > Visual Basic.

How do I use VBA in Word?

1. Open the VBA Editor (ALT + F11 or Developer > Visual Basic)
2. Go to Insert > Module to create a Code Module
3. Type ‘Sub HelloWorld’ and press Enter
4. In between the lines ‘Sub HelloWorld’ and ‘End Sub’, type ‘MsgBox “Hello World!’
5. You’ve created a Macro!
6. Now press ‘F5’ to run the Macro

16 Answers

Finding a way to decently show our source code on the web recently became a rather trivial task thanks to many JavaScript + CSS based libraries such as highlightjs, PrismJS, Prettify, SyntaxHighlighter & more. It’s not so easy to achieve the same results inside a text-editing software such as MS Word, to the point that I’ve seen more than few devs adopting the awful & dreadful screenshot method, which consist in blindly capture a portion of their developer framework GUI and then embedding it as an image inside the Word document.

Should we do that? Of course no! There is at least one better way to do that, which also is far less intrusive (and size-intensive) and also gives us the chance to modify/review our code snippet after it has been pasted. Let’s see how we can do it.

• Open MS Word and place the cursor where you want to paste the snippet.
• Go to the Insert tab, from there click to the Object… button close to the right-end of the toolbar. A popup will show up: select OpenDocument Text.
• A new «embedded» document will appear: go to your favourite Developer Framework, such as Visual Studio, Eclipse, Android Studio, Notepad++ or the one doing the highlight the way you want it to be. Copy the code from there and paste it to the new document.
• Save and close the new document.

Your efforts will be rewarded with something like that:

This solution, other than being visually nice, grants you the following benefits:

• the source code will be entirely editable.
• all the layout, coloring, spaces, tabs, linefeeds from the developer framework will be kept.
• the code will be treated like a separated, embedded element, just like images and charts, so you’ll be able to move, resize, shape, applying borders, shadows, background color and basically anything else you want to and/or Word allows.
• the code won’t be affected by grammar checker, meaning that spelling errors won’t be highlighted in the code: no red underlining, yay!
• it takes only few seconds to do it  — you’ll love that if you need to insert multiple snippets.
• It works on all Word builds since 2007: Word 2007, Word 2010, Word 2013 and newer versions.

If you find an even better way, please let me know.

Meanwhile… Happy coding!

IT Project Manager, Web Interface Architect and Lead Developer for many high-traffic web sites & services hosted in Italy and Europe. Since 2010 it’s also a lead designer for many App and games for Android, iOS and Windows Phone mobile devices for a number of italian companies. Microsoft MVP for Development Technologies since 2018.

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Hi fellow developer! In this article, we will answer the question: How do you Display Code Snippets in Microsoft Word?

The Sample code snippet we want to include in a Word document

Below, you can see an example of a code snippet to be included in our Word document:

SELECT *
FROM table1 t1
INNER JOIN table2 t2 ON t1.ID=t2.ID;
GO

The above code snippet is actually an SQL statement and we want to include it in a word document as a snippet.

How to include the code snippet in a Word document

The easiest way to include the above code snippet in a Word document, is to insert it as an object.

Therefore, in order to do this, you need to follow the below steps, within your Word document:

• Navigate to the “Insert” tab in the Word ribbon (menu)
• Click on “Object”
• Select “OpenDocument Text” and click OK – a new Word window/doc launches:

• Within the new Word window:
  • Type or paste your code with no spacing
  • Select all text and add a border (outside borders)
  • Select all text and add shading (grey for example)
  • Exit the document

• After you perform the above, you can see that you will return to the original Word document, and this time, a formatted code snippet box with the text you pasted/typed, will be displayed.

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Artemakis Artemiou is a Senior SQL Server Architect, Author, a 9 Times Microsoft Data Platform MVP (2009-2018). He has over 15 years of experience in the IT industry in various roles. Artemakis is the founder of SQLNetHub and {essentialDevTips.com}. Artemakis is the creator of the well-known software tools Snippets Generator and DBA Security Advisor. Also, he is the author of many eBooks on SQL Server. Artemakis currently serves as the President of the Cyprus .NET User Group (CDNUG) and the International .NET Association Country Leader for Cyprus (INETA). Moreover, Artemakis teaches on Udemy, you can check his courses here.

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