Extract text from text boxes word

A text box’s purpose is to allow the user to input text information to be used by the program. Also the existing text information can be extracted from the text box. The following guide focuses on introducing how to extract text from text box in a Word document in C# via Spire.Doc for .NET.

Firstly, check out the text box information in the word document.

Secondly, download Spire.Doc and install on your system. The Spire.Doc installation is clean, professional and wrapped up in a MSI installer.

Then adds Spire.Doc.dll as reference in the downloaded Bin folder though the below path: «..Spire.DocBinNET4.0 Spire.Doc.dll».

Now it comes to the steps of how to extract text from text boxes.

Step 1: Load a word document from the file.

Document document = new Document();
document.LoadFromFile(@"....Test.docx");

Step 2: Check whether text box exists in the documents.

//Verify whether the document contains a textbox or not
if (document.TextBoxes.Count > 0)

Step 3: Initialize a StreamWriter class for saving text which will be extracted next

using (StreamWriter sw = File.CreateText("result.txt"))

Step 4: Extracted the text from text boxes.

//Traverse the document
foreach (Section section in document.Sections)
{
 foreach (Paragraph p in section.Paragraphs)
{
foreach (DocumentObject obj in p.ChildObjects)

//Extract text from paragraph in TextBox
if (objt.DocumentObjectType == DocumentObjectType.Paragraph)
{
  sw.Write((objt as Paragraph).Text)
 }
//Extract text from Table in TextBox
if (objt.DocumentObjectType == DocumentObjectType.Table)
 {
  Table table = objt as Table;
  ExtractTextFromTables(table, sw);
}
//Extract text from Table 
static void ExtractTextFromTables(Table table, StreamWriter sw)
{
for (int i = 0; i < table.Rows.Count; i++)
            {
                TableRow row = table.Rows[i];
                for (int j = 0; j < row.Cells.Count; j++)
                {
                    TableCell cell = row.Cells[j];
                    foreach (Paragraph paragraph in cell.Paragraphs)
                    {
                        sw.Write(paragraph.Text);
                    }
                }
            }
}

After debugging, the following result will be presented:

The full code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Spire.Doc;
using Spire.Doc.Fields;
using System.IO;
using Spire.Doc.Documents;
namespace ExtractTextFromTextBoxes
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Document document = new Document();
            document.LoadFromFile(@"....Test.docx");

            //Verify whether the document contains a textbox or not
            if (document.TextBoxes.Count > 0)
            {
                using (StreamWriter sw = File.CreateText("result.txt"))
                {
                    foreach (Section section in document.Sections)
                    {
                        foreach (Paragraph p in section.Paragraphs)
                        {
                            foreach (DocumentObject obj in p.ChildObjects)
                            {
                                if (obj.DocumentObjectType == DocumentObjectType.TextBox)
                                {
                                    TextBox textbox = obj as TextBox;
                                    foreach (DocumentObject objt in textbox.ChildObjects)
                                    {
                                        if (objt.DocumentObjectType == DocumentObjectType.Paragraph)
                                        {
                                            sw.Write((objt as Paragraph).Text);
                                        }

                                        if (objt.DocumentObjectType == DocumentObjectType.Table)
                                        {
                                            Table table = objt as Table;
                                            ExtractTextFromTables(table, sw);
                                        }
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        static void ExtractTextFromTables(Table table, StreamWriter sw)
        {
            for (int i = 0; i < table.Rows.Count; i++)
            {
                TableRow row = table.Rows[i];
                for (int j = 0; j < row.Cells.Count; j++)
                {
                    TableCell cell = row.Cells[j];
                    foreach (Paragraph paragraph in cell.Paragraphs)
                    {
                        sw.Write(paragraph.Text);
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Let’s say you are editing a document and you want to remove all text boxes without altering the text. 

This won’t be a problem if you only have a couple of text boxes to delete. However, it will surely be a nightmare if you have a hundred-page file with most pages having at least one  text box.

In this article we will share methods to preserve text while deleting the text boxes in the word document.

Now, there are about three ways to delete a text box without deleting text.

• By Copying and Pasting
• Using the Selection Pane
• Using Macros

Method 1: Remove Text Box By Copying and Pasting

Here’s how you can copy and paste the text from a text box. 

Step 1: Open up a Word file.

Remember to insert a text box or simply copy and paste one of yours if you opted to use a blank document.

Step 2: Copy the text from the text box.

Once you have your document ready, double-click on one of the text boxes that you want to delete. Select the text inside  and press the Ctrl + C keys to copy. 

You can also copy the selected text by right-clicking on your mouse and selecting Copy from the drop-down menu.

Step 3: Paste the text on a space outside the text box.

Once you’ve copied the text, place your cursor to your desired location. Then, simply press Ctrl + V on your keyboard to paste the text.

Alternatively, you can right-click on your mouse and select Paste from the options. 

Step 4: Delete the text box.

Now that you’ve successfully copied and pasted your text, simply click on any side of the text box and press the Delete key on your keyboard to get rid of it.

There you have it! You’ve successfully deleted a text box without deleting the text inside.

Method 2: Using the Selection Pane

Manually extracting texts from numerous text boxes will surely consume a lot of time. This method introduces a faster approach when handling multiple text boxes.

We’ll show you the steps on how to extract text from all your text boxes using the Selection pane. The Selection pane makes it easier to select objects in Word as it lists down all of the objects present in your document. 

Step 1: Open an MS Word document.

Step 2: Access the Selection pane.

In the Home tab, click the Select button under the Editing group. From the drop-down menu, click on the Selection Pane button. This will display the Selection Pane on the right side of your window. 

On the Selection pane, select all the text boxes on the list by clicking each one while holding the CTRL key. 

Alternatively, you can also click on the edges of the text boxes while holding the CTRL key. Clicking from the inside will allow you to edit the text inside rather than selecting the text box. 

Step 3: Copy the Text Boxes.

Once all the text boxes are selected, press the Ctrl + C keys to copy the text boxes. 

Step 4: Open WordPad.

We’ll then need to open WordPad, which is a text editor that came with your Windows installation.

Note that you can also use other text editors, like Notepad, that are readily available on your computer. 

Step 5: Paste the text boxes on WordPad.

Once you’ve opened WordPad, hit the Ctrl + V keys to paste the text boxes you’ve previously copied.

You’ll now notice that only the texts are retained while the text boxes have been deleted. 

From this point, you can simply copy each text and paste them back into your Word document. 

Congratulations! You’ve successfully used the Selection pane to delete the text boxes in Word without deleting text in it. 

Method 3: Using Macros

This method involves a bit more technical steps. This method will be useful when you have a large number of text boxes in the document.  

Step 1: Open an MS Word document.

Step 2: Create a new Macro.

On an opened document, go to the View tab,then click on the Macros button. This will show the Macros dialogue box in the middle of your screen. 

Type a name for the macro in the Macro name field. For this example, we’ll use the name DeleteTextBox. Make sure that there aren’t any spaces between the words. Then, click the Create button.

You will be directed to the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, a.k.a. VBA, on a new window. This is where we’ll create the macros for our document. 

Note that this is a different window than your MS Word.

Step 3: Create the macro. 

Create the macro by simply copying the VBA code below. We’ve secured this VBA code for you from an online resource. You can visit this site to check out the author and the code. 

Sub DeleteTextBox()

Dim RngDoc As Range, RngShp As Range, i As Long

With ActiveDocument

For i = .Shapes.Count To 1 Step -1

  With .Shapes(i)

  If .Type = msoTextBox Then

  Set RngShp = .TextFrame.TextRange

  RngShp.End = RngShp.End - 1

  Set RngDoc = .Anchor

  RngDoc.Collapse wdCollapseEnd

  RngDoc.FormattedText = RngShp.FormattedText

.Delete

  End If

End With

Next

End With

End Sub

On the VBA window, select all the content in the Normal – NewMacros (code) window and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Then, paste the code you copied above.

Step 4: Save the code.

Click the Save button found in the toolbar just below the Main menu. 

Step 5. Run the macro. 

Switch back to your MS Word window and click on the Macros button again. On the Macros dialogue box, select the macro DeleteTextBox then click the Run button.

Again, note that you may have a different macro name than our example. 

This will delete all the text boxes in your Word document while preserving all the text in it. 

Conclusion

We hope you found this article useful.