We recommend that you read about How WordApplication represents a Word document before reading this article.

How WordApplication insert elements

Each of the elements listed in the document tree structure inherit from the Element class, which provides most of the methods for inserting new elements into a document. WordApplication will allow you to call any Insert method on almost any type of element, but the behavior of that method will change depending on what type of element the method is called on and what type of element the method is inserting.

For example:

To further illustrate this point, we will examine calling InsertTextAfter on a Section

Example: Calling InsertCharacterRunAfter on a Section

This example shows the behavior of WordWriter when inserting an element two levels deeper than the current element.

A CharacterRun must be the child of a Paragraph, but InsertTextAfter can be called on a Section. In this case, a new CharacterRun will be inserted at the end of the last Paragraph in the Section.

//--- doc is a Document object
Section sec = doc.Sections[0];
sec.InsertTextAfter("  New text.", true);

'--- doc is a Document object
Dim sec As Section = doc.Sections(0)
sec.InsertTextAfter(" New text.", True)

To achieve the most predictable behavior, it is recommended practice to call a Create or Insert method on an object appropriate to what is being inserted.

So, for example, instead of calling InsertTextAfter on a Section object as described above, it should be called on a Paragraph, ListEntry, or field contents.

//--- doc is a Document object
Section sec = doc.Sections[0];
Element[] paragraphs = sec.get_Elements(Element.Type.Paragraph);
Paragraph lastParagraph = (Paragraph)paragraphs[paragraphs.Length - 1];
lastParagraph.InsertTextAfter("  New text.", true);

'--- doc is a Document object
Dim sec As Section = doc.Sections(0)
Dim paragraphs As Element[] = sec.Elements(Element.Type.Paragraph)
Dim lastParagraph = CType(paragraphs(paragraphs.Length - 1), Paragraph)
lastParagraph.InsertTextAfter(" New text.", True)

Here is an example Word document before running either of the code samples above:

SCREEN SHOT BEFORE CODE

SCREEN SHOT AFTER CODE

List of Insert Behaviors

The following table lists some common examples of how WordWriter behaves when a Create or Insert method is called on different elements.

Each column represents the following:

Notes:

Parent element

Element to be inserted

InsertXBefore Behavior

InsertXAfter Behavior

Document

Section

New Section is inserted before existing Sections.

New Section is inserted after existing Sections.

Document

Paragraph, List, or Table

Element is inserted in the first Section of the Document before any existing elements in that Section.

Element is inserted in the last Section of the Document after any existing elements in that Section.

Document

CharacterRun, InlineImage, Hyperlink, or MergeField

Element is inserted in the first element (Paragraph, List, or Table) of the first Section of the Document before any existing elements in that first element.

Element is inserted in the last element (Paragraph, List, or Table) of the last Section of the Document after any existing elements in that last element.

Section

Section

New Section is inserted before the current Section.

New Section is inserted after the current Section.

Section

CharacterRun, InlineImage, Hyperlink, or MergeField

Element is inserted in the first element (Paragraph, List, or Table) of this Section before any existing elements in that first element.

Element is inserted in the last element (Paragraph, List, or Table) of this Section after any existing elements in that last element.

List

List

New List is inserted before the current List.

New List is inserted after the current List.

List

CharacterRun, InlineImage, Hyperlink, or MergeField

Element is inserted in the first ListEntry of the List before any existing elements in that ListEntry.

Element is inserted in the last ListEntry of the List after any existing elements in that ListEntry.

Table

Table

Table is inserted in the first TableCell of the current Table before any existing elements in that TableCell.

There is currently an issue with this behavior. New rows are appended to the current Table instead of being added to a new Table.

Table

Paragraph

Paragraph is inserted in the first TableCell of the current Table before any existing elements in that TableCell.

Paragraph is inserted after the Table.

Table

List

List is inserted before the Table. There is currently an issue with this behavior.

The List is inserted after the Table and appears as a TableCell.

Table

CharacterRun, InlineImage, Hyperlink, or MergeField

Element is inserted in the first element (Paragraph, List, or Table) of the first TableCell of the Table before any existing elements in that first element.

Element is inserted in the next element (Paragraph, List, or Table) after the Table, after any existing elements in that next element.