Remove a document part from a package

This topic shows how to use the classes in the Open XML SDK for Office to remove a document part (file) from a Wordprocessing document programmatically.

Packages and Document Parts

An Open XML document is stored as a package, whose format is defined by ISO/IEC 29500-2. The package can have multiple parts with relationships between them. The relationship between parts controls the category of the document. A document can be defined as a word-processing document if its package-relationship item contains a relationship to a main document part. If its package-relationship item contains a relationship to a presentation part it can be defined as a presentation document. If its package-relationship item contains a relationship to a workbook part, it is defined as a spreadsheet document. In this how-to topic, you will use a word-processing document package.

Getting a WordprocessingDocument Object

The code example starts with opening a package file by passing a file name as an argument to one of the overloaded Open() methods of the DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging.WordprocessingDocument that takes a string and a Boolean value that specifies whether the file should be opened in read/write mode or not. In this case, the Boolean value is true specifying that the file should be opened in read/write mode.

    // Open a Wordprocessing document for editing.
    using (WordprocessingDocument wordDoc = WordprocessingDocument.Open(document, true))
    {
          // Insert other code here.
    }

    ' Open a Wordprocessing document for editing.
    Using wordDoc As WordprocessingDocument = WordprocessingDocument.Open(document, True)
        ' Insert other code here.
    End Using

The using statement provides a recommended alternative to the typical .Create, .Save, .Close sequence. It ensures that the Dispose method (internal method used by the Open XML SDK to clean up resources) is automatically called when the closing brace is reached. The block that follows the using statement establishes a scope for the object that is created or named in the using statement, in this case wordDoc. Because the WordprocessingDocument class in the Open XML SDK automatically saves and closes the object as part of its System.IDisposable implementation, and because the Dispose method is automatically called when you exit the block; you do not have to explicitly call Save and Close─as long as you use using.

Structure of a WordProcessingML Document

The basic document structure of a WordProcessingML document consists of the document and body elements, followed by one or more block level elements such as p, which represents a paragraph. A paragraph contains one or more r elements. The r stands for run, which is a region of text with a common set of properties, such as formatting. A run contains one or more t elements. The t element contains a range of text. The following code example shows the WordprocessingML markup for a document that contains the text "Example text."

    <w:document xmlns:w="https://schemas.openxmlformats.org/wordprocessingml/2006/main">
      <w:body>
        <w:p>
          <w:r>
            <w:t>Example text.</w:t>
          </w:r>
        </w:p>
      </w:body>
    </w:document>

Using the Open XML SDK, you can create document structure and content using strongly-typed classes that correspond to WordprocessingML elements. You will find these classes in the DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing namespace. The following table lists the class names of the classes that correspond to the document, body, p, r, and t elements.

For more information about the overall structure of the parts and elements of a WordprocessingML document, see Structure of a WordprocessingML document.

Settings Element

The following text from the ISO/IEC 29500 specification introduces the settings element in a PresentationML package.

This element specifies the settings that are applied to a WordprocessingML document. This element is the root element of the Document Settings part in a WordprocessingML document.
Example: Consider the following WordprocessingML fragment for the settings part of a document:

    <w:settings>
      <w:defaultTabStop w:val="720" />
      <w:characterSpacingControl w:val="dontCompress" />
    </w:settings>

The settings element contains all of the settings for this document. In this case, the two settings applied are automatic tab stop increments of 0.5" using the defaultTabStop element, and no character level white space compression using the characterSpacingControl element.

© ISO/IEC29500: 2008.

How the Sample Code Works

After you have opened the document, in the using statement, as a WordprocessingDocument object, you create a reference to the DocumentSettingsPart part. You can then check if that part exists, if so, delete that part from the package. In this instance, the settings.xml part is removed from the package.

    MainDocumentPart mainPart = wordDoc.MainDocumentPart;
    if (mainPart.DocumentSettingsPart != null)
    {
        mainPart.DeletePart(mainPart.DocumentSettingsPart);
    }

    Dim mainPart As MainDocumentPart = wordDoc.MainDocumentPart
    If mainPart.DocumentSettingsPart IsNot Nothing Then
        mainPart.DeletePart(mainPart.DocumentSettingsPart)
    End If

Sample Code

The following code removes a document part from a package. To run the program, call the method RemovePart like this example.

    string document = @"C:\Users\Public\Documents\MyPkg6.docx";
    RemovePart(document);

    Dim document As String = "C:\Users\Public\Documents\MyPkg6.docx"
    RemovePart(document)

Following is the complete code example in both C# and Visual Basic.

using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging;

RemovePart(args[0]);

// To remove a document part from a package.
static void RemovePart(string document)
{
    using (WordprocessingDocument wordDoc = WordprocessingDocument.Open(document, true))
    {
        MainDocumentPart? mainPart = wordDoc.MainDocumentPart;

        if (mainPart is not null && mainPart.DocumentSettingsPart is not null)
        {
            mainPart.DeletePart(mainPart.DocumentSettingsPart);
        }
    }
}

Imports DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Packaging


Module MyModule

    Sub Main(args As String())
    End Sub

    ' To remove a document part from a package.
    Public Sub RemovePart(ByVal document As String)
        Dim wordDoc As WordprocessingDocument = WordprocessingDocument.Open(document, True)
        Dim mainPart As MainDocumentPart = wordDoc.MainDocumentPart
        If ((mainPart.DocumentSettingsPart) IsNot Nothing) Then
            mainPart.DeletePart(mainPart.DocumentSettingsPart)
        End If
    End Sub
End Module

See also

• Open XML SDK class library reference