How to extract text from Word document in C# and VB?

Syncfusion® Essential® DocIO is a .NET Word library used to create, read, and edit Word documents programmatically without Microsoft Word or Interop dependencies. Using this library, you can extract text from Word document and save it as another new Word document or plain text file.

This article will show you how to use the method document.GetText() to extract text directly from Word documents in WinForms using the Syncfusion® Word library (Essential® DocIO) in C# and VB.NET.

Steps to extract text from Word document in C#

1. Create a new C# console application project.

2. Install the Syncfusion.DocIO.WinForms NuGet package as a reference to your .NET Framework applications from the NuGet.org.

3. Include the following namespaces in the Program.cs file:

C#

using Syncfusion.DocIO;
using Syncfusion.DocIO.DLS;

VB

Imports Syncfusion.DocIO
Imports Syncfusion.DocIO.DLS

4. Use the following code to extract text from a Word document.

C#

// Loads a template document
WordDocument document = new WordDocument("Template.docx");
// Gets the document text
string text = document.GetText();
// Write the text collection to a text file
System.IO.File.WriteAllText("Sample.txt", text);
// Dispose the document instance 
document.Close();

VB

'Loads a template document 
Dim document As WordDocument = New WordDocument("Template.docx") 
'Gets the document text
Dim text As String = document.GetText() 
'Write the text collection to a text file
System.IO.File.WriteAllText("Sample.txt", text) 
'Dispose the document instance
document.Close()

A complete working example of extracting text from Word document in C# can be downloaded from here.

Input template Word document is as follows:

By executing the program, you will get the output text file as follows:

Take a moment to peruse the documentation, where you can find basic Word document processing options along with features like mail merge, merge and split documents, find and replace text in the Word document, protect the Word documents, and most importantly, PDF and Image conversions with code examples.

Explore more about the rich set of Syncfusion® Word Framework features.

See Also:

Text Conversions in Word Library