How to add bookmarks in the header and footer sections of a Word document?

Syncfusion® Essential® DocIO is a .NET Word library used to create, read, edit, and convert Word documents programmatically without Microsoft Word or interop dependencies. Using this library, you can add bookmarks in the header and footer sections of a Word document using C#.

Steps to add bookmarks in the header and footer sections of a Word document:

1. Create a new .NET Core console application project.
   
   
2. Install the Syncfusion.DocIO.Net.Core NuGet package as a reference to your project from NuGet.org.
   
   

3. Include the following namespaces in the Program.cs file.
   C#

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

4. Use the following code example to add bookmarks in the header and footer sections of a Word document.
   C#

// Load the Word document from the specified path.
using (WordDocument document = new WordDocument(Path.GetFullPath(@"Data/Template.docx")))
{
    // Add bookmarks to various header and footer types in the last section of the document.
    AddBookmarkToHeaderFooter(document, document.LastSection.HeadersFooters.FirstPageHeader, "FirstPageHeader");
    AddBookmarkToHeaderFooter(document, document.LastSection.HeadersFooters.FirstPageFooter, "FirstPageFooter");
    AddBookmarkToHeaderFooter(document, document.LastSection.HeadersFooters.OddHeader, "OddHeader");
    AddBookmarkToHeaderFooter(document, document.LastSection.HeadersFooters.OddFooter, "OddFooter");
    AddBookmarkToHeaderFooter(document, document.LastSection.HeadersFooters.EvenHeader, "EvenHeader");
    AddBookmarkToHeaderFooter(document, document.LastSection.HeadersFooters.EvenFooter, "EvenFooter");

    // Save the modified document to the output path in DOCX format.
    document.Save(Path.GetFullPath(@"Output/Result.docx"), FormatType.Docx);
}

5. Use the following code example to add uniquely named bookmarks to paragraphs and table cells that contain content within the given header or footer section.
   C#

void AddBookmarkToHeaderFooter(WordDocument document, HeaderFooter headerFooter, string bookmarkName)
{
    int bookmarkIndex = 1; // Counter to ensure unique bookmark names

    if (headerFooter.ChildEntities.Count > 0)
    {
        foreach (Entity childEntity in headerFooter.ChildEntities)
        {
            if (childEntity is WParagraph paragraph && paragraph.ChildEntities.Count > 0)
            {
                InsertBookmark(document, paragraph, bookmarkName + bookmarkIndex);
                bookmarkIndex++;
            }
            else if (childEntity is WTable table)
            {
                foreach (WTableRow row in table.Rows)
                {
                    foreach (WTableCell cell in row.Cells)
                    {
                        foreach (Entity cellEntity in cell.ChildEntities)
                        {
                            if (cellEntity is WParagraph cellParagraph && cellParagraph.ChildEntities.Count > 0)
                            {
                                InsertBookmark(document, cellParagraph, bookmarkName + bookmarkIndex);
                                bookmarkIndex++;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

6. Use the following code example to insert a bookmark into the given paragraph with the specified name.
   C#

void InsertBookmark(WordDocument document, WParagraph paragraph, string name)
{
    BookmarkStart bookmarkStart = new BookmarkStart(document, name);
    BookmarkEnd bookmarkEnd = new BookmarkEnd(document, name);
    paragraph.ChildEntities.Insert(0, bookmarkStart);
    paragraph.ChildEntities.Add(bookmarkEnd);
}

You can download a complete working sample to add bookmarks in the header and footer sections of a Word document from GitHub.

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

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed learning about how to add bookmarks in the header and footer sections of a Word document in a .NET Core Word document.

You can refer to our ASP.NET Core DocIO feature tour page to know about its other groundbreaking feature representations and documentation, and how to quickly get started with configuration specifications. You can also explore our ASP.NET Core DocIO example to understand how to create and manipulate data.

For current customers, you can check out our components from the License and Downloads page. If you are new to Syncfusion®, you can try our 30-day free trial to check out our other controls.

If you have any queries or require clarifications, please let us know in the comments section below. You can also contact us through our support forums, Direct-Trac, or feedback portal. We are always happy to assist you!