search and replace in Word documents via .NET automation

Question

I have an older project where I want to open a Word document and execute search and replace on it. It worked before when I had older Visual Studio and Office but now I have problems in VS 2012 (with Office 2013 installed). I reference "Microsoft Word 15.0 Object Library" COM reference and I get 3 dll files: ``` Microsoft.Office.Core Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word VBIDE ``` My minimal test code: ``` using Word = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word; ... object fileName = Path.Combine(System.Windows.Forms.Application.StartupPath, "document.doc"); Word.Application wordApp = new Word.Application { Visible = true }; Word.Document aDoc = wordApp.Documents.Open(ref fileName, ReadOnly: true, Visible: true); aDoc.Activate(); Word.Find fnd = wordApp.ActiveWindow.Selection.Find; fnd.ClearFormatting(); fnd.Replacement.ClearFormatting(); fnd.Forward = true; fnd.Wrap = Word.WdFindWrap.wdFindContinue; fnd.Text = "aaa"; fnd.Replacement.Text = "bbb"; fnd.Execute(Replace: Word.WdReplace.wdReplaceAll); ``` This…

Accepted Answer

Before replacing text in the document, change ReadOnly to false in this line:

```
Word.Document aDoc = wordApp.Documents.Open(
    ref fileName, ReadOnly: true, Visible: true);
```

search and replace in Word documents via .NET automation

Solution

Problem