C#/VB.NET: Add Document Properties to Word Documents

Document properties (also known as metadata) are a set of information about a document. All Word documents come with a set of built-in document properties, including title, author name, subject, keywords, etc. In addition to the built-in document properties, Microsoft Word also allows users to add custom document properties to Word documents. In this article, we will explain how to add these document properties to Word documents in C# and VB.NET using Spire.Doc for .NET.

Install Spire.Doc for .NET

To begin with, you need to add the DLL files included in the Spire.Doc for.NET package as references in your .NET project. The DLL files can be either downloaded from this link or installed via NuGet.

PM> Install-Package Spire.Doc

Add Built-in Document Properties to a Word Document in C# and VB.NET

A built-in document property consists of a name and a value. You cannot set or change the name of a built-in document property as it's predefined by Microsoft Word, but you can set or change its value. The following steps demonstrate how to set values for built-in document properties in a Word document:

  • Initialize an instance of Document class.
  • Load a Word document using Document.LoadFromFile() method.
  • Get the built-in document properties of the document through Document.BuiltinDocumentProperties property.
  • Set values for specific document properties such as title, subject and author through Title, Subject and Author properties of BuiltinDocumentProperties class.
  • Save the result document using Document.SaveToFile() method.
  • C#
  • VB.NET
using Spire.Doc;

namespace BuiltinDocumentProperties
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            //Create a Document instance
            Document document = new Document();
            //Load a Word document
            document.LoadFromFile("Sample.docx");

            //Add built-in document properties to the document
            BuiltinDocumentProperties standardProperties = document.BuiltinDocumentProperties;
            standardProperties.Title = "Add Document Properties";
            standardProperties.Subject = "C# Example";
            standardProperties.Author = "James";
            standardProperties.Company = "Eiceblue";
            standardProperties.Manager = "Michael";
            standardProperties.Category = "Document Manipulation";
            standardProperties.Keywords = "C#, Word, Document Properties";
            standardProperties.Comments = "This article shows how to add document properties";

            //Save the result document
            document.SaveToFile("StandardDocumentProperties.docx", FileFormat.Docx2013);
        }
    }
}

C#/VB.NET: Add Document Properties to Word Documents

Add Custom Document Properties to a Word Document in C# and VB.NET

A custom document property can be defined by a document author or user. Each custom document property should contain a name, a value and a data type. The data type can be one of these four types: Text, Date, Number and Yes or No. The following steps demonstrate how to add custom document properties with different data types to a Word document:

  • Initialize an instance of Document class.
  • Load a Word document using Document.LoadFromFile() method.
  • Get the custom document properties of the document through Document.CustomDocumentProperties property.
  • Add custom document properties with different data types to the document using CustomDocumentProperties.Add(string, object) method.
  • Save the result document using Document.SaveToFile() method.
  • C#
  • VB.NET
using Spire.Doc;
using System;

namespace CustomDocumentProperties
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            //Create a Document instance
            Document document = new Document();
            //Load a Word document
            document.LoadFromFile("Sample.docx");

            //Add custom document properties to the document
            CustomDocumentProperties customProperties = document.CustomDocumentProperties;
            customProperties.Add("Document ID", 1);
            customProperties.Add("Authorized", true);
            customProperties.Add("Authorized By", "John Smith");
            customProperties.Add("Authorized Date", DateTime.Today);

            //Save the result document
            document.SaveToFile("CustomDocumentProperties.docx", FileFormat.Docx2013);
        }
    }
}

C#/VB.NET: Add Document Properties to Word Documents

Apply for a Temporary License

If you'd like to remove the evaluation message from the generated documents, or to get rid of the function limitations, please request a 30-day trial license for yourself.

Additional Info

  • tutorial_title:
Last modified on Wednesday, 31 May 2023 08:58