/MailMerge

Merge component for OfficeOpenXml .docx (i.e. Microsoft Word) documents

Primary LanguageC#GNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

MailMerge for docx Documents

dotnet-build-and-test (3.1,6.0)

MailMerge replaces simple and complex merge fields in WordProcessingML .docx files and helps you apply .Net's Xml & XPath tooling to Word documents.

Component Usage

For Streams:

var (outputStream, errors) = new MailMerger().Merge(inputStream, Dictionary);

For Files:

var (ok,errors) = new MailMerger().Merge(inputFileName, Dictionary, outputFileName);

Set the current DateTime for date merge fields on MailMerger.DateTime, e.g. new MailMerger{DateTime=...}

CommandLine Usage

Merge a docx file:

dotnet MailMerge.dll inputFile1 outputFile1 [inputFileN [...outputFileN]] [ key=value [...] ]
  • example:
dotnet MailMerge.dll MyTemplate.docx MyLetterToBill.docx  FirstName=Bill  "LastName=O Reilly"

Show a document's Xml:

dotnet MailMerge.dll  --showxml file [fileN ...]

Component Extension Methods & Helpers

stream.AsWordprocessingDocument(isEditable)
stream.AsXPathDocOfWordprocessingMainDocument(isEditable)
stream.AsXElementOfWordprocessingMainDocument(isEditable)

stream.GetXmlDocumentOfWordprocessingMainDocument()
fileInfo.GetXElementOfWordprocessingMainDocument()
fileInfo.GetXmlDocumentOfWordprocessingMainDocument()

A NamespaceManager, NameTable & Uri which you need when creating an XmlDocument and/or XElements:

var xdoc = new XmlDocument(OoXmlNamespace.Manager.NameTable)
var xelement= mainDocumentPart.CreateElement("w", "t", OoXmlNamespace.WpML2006MainUri)

Settings

None really, but see https://github.com/chrisfcarroll/MailMerge/blob/master/MailMerge/appsettings.json for settable limits. For commandline --showxml usage in scripts, you'll want to set appsettings.json::Logging.LogLevel to Information or higher

Doesn't do

  • Anything except simple fields, complex fields, DATE, PRINTDATE & SAVEDATE fields
  • Date formatting codes except a b B d D M y & h m s
  • Style/Formatting codes except these Date/Time formats
  • Multi-row datasources, just does 1 row at a time

Gotchas

  • Interprets .Net DateTime formatting codes that aren't in the WordProcessingML spec.

NuGet

https://www.nuget.org/packages/MailMerge/

How do I create a Word document with merge fields without attaching a datasource?

https://www.cafe-encounter.net/p2247/add-merge-fields-to-a-word-document-before-adding-a-datasource