Duplicating Word document using OpenXml and C#

calendar_today Asked Jul 17, 2009
thumb_up 8 upvotes
history Updated April 16, 2026

Question posted 2009 · +5 upvotes

I am using Word and OpenXml to provide mail merge functionality in a C# ASP.NET web application:

1) A document is uploaded with a number of pre-defined strings for substitution.

2) Using the OpenXML SDK 2.0 I open the Word document, get the mainDocumentPart as a string and perform the substitution using Regex.

3) I then create a new document using OpenXML, add a new mainDocumentPart and insert the string resulting from the substitution into this mainDocumentPart.

However, all formatting/styles etc. are lost in the new document.

I’m guessing I can copy and add the Style, Definitions, Comment parts etc.. individually to mimic the orginal document.

However is there a method using Open XML to duplicate a document allowing me to perform the substitutions on the new copy?

Thanks.

Accepted answer +8 upvotes

This piece of code should copy all parts from an existing document to a new one.

using (var mainDoc = WordprocessingDocument.Open(@"c:sourcedoc.docx", false))
using (var resultDoc = WordprocessingDocument.Create(@"c:newdoc.docx",
  WordprocessingDocumentType.Document))
{
  // copy parts from source document to new document
  foreach (var part in mainDoc.Parts)
    resultDoc.AddPart(part.OpenXmlPart, part.RelationshipId);
  // perform replacements in resultDoc.MainDocumentPart
  // ...
}

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