CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythondocxpython-docx
Alessandro Power
Alessandro Power

Reputation: 2472

I can't change the style of text in Word documents with Python-docx

I created a word document which contains the text

Hello. You owe me ${debt}. Please pay me back soon.

in Times New Roman size 12. The file name is debtTemplate.docx. I would like to replace {debt} by an actual number (1.20) using python-docx. I tried that following code:

from docx import Document

document = Document("debtTemplate.docx")
paragraphs = document.paragraphs

debt = "1.20"

paragraph = paragraphs[0]
text = paragraph.text
newText = text.format(debt=debt)
paragraph.clear()
paragraph.add_run(newText)

document.save("debt.docx")

This results in a new document with the desired text, but in Calabri font size 11. I would like the font to be like the original: Times New Roman size 12.

I know that you can add a style variable to paragraph.add_run(), so I tried that but nothing work. Eg paragraph.add_run(newText,style="Strong") didn't even change anything.

Does anyone know what I can do?

EDIT: here's a modified version of my code that I had hoped would work but didn't.

from docx import Document

document = Document("debtTemplate.docx")
document.save("debt.docx")
paragraphs = document.paragraphs

debt = "1.20"

paragraph = paragraphs[0]
style = paragraph.style
text = paragraph.text
newText = text.format(debt=debt)
paragraph.clear()
paragraph.add_run(newText,style)
document.save("debt.docx")

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2206

Answers (1)

scanny
scanny

Reputation: 28903

This page in the docs should help you understand why the style is not having an effect. It's a pretty easy fix: http://python-docx.readthedocs.org/en/latest/user/styles.html

I like a couple other things about what you've found though:

  1. Using the str.format() method to do placeholder replacement is a nice, easy way to do lightweight text replacement. I'll have to add that to the documentation as an approach to simple custom document generation.

  2. In the XML for a paragraph, there is an optional element called <w:defRPr> which Word uses to indicates the default formatting for any new text added to the paragraph, like if you started typing after placing your insertion point at the end of the paragraph. Right now, python-docx ignores that element. That's why you're getting the default Calibri 11 instead of the Times New Roman 12 you started with. But a useful feature might be to use that element, if present, to assign run properties to any new runs added at the end of the paragraph. If you want to add that as a feature request to the GitHub tracker we'll take a look at getting it implemented.

Upvotes: -1

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