OPEN XML add custom not visible data to paragraph/table

Question

Is there a way to store additional data for a paragraph, that would be persisted after user opens and saves a document in MS Word.

Ive been using CusotmXML for this, but it turns out that this is no logner possible due to the fact that MS-Word strips all CusotmXML elements from the document structure.

Every single paragraph or a table has an ID that I would like to "pair back" to my data-source. So later when I read the docx again I can identify origins of every unchanged paragraph/table in the document.

Answer 1

A possibility would be to insert a SET field. This creates a bookmark in the document to which you can assign information. There's no way to protect it from the user removing it, however. A DATA field might also be a possibility.

Unlike "vanish" (which I believe is equivalent to "hidden" font format) the information would not display if the user is in the habit of displaying non-printing information. It will display, however, if the user toggles on field codes (Alt+F9).

Answer 2

You can have a divId on a paragraph, and in xmlns:w14="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/word/2010/wordml" there are attributes w14:textId and w14:paraId.

For example:

<w:p w14:textId="81a184ad" w14:paraId="81a184ad" >
  <w:pPr>
    <w:divId w:val="124349312"/>

See [MS-Docx] for details.

Alternatively, have a look at content controls, which you can wrap around paragraphs and tables (or put inside them). These have an ID property; they also let you store arbitrary text in their tag property. The string is limited in length to something like 120 chars.

Answer 3

A rather noddy solution, but have you cosidered using a custom run for your data and hiding it from displaying using Vanish

<w:rPr>
   <w:vanish />
</w:rPr>

Adding vanish to run properties will hide the run from displaying and you might use this to store custom data with out affecting the output of the document.