Replace Text in Word Document

Question

I am using the NetOffice library to edit a Word document. In my document, I have a field "{NAME}" that I would like to replace with a value "John Smith". However, executing the following code does not work. Find.Execute returns false, indicating failure, and no change is reflected in document.Content.Text.

// Open the template
Application word = new Application();
Document document = word.Documents.Open(fileName, false, true);

// Set up initial behavior in word
word.Visible = false;

// Replace template with final values
foreach (LetterField field in fields)
{
    document.Content.Find.ClearFormatting();
    document.Content.Find.Text = "{" + field.Key + "}";
    document.Content.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting();
    document.Content.Find.Replacement.Text = field.Value;
    document.Content.Find.Execute(null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, null, WdReplace.wdReplaceAll);
}

I also tried manually replacing document.Content.Text, but this removes all formatting from the page, which is also undesirable. How can I replace text in a document in NetOffice?

I notice that setting document.Content.Find.Text does not seem to do anything, as checking the value still yields "", even after setting it to something else. Is this intended behavior, or am I missing something?

The document contains the following (copied and pasted):

Date: {DATE}
{NAME}
{ADDRESSLINE}
{ADDRESSCITY}, {ADDRESSSTATE} {ADDRESSCODE}

Some fields are as follows:

<"NAME", "John Smith">
<"DATE", "10/28/2021">

Answer 1

I started with your sample, but, tried with a variation of the Execute method and it works fine for me.

        const string TemplateFileName = @"D:\Dev\SO\MyWordDoc.docx";
        const string ResultFileName = @"D:\Dev\SO\MyWordDoc_new.docx";

        var wordApp = new Application();
        var doc = wordApp.Documents.Open(TemplateFileName, false, true);
        var status = doc.Content.Find.Execute(findText: "{NAME}", 
                                    matchCase: false,
                                    matchWholeWord: false,
                                    matchWildcards: false,
                                    matchSoundsLike: false,
                                    matchAllWordForms: false,
                                    forward: true, //this may be the one
                                    wrap: false,
                                    format: false,
                                    replaceWith: "My Name Value", 
                                    replace: WdReplace.wdReplaceAll
                                    );

        doc.SaveAs(ResultFileName);
        doc.Close();

I used the syntax from: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/Word.Find.Execute

for the different parameters.

It may be that you may need to Execute with forward parameters to be "True", i.e., the 7th parameter.

Result document:

Answer 2

What you're trying to do here looks like it could be achieved by using the Mail Merge feature built into word. The feature is designed to take in a list of contact information and replace placeholder text to produce a document addressed to each person in the list.

Microsoft has some good documentation on how to achieve this which I suggest you check out https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-mail-merge-for-bulk-email-letters-labels-and-envelopes-f488ed5b-b849-4c11-9cff-932c49474705