Reading .docx file in java

Question

I am trying to read one file in java, following is the code :

public void readFile(String fileName){
        try {
        BufferedReader reader= new BufferedReader(new FileReader(fileName)); 
        String line=null;
        while((line=reader.readLine()) != null ){
            System.out.println(line);
        }
        }catch (Exception ex){}
            }

It is working fine in case of txt file. However in case of docx file, it is printing weird characters. How can i read .docx file in Java.

[Apache POI](http://poi.apache.org/) seems to be the most common library used to read Microsoft file formats. — jahroy, May 22 '13 at 03:24
Possible duplicate of [How read Doc or Docx file in java?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7102511/how-read-doc-or-docx-file-in-java) — mlt, Oct 06 '15 at 22:46
`.docx` files are not plain text files, which have a file extension of `.txt`; and they are encoded differently. You would need an API to read it, as suggested by @jahroy above. — Tech Expert Wizard, Nov 11 '20 at 12:58

score 13 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 31 '15 at 08:41

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.util.List;
import org.apache.poi.xwpf.usermodel.XWPFDocument;
import org.apache.poi.xwpf.usermodel.XWPFParagraph;
    public void readDocxFile() {
            try {
                File file = new File("C:/NetBeans Output/documentx.docx");
                FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(file.getAbsolutePath());

                XWPFDocument document = new XWPFDocument(fis);

                List<XWPFParagraph> paragraphs = document.getParagraphs();


                for (XWPFParagraph para : paragraphs) {
                    System.out.println(para.getText());
                }
                fis.close();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }

score 7 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 31 '15 at 15:43

7

Internally .docx files are organized as zipped XML-files, whereas .doc is a binary file format. So you can not read either one directly. Have a look at docx4j or Apache POI.

If you are trying to create or manipulate a .docx file, try docx4j Here is the source

or go for apachePOI

edited Dec 31 '15 at 15:43

morido

1,027
7
24

answered May 22 '13 at 04:55

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

2

You cannot read the docx file or doc file directly. You need to have an API to read word files. Use Apache POI http://poi.apache.org/. If you get any doubts, please refer this thread on stackoverflow.com How read Doc or Docx file in java?

edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

Community

1
1

answered May 22 '13 at 03:24

vkrams

7,267
17
79
129

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Nov 18 '21 at 11:36

you must have following 6 jar:

xmlbeans-2.3.0.jar
dom4j-1.6.1.jar
poi-ooxml-3.8-20120326.jar
poi-ooxml-schemas-3.8-20120326.jar
poi-scratchpad-3.2-FINAL.jar
poi-3.5-FINAL.jar

Code:

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;
import org.apache.poi.hwpf.HWPFDocument;
import org.apache.poi.hwpf.extractor.WordExtractor;
import org.apache.poi.xwpf.usermodel.XWPFDocument;
import org.apache.poi.xwpf.usermodel.XWPFParagraph;
 
public class test {
 public static void readDocxFile(String fileName) {
try {
File file = new File(fileName);
FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(file.getAbsolutePath());
XWPFDocument document = new XWPFDocument(fis);
List<XWPFParagraph> paragraphs = document.getParagraphs();

for(int i=0;i<paragraphs.size();i++){
    System.out.println(paragraphs.get(i).getParagraphText());
}
fis.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
 readDocxFile("C:\\Users\\sp0c43734\\Desktop\\SwatiPisal.docx");
 }
}

Your code will not compile. paragraphs is not defined – SpringLearner Dec 08 '15 at 11:11 — SpringLearner, Dec 08 '15 at 11:11

Reading .docx file in java

4 Answers4

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