How to: Collapse Ranges or Selections in Documents

Applies to
The information in this topic applies only to the specified Visual Studio Tools for Office projects and versions of Microsoft Office. Project type Document-level projects Application-level projects Microsoft Office version Word 2003 Word 2007 For more information, see Features Available by Application and Project Type.

If you are working with a Range or Selection object, you might want to change the selection to an insertion point before inserting text, to avoid overwriting existing text. Both the Range and Selection objects have a Collapse method, which makes use of the WdCollapseDirection enumeration values:

• wdCollapseStart - collapses the selection to the beginning of the selection. This is the default if you do not specify an enumeration value.

• wdCollapseEnd - collapses the selection to the end of the selection.

To collapse a range and insert new text

1. Create a Range object that consists of the first paragraph in the document.

   The following code example can be used in a document-level customization.

   Dim rng As Word.Range = Me.Paragraphs(1).Range
   

   Word.Range rng = this.Paragraphs[1].Range; 
   

   The following code example can be used in an application-level add-in. This code uses the active document.

   Dim rng As Word.Range = Me.Application.ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).Range
   

   Word.Range rng = this.Application.ActiveDocument.Paragraphs[1].Range;
   

2. Use the wdCollapseStart enumeration value to collapse the range.

   rng.Collapse(Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseStart)
   

   object direction = Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseStart;
   rng.Collapse(ref direction); 
   

3. Insert the new text.

   rng.Text = " New Text "
   

   rng.Text = " New Text ";
   

4. Select the Range.

   rng.Select()
   

   rng.Select();
   

If you use the wdCollapseEnd enumeration value, the text is inserted at the beginning of the following paragraph.

rng.Collapse(Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd)

direction = Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseEnd;
rng.Collapse(ref direction);

You might expect that inserting a new sentence would insert it before the paragraph marker, but that is not the case because the original range includes the paragraph marker. For more information, see How to: Exclude Paragraph Marks When Creating Ranges.

Document-Level Customization Example

To collapse a range in a document-level customization

• The following example shows the complete method for a document-level customization. To use this code, run it from the ThisDocument class in your project.

  Dim rng As Word.Range = Me.Paragraphs(1).Range
  
  rng.Collapse(Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseStart)
  
  rng.Text = " New Text "
  rng.Select()
  

  Word.Range rng = this.Paragraphs[1].Range; 
  
  object direction = Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseStart;
  rng.Collapse(ref direction); 
  
  rng.Text = " New Text ";
  rng.Select();
  

Application-Level Add-in Example

To collapse a range in an application-level add-in

• The following example shows the complete method for an application-level add-in. To use this code, run it from the ThisAddIn class in your project.

  Dim rng As Word.Range = Me.Application.ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(1).Range
  
  rng.Collapse(Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseStart)
  
  rng.Text = " New Text "
  rng.Select()
  

  Word.Range rng = this.Application.ActiveDocument.Paragraphs[1].Range;
  
  object direction = Word.WdCollapseDirection.wdCollapseStart;
  rng.Collapse(ref direction);
  
  rng.Text = " New Text ";
  rng.Select();
  

See Also

Tasks

How to: Insert Text into Word Documents

How to: Define and Select Ranges in Documents

How to: Retrieve Start and End Characters in Ranges

How to: Exclude Paragraph Marks When Creating Ranges

How to: Extend Ranges in Documents

How to: Reset Ranges in Word Documents