How can i add endnotes to a word doc using Powershell?

Question

Hello I'm looking for a way to search for a word in a word doc and add an endnote(special type of footnote) with a definition of the word as the endnote text. This would allow me to hover over that word and then the definition would pop up like a tool tip.

I know i need to use reflection, but i'm new to the whole reflection thing and all my attempts have fallen flat.

I've found the reference for endnotes here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.office.interop.word.endnotes.add%28office.11%29.aspx

I've tried loading C:\WINDOWS\Assembly\Gac\Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word\11.0.0.0__71e9bce111e9429c\Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.dll using reflection, but i don't know what to do once i've loaded it. When i try to create an new-object, it still asks me if i've loaded the appropriate dll.

Additionally i tried to fix the problem with a diff method by loading the MS word application as a comobject, but i wasn't able to figure out how to select the text i wanted and then set and endnote.

Any suggestions for this would be greatly appreciated!

-Skyler

Answer 1

I am not too familiar with the Word object model, but if you can handle that part I can tell you how to get an instance of Word running and automated. It's quite simple actually.

$Application = New-Object -ComObject Word.Application
$Application.Visible = $true
$Document = $Application.Documents.Add()

The key is Visible = $true otherwise it will be running but hidden. Now you can use all the methods of the Word Application object to create a new doc and automate it. Now if you're using Word 2007's docx format, you can investigate ZIP file extraction cmdlets and access the xml directly in the word doc. But dealing with namespaces in XML is a hassle and may not be as straightforward.

Word Object Model Stuff

Answer 2

ScriptingGuy recently posted a solution to this: http://blogs.technet.com/heyscriptingguy/archive/2009/10/14/hey-scripting-guy-october-14-2009.aspx