How to display code snippets in MS Word preserving format and syntax highlighting

ms-word

Does anyone know a way to display code in Microsoft Word documents that preserves coloring and formatting? Preferably, the method would also be unobtrusive and easy to update.

I have tried to include code as regular text which looks awful and gets in the way when editing regular text. I have also tried inserting objects, a WordPad document and Text Box, into the document then putting the code inside those objects. The code looks much better and is easier to avoid while editing the rest of the text. However, these objects can only span one page which makes editing a nightmare when several pages of code need to be added.

Lastly, I know that there are much better editors/formats that have no problem handling this but I am stuck working with MS word.

Best Answer

Here is the best way, for me, to add code inside word:

Go to Insert tab, Text section, click Object button (it's on the right)
Choose OpenDocument Text which will open a new embedded word document
Copy and paste your code from Visual Studio / Eclipse inside this embedded word page
Save and close

Advantages

The result looks very nice. Here are the advantages of this method:

The code keeps its original layout and colors
The code is separated from the rest of the document, as if it was a picture or a chart
Spelling errors won't be highlighted in the code (this is cool !)

And it takes only few seconds.

Related Solutions

R – How to find and replace programmatically in ENTIRE Word document

Use the Find property, it is the same as the UI. Search help topic for "Find Property" to get you started.

With ActiveDocument.Range.Find
    .Text = "hi"
    .Replacement.Text = "hello"
    .Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll, Forward:=True, Wrap:=wdFindContinue
End With

The best way to insert source code examples into a Microsoft Word document

I absolutely hate and despise working for free for Microsoft, given how after all those billions of dollars they STILL do not to have proper guides about stuff like this with screenshots on their damn website.

Anyways, here is a quick guide in Word 2010, using Notepad++ for syntax coloring, and a TextBox which can be captioned:

Choose Insert / Text Box / Simple Text Box
A default text box is inserted
Switch to NPP, choose the language for syntax coloring of your code, go to Plugins / NPPExport / Copy RTF to clipboard
Switch back to word, and paste into the text box - it may be too small ...
... so you may have to change its size
Having selected the text box, right-click on it, then choose Insert Caption ...
In the Caption menu, if you don't have one already, click New Label, and set the new label to "Code", click OK ...
... then in the Caption dialog, switch the label to Code, and hit OK
Finally, type your caption in the newly created caption box

Best Answer

Advantages

Related Solutions

R – How to find and replace programmatically in ENTIRE Word document

The best way to insert source code examples into a Microsoft Word document

Related Topic