Parse Author from Word 97-2003 document without Word in C#

Question

I need to parse the "author"-property from a word document (97-2003). Preferably without using the Word COM-Object. I'am doing that same thing for .docx-documents by using the docx-nuget, but it seems that it can't handle the old .doc format.

I tried Spire.Doc but the free version is to limited (can't open large documents) and the paid version is a bit too expensive for me.

Is it possible at all to do this? And if so, how do I open and parse the "author"-property?

JanIvar JanIvar · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-19T08:49:05

We used dsoFile.dll to both read and write properties in doc-files.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/224351

Add reference to Interop.DSOFile

using DSOFile;
public static string GetAuthorFromFile(string filename)
{
 var test = new OleDocumentProperties();
 test.Open(filename, true, DSOFile.dsoFileOpenOptions.dsoOptionDefault);
 return test.SummaryProperties.Author;
}

See: Why dsofile.dll still need Office Installation?

As an alternative you could use: http://officefileproperties.codeplex.com/ but then you will also need to include Office Interop with your application.

Parse Author from Word 97-2003 document without Word in C#

1 Answers