Class Body

The content of a tab in a Google Docs document. The Body may contain ListItem, Paragraph, Table, and TableOfContents elements. For more information on document structure, see the guide to extending Google Docs.

The Body typically contains the full tab's contents except for the HeaderSection, FooterSection, and any FootnoteSection elements.

const body =
    DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getActiveTab().asDocumentTab().getBody();

// Append a paragraph and a page break to the tab's body section directly.
body.appendParagraph('A paragraph.');
body.appendPageBreak();

Methods

Method	Return type	Brief description
`appendHorizontalRule()`	`HorizontalRule`	Creates and appends a new `HorizontalRule`.
`appendImage(image)`	`InlineImage`	Creates and appends a new `InlineImage` from the specified image blob.
`appendImage(image)`	`InlineImage`	Appends the given `InlineImage`.
`appendListItem(listItem)`	`ListItem`	Appends the given `ListItem`.
`appendListItem(text)`	`ListItem`	Creates and appends a new `ListItem` containing the specified text contents.
`appendPageBreak()`	`PageBreak`	Creates and appends a new `PageBreak`.
`appendPageBreak(pageBreak)`	`PageBreak`	Appends the given `PageBreak`.
`appendParagraph(paragraph)`	`Paragraph`	Appends the given `Paragraph`.
`appendParagraph(text)`	`Paragraph`	Creates and appends a new `Paragraph` containing the specified text contents.
`appendTable()`	`Table`	Creates and appends a new `Table`.
`appendTable(cells)`	`Table`	Appends a new `Table` containing a `TableCell` for each specified string value.
`appendTable(table)`	`Table`	Appends the given `Table`.
`clear()`	`Body`	Clears the contents of the element.
`copy()`	`Body`	Returns a detached, deep copy of the current element.
`editAsText()`	`Text`	Obtains a `Text` version of the current element, for editing.
`findElement(elementType)`	`RangeElement`	Searches the contents of the element for a descendant of the specified type.
`findElement(elementType, from)`	`RangeElement`	Searches the contents of the element for a descendant of the specified type, starting from the specified `RangeElement`.
`findText(searchPattern)`	`RangeElement`	Searches the contents of the element for the specified text pattern using regular expressions.
`findText(searchPattern, from)`	`RangeElement`	Searches the contents of the element for the specified text pattern, starting from a given search result.
`getAttributes()`	`Object`	Retrieves the element's attributes.
`getChild(childIndex)`	`Element`	Retrieves the child element at the specified child index.
`getChildIndex(child)`	`Integer`	Retrieves the child index for the specified child element.
`getHeadingAttributes(paragraphHeading)`	`Object`	Retrieves the set of attributes for the provided `ParagraphHeading`.
`getImages()`	`InlineImage[]`	Retrieves all the `InlineImages` contained in the section.
`getListItems()`	`ListItem[]`	Retrieves all the `ListItems` contained in the section.
`getMarginBottom()`	`Number`	Retrieves the bottom margin, in points.
`getMarginLeft()`	`Number`	Retrieves the left margin, in points.
`getMarginRight()`	`Number`	Retrieves the right margin.
`getMarginTop()`	`Number`	Retrieves the top margin.
`getNumChildren()`	`Integer`	Retrieves the number of children.
`getPageHeight()`	`Number`	Retrieves the page height, in points.
`getPageWidth()`	`Number`	Retrieves the page width, in points.
`getParagraphs()`	`Paragraph[]`	Retrieves all the `Paragraphs` contained in the section (including `ListItems`).
`getParent()`	`ContainerElement`	Retrieves the element's parent element.
`getTables()`	`Table[]`	Retrieves all the `Tables` contained in the section.
`getText()`	`String`	Retrieves the contents of the element as a text string.
`getTextAlignment()`	`TextAlignment`	Gets the text alignment.
`getType()`	`ElementType`	Retrieves the element's `ElementType`.
`insertHorizontalRule(childIndex)`	`HorizontalRule`	Creates and inserts a new `HorizontalRule` at the specified index.
`insertImage(childIndex, image)`	`InlineImage`	Creates and inserts an `InlineImage` from the specified image blob, at the specified index.
`insertImage(childIndex, image)`	`InlineImage`	Inserts the given `InlineImage` at the specified index.
`insertListItem(childIndex, listItem)`	`ListItem`	Inserts the given `ListItem` at the specified index.
`insertListItem(childIndex, text)`	`ListItem`	Creates and inserts a new `ListItem` at the specified index, containing the specified text contents.
`insertPageBreak(childIndex)`	`PageBreak`	Creates and inserts a new `PageBreak` at the specified index.
`insertPageBreak(childIndex, pageBreak)`	`PageBreak`	Inserts the given `PageBreak` at the specified index.
`insertParagraph(childIndex, paragraph)`	`Paragraph`	Inserts the given `Paragraph` at the specified index.
`insertParagraph(childIndex, text)`	`Paragraph`	Creates and inserts a new `Paragraph` at the specified index, containing the specified text contents.
`insertTable(childIndex)`	`Table`	Creates and inserts a new `Table` at the specified index.
`insertTable(childIndex, cells)`	`Table`	Creates and inserts a new `Table` containing the specified cells, at the specified index.
`insertTable(childIndex, table)`	`Table`	Inserts the given `Table` at the specified index.
`removeChild(child)`	`Body`	Removes the specified child element.
`replaceText(searchPattern, replacement)`	`Element`	Replaces all occurrences of a given text pattern with a given replacement string, using regular expressions.
`setAttributes(attributes)`	`Body`	Sets the element's attributes.
`setHeadingAttributes(paragraphHeading, attributes)`	`Body`	Sets the attributes for the provided `ParagraphHeading`.
`setMarginBottom(marginBottom)`	`Body`	Sets the bottom margin, in points.
`setMarginLeft(marginLeft)`	`Body`	Sets the left margin, in points.
`setMarginRight(marginRight)`	`Body`	Sets the right margin, in points.
`setMarginTop(marginTop)`	`Body`	Sets the top margin.
`setPageHeight(pageHeight)`	`Body`	Sets the page height, in points.
`setPageWidth(pageWidth)`	`Body`	Sets the page width, in points.
`setText(text)`	`Body`	Sets the contents as plain text.
`setTextAlignment(textAlignment)`	`Body`	Sets the text alignment.

Deprecated methods

Method	Return type	Brief description
`getFootnotes()`	`Footnote[]`	Retrieves all the `Footnotes` contained in the section.
`getLinkUrl()`	`String`	Retrieves the link url.
`getNextSibling()`	`Element`	Retrieves the element's next sibling element.
`getPreviousSibling()`	`Element`	Retrieves the element's previous sibling element.
`isAtDocumentEnd()`	`Boolean`	Determines whether the element is at the end of the `Document`.
`setLinkUrl(url)`	`Body`	Sets the link url.

Detailed documentation

`appendHorizontalRule()`

Creates and appends a new HorizontalRule.

The HorizontalRule will be contained in a new Paragraph.

Return

HorizontalRule — The new horizontal rule.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendImage(image)`

Creates and appends a new InlineImage from the specified image blob.

The image will be contained in a new Paragraph.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`image`	`BlobSource`	The image data.

Return

InlineImage — The appended image.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendImage(image)`

Appends the given InlineImage.

The InlineImage will be contained in a new Paragraph.

Use this version of appendImage when appending a copy of an existing InlineImage.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`image`	`InlineImage`	The image data.

Return

InlineImage — The appended image.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendListItem(listItem)`

Appends the given ListItem.

Use this version of appendListItem when appending a copy of an existing ListItem.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`listItem`	`ListItem`	The list item to append.

Return

ListItem — The appended list item.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendListItem(text)`

Creates and appends a new ListItem containing the specified text contents.

Consecutive list items are added as part of the same list.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`text`	`String`	The list item's text contents.

Return

ListItem — The new list item.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendPageBreak()`

Creates and appends a new PageBreak.

The PageBreak will be contained in a new Paragraph.

Return

PageBreak — The new page break.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendPageBreak(pageBreak)`

Appends the given PageBreak.

The PageBreak will be contained in a new Paragraph.

Use this version of appendPageBreak when appending a copy of an existing PageBreak.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`pageBreak`	`PageBreak`	The page break to append.

Return

PageBreak — The appended page break.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendParagraph(paragraph)`

Appends the given Paragraph.

Use this version of appendParagraph when appending a copy of an existing Paragraph.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`paragraph`	`Paragraph`	The paragraph to append.

Return

Paragraph — The appended paragraph.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendParagraph(text)`

Creates and appends a new Paragraph containing the specified text contents.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`text`	`String`	The paragraph's text contents.

Return

Paragraph — The new paragraph.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendTable()`

Creates and appends a new Table.

This method will also append an empty paragraph after the table, since Google Docs documents cannot end with a table.

Return

Table — The new table.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendTable(cells)`

Appends a new Table containing a TableCell for each specified string value.

This method will also append an empty paragraph after the table, since Google Docs documents cannot end with a table.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`cells`	`String[][]`	The text contents of the table cells to add to the new table.

Return

Table — The appended table.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`appendTable(table)`

Appends the given Table.

Use this version of appendTable when appending a copy of an existing Table. This method will also append an empty paragraph after the table, since Google Docs documents cannot end with a table.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`table`	`Table`	The table to append.

Return

Table — The appended table.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`clear()`

Clears the contents of the element.

Return

Body — The current element.

`copy()`

Returns a detached, deep copy of the current element.

Any child elements present in the element are also copied. The new element doesn't have a parent.

Return

Body — The new copy.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`editAsText()`

Obtains a Text version of the current element, for editing.

Use editAsText for manipulating the elements contents as rich text. The editAsText mode ignores non-text elements (such as InlineImage and HorizontalRule).

Child elements fully contained within a deleted text range are removed from the element.

const body =
    DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getActiveTab().asDocumentTab().getBody();

// Insert two paragraphs separated by a paragraph containing an
// horizontal rule.
body.insertParagraph(0, 'An editAsText sample.');
body.insertHorizontalRule(0);
body.insertParagraph(0, 'An example.');

// Delete " sample.\n\n An" removing the horizontal rule in the process.
body.editAsText().deleteText(14, 25);

Return

Text — a text version of the current element

`findElement(elementType)`

Searches the contents of the element for a descendant of the specified type.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`elementType`	`ElementType`	The type of element to search for.

Return

RangeElement — A search result indicating the position of the search element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`findElement(elementType, from)`

Searches the contents of the element for a descendant of the specified type, starting from the specified RangeElement.

const body =
    DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getActiveTab().asDocumentTab().getBody();

// Define the search parameters.

let searchResult = null;

// Search until the paragraph is found.
while (
    (searchResult = body.findElement(
         DocumentApp.ElementType.PARAGRAPH,
         searchResult,
         ))) {
  const par = searchResult.getElement().asParagraph();
  if (par.getHeading() === DocumentApp.ParagraphHeading.HEADING1) {
    // Found one, update and stop.
    par.setText('This is the first header.');
    break;
  }
}

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`elementType`	`ElementType`	The type of element to search for.
`from`	`RangeElement`	The search result to search from.

Return

RangeElement — A search result indicating the next position of the search element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`findText(searchPattern)`

Searches the contents of the element for the specified text pattern using regular expressions.

A subset of the JavaScript regular expression features are not fully supported, such as capture groups and mode modifiers.

The provided regular expression pattern is independently matched against each text block contained in the current element.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`searchPattern`	`String`	the pattern to search for

Return

RangeElement — a search result indicating the position of the search text, or null if there is no match

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`findText(searchPattern, from)`

Searches the contents of the element for the specified text pattern, starting from a given search result.

A subset of the JavaScript regular expression features are not fully supported, such as capture groups and mode modifiers.

The provided regular expression pattern is independently matched against each text block contained in the current element.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`searchPattern`	`String`	the pattern to search for
`from`	`RangeElement`	the search result to search from

Return

RangeElement — a search result indicating the next position of the search text, or null if there is no match

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getAttributes()`

Retrieves the element's attributes.

The result is an object containing a property for each valid element attribute where each property name corresponds to an item in the DocumentApp.Attribute enumeration.

const doc = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();
const documentTab = doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();
const body = documentTab.getBody();

// Append a styled paragraph.
const par = body.appendParagraph('A bold, italicized paragraph.');
par.setBold(true);
par.setItalic(true);

// Retrieve the paragraph's attributes.
const atts = par.getAttributes();

// Log the paragraph attributes.
for (const att in atts) {
  Logger.log(`${att}:${atts[att]}`);
}

Return

Object — The element's attributes.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getChild(childIndex)`

Retrieves the child element at the specified child index.

const body =
    DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getActiveTab().asDocumentTab().getBody();

// Obtain the first element in the tab.
const firstChild = body.getChild(0);

// If it's a paragraph, set its contents.
if (firstChild.getType() === DocumentApp.ElementType.PARAGRAPH) {
  firstChild.asParagraph().setText('This is the first paragraph.');
}

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index of the child element to retrieve.

Return

Element — The child element at the specified index.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getChildIndex(child)`

Retrieves the child index for the specified child element.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`child`	`Element`	The child element for which to retrieve the index.

Return

Integer — The child index.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getHeadingAttributes(paragraphHeading)`

Retrieves the set of attributes for the provided ParagraphHeading.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`paragraphHeading`	`ParagraphHeading`	The heading whose attributes should be retrieved.

Return

Object — A map of the attributes and their current values.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getImages()`

Retrieves all the InlineImages contained in the section.

Return

InlineImage[] — The section images.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getListItems()`

Retrieves all the ListItems contained in the section.

Return

ListItem[] — The section list items.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getMarginBottom()`

Retrieves the bottom margin, in points.

Return

Number — The bottom margin, in points.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getMarginLeft()`

Retrieves the left margin, in points.

Return

Number — The left margin, in points.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getMarginRight()`

Retrieves the right margin.

Return

Number — The right margin, in points.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getMarginTop()`

Retrieves the top margin.

Return

Number — The top margin, in points.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getNumChildren()`

Retrieves the number of children.

const body =
    DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getActiveTab().asDocumentTab().getBody();

// Log the number of elements in the tab.
Logger.log(`There are ${body.getNumChildren()} elements in the tab's body.`);

Return

Integer — The number of children.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getPageHeight()`

Retrieves the page height, in points.

Return

Number — The page height, in points.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getPageWidth()`

Retrieves the page width, in points.

Return

Number — The page width, in points.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getParagraphs()`

Retrieves all the Paragraphs contained in the section (including ListItems).

Return

Paragraph[] — The section paragraphs.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getParent()`

Retrieves the element's parent element.

The parent element contains the current element.

Return

ContainerElement — The parent element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getTables()`

Retrieves all the Tables contained in the section.

Return

Table[] — The section tables.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getText()`

Retrieves the contents of the element as a text string.

Return

String — the contents of the element as text string

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getTextAlignment()`

Gets the text alignment. The available types of alignment are DocumentApp.TextAlignment.NORMAL, DocumentApp.TextAlignment.SUBSCRIPT, and DocumentApp.TextAlignment.SUPERSCRIPT.

Return

TextAlignment — the type of text alignment, or null if the text contains multiple types of text alignments or if the text alignment has never been set

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getType()`

Retrieves the element's ElementType.

Use getType() to determine the exact type of a given element.

const doc = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();
const documentTab = doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();
const body = documentTab.getBody();

// Obtain the first element in the active tab's body.

const firstChild = body.getChild(0);

// Use getType() to determine the element's type.
if (firstChild.getType() === DocumentApp.ElementType.PARAGRAPH) {
  Logger.log('The first element is a paragraph.');
} else {
  Logger.log('The first element is not a paragraph.');
}

Return

ElementType — The element type.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertHorizontalRule(childIndex)`

Creates and inserts a new HorizontalRule at the specified index.

The HorizontalRule will be contained in a new Paragraph.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert the element.

Return

HorizontalRule — The new horizontal rule.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertImage(childIndex, image)`

Creates and inserts an InlineImage from the specified image blob, at the specified index.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert the element.
`image`	`BlobSource`	The image data.

Return

InlineImage — The inserted inline image.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertImage(childIndex, image)`

Inserts the given InlineImage at the specified index.

The image will be contained in a new Paragraph.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert the element.
`image`	`InlineImage`	The image to insert.

Return

InlineImage — The inserted inline image.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertListItem(childIndex, listItem)`

Inserts the given ListItem at the specified index.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert.
`listItem`	`ListItem`	The list item to insert.

Return

ListItem — The inserted list item.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertListItem(childIndex, text)`

Creates and inserts a new ListItem at the specified index, containing the specified text contents.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert.
`text`	`String`	The list item's text contents.

Return

ListItem — The new list item.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertPageBreak(childIndex)`

Creates and inserts a new PageBreak at the specified index.

The PageBreak will be contained in a new Paragraph.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert the element.

Return

PageBreak — The new page break.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertPageBreak(childIndex, pageBreak)`

Inserts the given PageBreak at the specified index.

The PageBreak will be contained in a new Paragraph.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert the element.
`pageBreak`	`PageBreak`	The page break to insert.

Return

PageBreak — The inserted page break.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertParagraph(childIndex, paragraph)`

Inserts the given Paragraph at the specified index.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert.
`paragraph`	`Paragraph`	The paragraph to insert.

Return

Paragraph — The inserted paragraph.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertParagraph(childIndex, text)`

Creates and inserts a new Paragraph at the specified index, containing the specified text contents.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert.
`text`	`String`	The paragraph's text contents.

Return

Paragraph — The new paragraph.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertTable(childIndex)`

Creates and inserts a new Table at the specified index.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert.

Return

Table — The new table.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertTable(childIndex, cells)`

Creates and inserts a new Table containing the specified cells, at the specified index.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert.
`cells`	`String[][]`	The text contents of the table cells to add to the new table.

Return

Table — The new table.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`insertTable(childIndex, table)`

Inserts the given Table at the specified index.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`childIndex`	`Integer`	The index at which to insert.
`table`	`Table`	The table to insert.

Return

Table — The inserted table.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`removeChild(child)`

Removes the specified child element.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`child`	`Element`	The child element to remove.

Return

Body — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`replaceText(searchPattern, replacement)`

Replaces all occurrences of a given text pattern with a given replacement string, using regular expressions.

The search pattern is passed as a string, not a JavaScript regular expression object. Because of this you'll need to escape any backslashes in the pattern.

This methods uses Google's RE2 regular expression library, which limits the supported syntax.

The provided regular expression pattern is independently matched against each text block contained in the current element.

const body =
    DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getActiveTab().asDocumentTab().getBody();

// Clear the text surrounding "Apps Script", with or without text.
body.replaceText('^.*Apps ?Script.*$', 'Apps Script');

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`searchPattern`	`String`	the regex pattern to search for
`replacement`	`String`	the text to use as replacement

Return

Element — the current element

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setAttributes(attributes)`

Sets the element's attributes.

The specified attributes parameter must be an object where each property name is an item in the DocumentApp.Attribute enumeration and each property value is the new value to be applied.

const doc = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();
const documentTab = doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();
const body = documentTab.getBody();

// Define a custom paragraph style.
const style = {};
style[DocumentApp.Attribute.HORIZONTAL_ALIGNMENT] =
    DocumentApp.HorizontalAlignment.RIGHT;
style[DocumentApp.Attribute.FONT_FAMILY] = 'Calibri';
style[DocumentApp.Attribute.FONT_SIZE] = 18;
style[DocumentApp.Attribute.BOLD] = true;

// Append a plain paragraph.
const par = body.appendParagraph('A paragraph with custom style.');

// Apply the custom style.
par.setAttributes(style);

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`attributes`	`Object`	The element's attributes.

Return

Body — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setHeadingAttributes(paragraphHeading, attributes)`

Sets the attributes for the provided ParagraphHeading.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`paragraphHeading`	`ParagraphHeading`	The heading whose attributes should be set.
`attributes`	`Object`	A map of attributes and the values to set them to.

Return

Body — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setMarginBottom(marginBottom)`

Sets the bottom margin, in points.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`marginBottom`	`Number`	The bottom margin, in points.

Return

Body — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setMarginLeft(marginLeft)`

Sets the left margin, in points.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`marginLeft`	`Number`	The left margin, in points.

Return

Body — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setMarginRight(marginRight)`

Sets the right margin, in points.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`marginRight`	`Number`	The right margin.

Return

Body — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setMarginTop(marginTop)`

Sets the top margin.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`marginTop`	`Number`	The top margin, in points.

Return

Body — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setPageHeight(pageHeight)`

Sets the page height, in points.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`pageHeight`	`Number`	The page height, in points.

Return

Body — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setPageWidth(pageWidth)`

Sets the page width, in points.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`pageWidth`	`Number`	The page width, in points.

Return

Body — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setText(text)`

Sets the contents as plain text.

Note: existing contents are cleared.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`text`	`String`	The new text contents.

Return

Body — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setTextAlignment(textAlignment)`

Sets the text alignment. The available types of alignment are DocumentApp.TextAlignment.NORMAL, DocumentApp.TextAlignment.SUBSCRIPT, and DocumentApp.TextAlignment.SUPERSCRIPT.

// Make the entire first paragraph in the active tab be superscript.
const documentTab =
    DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();
const text = documentTab.getBody().getParagraphs()[0].editAsText();
text.setTextAlignment(DocumentApp.TextAlignment.SUPERSCRIPT);

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`textAlignment`	`TextAlignment`	the type of text alignment to apply

Return

Body — the current element

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

Deprecated methods

`getFootnotes()`

Deprecated. This element cannot contain a Footnote.

Retrieves all the Footnotes contained in the section.

Return

Footnote[] — The section footnotes.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getLinkUrl()`

Deprecated. Instead of applying a link to an entire section, apply the link to an element within the section instead.

Retrieves the link url.

Return

String — the link url, or null if the element contains multiple values for this attribute

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getNextSibling()`

Deprecated. This element does not have any siblings.

Retrieves the element's next sibling element.

The next sibling has the same parent and follows the current element.

Return

Element — The next sibling element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`getPreviousSibling()`

Deprecated. This element does not have any siblings.

Retrieves the element's previous sibling element.

The previous sibling has the same parent and precedes the current element.

Return

Element — The previous sibling element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`isAtDocumentEnd()`

Deprecated. This method is not reliable for HeaderSection.

Determines whether the element is at the end of the Document.

Return

Boolean — Whether the element is at the end of the tab.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

`setLinkUrl(url)`

Deprecated. Instead of applying a link to an entire section, apply the link to an element within the section instead.

Sets the link url.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
`url`	`String`	the link url

Return

Body — the current element

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents