Class ContainerElement

A generic element that may contain other elements. All elements that may contain child elements, such as Paragraph, inherit from ContainerElement.

Methods

Method	Return type	Brief description
`asBody()`	`Body`	Returns the current element as a `Body`.
`asEquation()`	`Equation`	Returns the current element as an `Equation`.
`asFooterSection()`	`FooterSection`	Returns the current element as a `FooterSection`.
`asFootnoteSection()`	`FootnoteSection`	Returns the current element as a `FootnoteSection`.
`asHeaderSection()`	`HeaderSection`	Returns the current element as a `HeaderSection`.
`asListItem()`	`ListItem`	Returns the current element as a `ListItem`.
`asParagraph()`	`Paragraph`	Returns the current element as a `Paragraph`.
`asTable()`	`Table`	Returns the current element as a `Table`.
`asTableCell()`	`TableCell`	Returns the current element as a `TableCell`.
`asTableOfContents()`	`TableOfContents`	Returns the current element as a `TableOfContents`.
`asTableRow()`	`TableRow`	Returns the current element as a `TableRow`.
`clear()`	`ContainerElement`	Clears the contents of the element.
`copy()`	`ContainerElement`	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.
`getLinkUrl()`	`String`	Retrieves the link url.
`getNextSibling()`	`Element`	Retrieves the element's next sibling element.
`getNumChildren()`	`Integer`	Retrieves the number of children.
`getParent()`	`ContainerElement`	Retrieves the element's parent element.
`getPreviousSibling()`	`Element`	Retrieves the element's previous sibling element.
`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`.
`isAtDocumentEnd()`	`Boolean`	Determines whether the element is at the end of the `Document`.
`merge()`	`ContainerElement`	Merges the element with the preceding sibling of the same type.
`removeFromParent()`	`ContainerElement`	Removes the element from its parent.
`replaceText(searchPattern, replacement)`	`Element`	Replaces all occurrences of a given text pattern with a given replacement string, using regular expressions.
`setAttributes(attributes)`	`ContainerElement`	Sets the element's attributes.
`setLinkUrl(url)`	`ContainerElement`	Sets the link url.
`setTextAlignment(textAlignment)`	`ContainerElement`	Sets the text alignment.

Detailed documentation

`asBody()`

Returns the current element as a Body.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

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

`asEquation()`

Returns the current element as an Equation.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

Return

Equation — 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

`asFooterSection()`

Returns the current element as a FooterSection.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

Return

FooterSection — 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

`asFootnoteSection()`

Returns the current element as a FootnoteSection.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

Return

FootnoteSection — 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

`asHeaderSection()`

Returns the current element as a HeaderSection.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

Return

HeaderSection — 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

`asListItem()`

Returns the current element as a ListItem.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

Return

ListItem — 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

`asParagraph()`

Returns the current element as a Paragraph.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

Return

Paragraph — 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

`asTable()`

Returns the current element as a Table.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

Return

Table — 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

`asTableCell()`

Returns the current element as a TableCell.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

Return

TableCell — 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

`asTableOfContents()`

Returns the current element as a TableOfContents.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

Return

TableOfContents — 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

`asTableRow()`

Returns the current element as a TableRow.

Use this method to aid auto-complete whenever a given element is known to be of a specific type.

Return

TableRow — 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

`clear()`

Clears the contents of the element.

Return

ContainerElement — 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

ContainerElement — 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

`getLinkUrl()`

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()`

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

`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

`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

`getPreviousSibling()`

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

`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

`isAtDocumentEnd()`

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

`merge()`

Merges the element with the preceding sibling of the same type.

Only elements of the same ElementType can be merged. Any child elements contained in the current element are moved to the preceding sibling element.

The current element is removed from the document.

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

// Example 1: Merge paragraphs
// Append two paragraphs to the document's active tab.
const par1 = body.appendParagraph('Paragraph 1.');
const par2 = body.appendParagraph('Paragraph 2.');
// Merge the newly added paragraphs into a single paragraph.
par2.merge();

// Example 2: Merge table cells
// Create a two-dimensional array containing the table's cell contents.
const cells = [
  ['Row 1, Cell 1', 'Row 1, Cell 2'],
  ['Row 2, Cell 1', 'Row 2, Cell 2'],
];
// Build a table from the array.
const table = body.appendTable(cells);
// Get the first row in the table.
const row = table.getRow(0);
// Get the two cells in this row.
const cell1 = row.getCell(0);
const cell2 = row.getCell(1);
// Merge the current cell into its preceding sibling element.
const merged = cell2.merge();

Return

ContainerElement — The merged 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

`removeFromParent()`

Removes the element from its parent.

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

// Remove all images in the active tab's body.
const imgs = body.getImages();
for (let i = 0; i < imgs.length; i++) {
  imgs[i].removeFromParent();
}

Return

ContainerElement — The removed 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

ContainerElement — 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

`setLinkUrl(url)`

Sets the link url.

Parameters

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

Return

ContainerElement — 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

ContainerElement — 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