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Automation API

Automation API enables interaction with office documents from external sources through custom interface elements. Build your own UI components while leveraging ONLYOFFICE document processing — manage comments, control review workflows, auto-fill forms, and more, all from outside the editor.

info

Automation API is available only for ONLYOFFICE Docs Developer.

This is a premium feature not included by default and is available at an extra cost. Please contact our sales team at sales@onlyoffice.com to request a quote, or learn more at onlyoffice.com/automation-api.

What you can build​

Explore interactive examples showing real-world use cases:

Use caseDescription
Working with commentsCollect and display all document comments in a custom interface. Add, remove, and navigate between comments from your own UI.
Managing review changesControl the review process externally — accept or reject tracked changes and navigate between revisions from a custom panel.
Filling out formsAuto-populate form fields with external data. Sync form values between your interface and the document in real-time.
Working with content controlsAdd different types of content controls and inspect their properties from an external UI.

Getting started​

To start using Automation API, create a connector using the createConnector method:

const connector = docEditor.createConnector();

The connector provides methods to execute editor commands, listen to document events, and interact with the editor UI:

// Listen to document events
connector.attachEvent("onChangeContentControl", (obj) => {
  console.log("Content changed:", obj);
});

// Execute editor methods
connector.executeMethod("GetAllComments", null, (comments) => {
  console.log("Comments:", comments);
});

// Insert content into the document
connector.callCommand(() => {
  const oDocument = Api.GetDocument();
  const oParagraph = Api.CreateParagraph();
  oParagraph.AddText("Hello from Automation API");
  oDocument.InsertContent([oParagraph]);
  return {status: "ok"};
}, (res) => {
  console.log("Result:", res);
});

Debugging​

Command logging​

To log all callCommand and executeMethod calls to the browser console, set the asc_plugin_commands_log key in the browser's local storage:

localStorage.setItem("asc_plugin_commands_log", "true");

To disable logging, remove the key:

localStorage.removeItem("asc_plugin_commands_log");

The setting persists across page reloads.

Error handling in callCommand​

Since commandFn runs in an isolated context, errors inside it are not propagated to the caller. Use a try/catch block and return the result via the callback:

connector.callCommand(() => {
  try {
    const doc = Api.GetDocument();
    const stats = doc.GetStatistics();
    return {status: "ok", pages: stats.PageCount};
  } catch (err) {
    return {status: "fail", error: err.stack};
  }
}, (res) => {
  if (res.status !== "ok") {
    console.log(res.error);
  }
});

API reference​