What PSWriteOffice Covers
Edit on GitHubA practical map of PSWriteOffice's manifest-derived commands, workflow families, OfficeIMO relationship, and supported automation outcomes.
Use PSWriteOffice when a PowerShell job needs to create, convert, inspect, repair, or publish documents without automating desktop Office applications. The module is a thin PowerShell surface over the OfficeIMO libraries, so scripts and .NET applications use the same document engines and file-format behavior.
The module manifest is the source of truth for exported cmdlets and aliases. The generated command catalog derives the current totals and family breakdown from PSWriteOffice.psd1 so the documentation stays aligned with the packaged module.
Choose the surface by outcome
| Need | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Produce a report or template-driven artifact | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF DSL | Script blocks keep composition close to the data and make repeated jobs readable. |
| Update an existing file | Get-*, Set-*, Update-*, and Save-* commands | The object remains in the OfficeIMO model while the script performs targeted changes. |
| Review or diagnose files | inspection, preflight, comparison, and HTML export commands | Read-only diagnostics can run before a job decides whether to change or reject an artifact. |
| Normalize many formats | Reader commands | One result model exposes documents, chunks, hierarchy, tables, visuals, assets, warnings, and provenance. |
| Convert between formats | focused ConvertFrom-* and ConvertTo-* commands | Conversion behavior stays in the matching OfficeIMO adapter instead of shelling out to Office. |
Major families
- Excel — 155 commands: authoring, reading, charts, pivots, validation, comments, templates, comparison, repair, accessibility, streaming, and HTML review.
- Word — 91 commands: sections, paragraphs, lists, tables, fields, content controls, review, mail merge, protection, merging, and conversion.
- PDF — 80 commands: composition, text and image extraction, merge/split, pages, forms, annotations, attachments, signatures, compliance, redaction, optimization, and diagnostics.
- PowerPoint — 57 commands: slides, sections, shapes, charts, tables, notes, themes, layouts, transitions, import, inspection, and HTML review.
- Confluence Cloud — 7 commands: plan, create, update, and remove pages; preserve managed sections; and list, upload, or download attachments.
- Markdown, Visio, Reader, and open formats: typed Markdown, VSDX diagrams and stencils, normalized extraction, RTF, CSV, ODT/ODS/ODP, email, AsciiDoc, and LaTeX workflows.
How the documentation fits together
Conceptual guides answer which workflow to choose and how objects move through a script. The generated command reference owns parameter sets, accepted values, pipeline behavior, and source links. The example gallery provides copyable end-to-end scripts.
When a guide and command page appear to disagree, use the current command reference and report the guide mismatch. The catalog validation prevents command totals from drifting, while examples and help remain the executable source for exact syntax.