Document Processing SDKs

Annotate Word Documents with Java

Add and manage annotations in Microsoft Word documents programmatically — no Office installation required.

How to Annotate a Word Document in Java

GroupDocs.Annotation for Java makes it easy to annotate Word documents:

  1. Open the Word document with an Annotator instance.
  2. Create and configure the annotation you need.
  3. Add the annotation to the document.
  4. Save the annotated Word document.
// Annotate a Word document

// Open the document with an Annotator instance
Annotator annotator = new Annotator("input.docx");
try {
    // Create an area annotation
    AreaAnnotation area = new AreaAnnotation();
    area.setBox(new Rectangle(100, 100, 200, 80));
    area.setBackgroundColor(65535);
    area.setPageNumber(0);
    area.setMessage("Important");

    // Add the annotation
    annotator.add(area);

    // Save the annotated document
    annotator.save("annotated.docx");
} finally {
    annotator.dispose();
}
implementation 'com.groupdocs:groupdocs-annotation:25.6.0'
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Full Control Over Word Annotations

Add every annotation type to Word documents and manage them with a simple API.

Annotate Word documents

Text Markup

Highlight, underline, strike out, or replace text in Word documents.

Shapes & Watermarks

Draw shapes and stamp watermarks or images onto Word pages.

Manage Annotations

Get, remove, import, and export Word annotations.

Read Word Annotations

Retrieve the annotations stored in an annotated Word document:

Java

//  Open the annotated document
Annotator annotator = new Annotator("annotated.docx");
try {
    // Get all annotations
    List<AnnotationBase> annotations = annotator.get();

    // Inspect each annotation
    for (AnnotationBase annotation : annotations) {
        System.out.println(annotation.getMessage());
    }

    // Save the document
    annotator.save("output.docx");
} finally {
    annotator.dispose();
}
implementation 'com.groupdocs:groupdocs-annotation:25.6.0'
click to copy
copied
More examples Documentation

Annotate Word Files

GroupDocs.Annotation for Java lets you add, edit, and remove annotations in Microsoft Word documents. Highlight or strike out text, draw shapes, stamp watermarks and images, and attach threaded comments — then save the result in the original Word format.
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Useful resources

Explore documentation, code samples, and community support to enhance your experience.

Annotate Other File Formats

GroupDocs.Annotation for Java supports annotating documents across many file formats:

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