Class Position

Position

A reference to a location in the document, relative to a specific element. The user's cursor is represented as a Position, among other uses. Scripts can only access the cursor of the user who is running the script, and only if the script is bound to the document.

// Insert some text at the cursor position and make it bold.
var cursor = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getCursor();
if (cursor) {
  // Attempt to insert text at the cursor position. If the insertion returns null, the cursor's
  // containing element doesn't allow insertions, so show the user an error message.
  var element = cursor.insertText('ಠ‿ಠ');
  if (element) {
    element.setBold(true);
  } else {
    DocumentApp.getUi().alert('Cannot insert text here.');
  }
} else {
  DocumentApp.getUi().alert('Cannot find a cursor.');
}

Methods

MethodReturn typeBrief description
getElement()ElementGets the element that contains this Position.
getOffset()IntegerGets this Position's relative location within the element that contains it.
getSurroundingText()TextCreates an artificial Text element that represents the text and formatting of the Paragraph or ListItem that contains the Position, either directly or through a chain of child elements.
getSurroundingTextOffset()IntegerGets the offset of this Position within the Text element returned by getSurroundingText().
insertBookmark()BookmarkCreates and inserts a new Bookmark at this Position.
insertInlineImage(image)InlineImageCreates and inserts a new InlineImage at this Position from the specified image blob.
insertText(text)TextInserts the specified text at this Position.

Detailed documentation

getElement()

Gets the element that contains this Position. This will be either a Text element or a container element like Paragraph. In either case, the relative position within the element can be determined with getOffset().

Return

Element — the container or Text element in which this Position object is located


getOffset()

Gets this Position's relative location within the element that contains it. If the element is a Text element, the offset is the number of characters before the Position (that is, the index of the character after this Position); for any other element, the offset is the number of child elements before this Position within the same container element (that is, the index of the child element after the Position).

Return

Integer — for Text elements, the number of characters before this Position; for other elements, the number of child elements before this Position within the same container 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

getSurroundingText()

Creates an artificial Text element that represents the text and formatting of the Paragraph or ListItem that contains the Position, either directly or through a chain of child elements. To determine the Position's offset in the returned Text element, use getSurroundingTextOffset().

Return

Text — an element equivalent to the result of calling editAsText() on the Paragraph or ListItem that contains the Position, either directly or through a chain of child elements

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

getSurroundingTextOffset()

Gets the offset of this Position within the Text element returned by getSurroundingText(). The offset is the number of characters before the Position (that is, the index of the character after this Position).

Return

Integer — the number of characters before this Position in the Paragraph or ListItem that contains the Position, either directly or through a chain of child elements

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

insertBookmark()

Creates and inserts a new Bookmark at this Position.

Return

Bookmark — the new bookmark

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

insertInlineImage(image)

Creates and inserts a new InlineImage at this Position from the specified image blob.

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
imageBlobSourcethe image data to insert at this Position

Return

InlineImage — the new image element, or null if the element in which this Position is located does not allow images to be inserted

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

insertText(text)

Inserts the specified text at this Position. This method creates a new Text element, even if the string is inserted within an existing Text element, so that it is easy to style the new element.

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
textStringthe string to insert at this Position

Return

Text — the new text element, or null if the element in which this Position is located does not allow text to be inserted

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