How can I write a MATLAB function that will search a MS Word document for multiple items and transfer the findings into another MATLAB script?

I am fairly new to using MATLAB and I have been struggling to get MATLAB and Microsoft Word to work together. The task is to use MATLAB to find a list of 500 entries seperated by paragraph breaks in a MS Word document. I have been able to do this much but the trouble is moving back to MATLAB with that list. The idea is to be able to use the entries in this list within another MATLAB function without having to manually input the list each time it changes. I understand that ActiveX needs to be used during this process but I am not familiar with ActiveX as much as I would like to be. Is there any information out there with MATLAB to MS Word and vice versa, I would be very interested in learning more. Thank you,

[Matt Kindig]

Does the text document have to be in Word format? Can you convert to another format (ideally plain text) that retains all of the information that you need? If you are simply matching strings of characters, then the text format won't lose any information. However, if you need to retain text formatting, images, special Word constructions, etc., it might be more difficult... What exactly are you attempting to do?

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

You do have to use ActiveX. I've only used ActiveX to control Excel, and the vast majority of ActiveX/MATLAB code you'll find is regarding Excel. You'll have a hard time finding MATLAB code that controls Word. You may have better luck in one of the Visual Basic newsgroups or Microsoft forums. You can get resources from Microsoft at the Office Developers Center.