body.clear() and body.insertFileFromBase64() not working as expected

Question

I have the requirement in which I need to clear/remove the existing content from a Word document and then insert new Base 64 encoded document.

The following is a code snippet where I'm first clearing the document body and then inserting the new document.

Also, If I comment the body.clear() then InsertLocation.start and InsertLocation.end is working fine. InsertLocation.replace does not work in regardless of calling body.clear() or not.

It also does not clear some items such as water marks, the header, or the footer.

I'm expecting that body.clear() should result a document which is same as a new blank document.

showDocumentInWord(documentData, docName) {
    let self = this;
    window.Word.run(function (context) {
            let body = context.document.body;
            body.clear();
            body.insertFileFromBase64(documentData, 
                window.Word.InsertLocation.replace);
            return context.sync().then(function () {
                // Show success message here 
            });
        })
        .catch(function (error) {
            if (error instanceof window.OfficeExtension.Error) {
                // console.log('Debug info: ' + JSON.stringify(error.debugInfo));
            }
        });
};

Answer 1

Since you are clearing the document body, you should use "start" rather than "replace" for the insertion location.

As for the header and footer, your code is only targeting document.body. In order to clear the header and footer of the document you will need to specifically clear those sections:

return Word.run(function (context) {
    let sections = context.document.sections;
    sections.load();
    return context.sync()
        .then(function () {
            sections.items.forEach(function (section) {
                // Clear the Body
                section.body.clear();

                // Clear any Headers
                section.getHeader('primary').clear();
                section.getHeader('firstPage').clear();
                section.getHeader('evenPages').clear();

                // Clear any Footers
                section.getFooter('primary').clear();
                section.getFooter('firstPage').clear();
                section.getFooter('evenPages').clear();
            });                
        });        
});

You may also want to take a look at the beta release of Word JavaScript API 1.4. Version 1.4 adds a createDocument(base64File: string) method that allows you to create an entirely new document based on a base64File. It also adds an document.open() method that lets you open up the document object you created using createDocument.