Blank file after using powershell to convert a word file? - powershell

Question

I have been trying to use PowerShell to convert some .docx files to .docm. I'm able to convert the file, but it's blank every time I open it.
This is the code I have been using:
Get-ChildItem *.docx | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.name -replace '\.docx$','.docm' }

Answer 1

Adding this here per other comments regarding it.
.DOCM is just a Word doc with embedded macros.
What do you expect to see?
In most cases, Word security blocks macro docs from opening unless you tell Word you accept the macro risk, or you've already disabled that.
So, if these are not .DOCs with macros, I am not sure of what your plan was here.
If you just went into Windows Explorer and opened a .docx (non-Macro) file, then manually renamed it to .docm, then try and open it, you'd get the same result.
So, not a PS or PS-specific code issue. Changing the extension does not make it a true .docm, it must be saved that way in Word.
... removing the code refactor.
FYI...There are online tools for this conversion.
Though I've never used or needed to use them. So, just a heads up.
However, here is more info after looking at my old notes, if the goal is to automate this via PS.
if you really wanted to do this in PS, you need to use PS to open a .docx using MSOffice COM, add VBA/Macro code to the doc, and then save it as a macro-enabled file.
For example, here is an article regarding
[Converting Word document format with PowerShell][2]
$path = "c:\olddocuments\"
$word_app = New-Object -ComObject Word.Application
$Format = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdSaveFormat]::wdFormatXMLDocument
Get-ChildItem -Path $path -Filter '*.doc' |
ForEach-Object {
$document = $word_app.Documents.Open($_.FullName)
$docx_filename = "$($_.DirectoryName)\$($_.BaseName).docx"
$document.SaveAs([ref] $docx_filename, [ref]$Format)
$document.Close()
}
$word_app.Quit()
If you need to convert the documents to PDF, make the following change
to the “SaveAs” line in the script. 17 corresponds to the PDF file
format when doing a Save As in Microsoft Word.
$document.SaveAs([ref] $docx_filename, [ref]17)
Microsoft Word file format tech doc is here:
[WdSaveFormat enumeration (Word)][3]
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/Word.WdSaveFormat
wdFormatFlatXMLMacroEnabled # 20 Open XML file format with macros enabled saved as a single XML file.