Question

I’m running into the classic scenario where, when creating Word COM objects in .NET (via the Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word assembly), the WinWord process won’t exit even though I’m properly closing and releasing the objects.

I’ve narrowed it down to the use of the Word.Documents.Add() method. I can work with Word in other ways without a problem (opening documents, modifying contents, etc) and WinWord.exe quits when I tell it to. It’s once I use the Add() method (and only when adding a template) that the process is left running.

Here is a simple example which reproduces the problem:

Dim word As New Word.Application()
word.Visible = False

Dim documents As Word.Documents = word.Documents
Dim doc As Word.Document = documents.Add(Template:=CObj(templatePath), NewTemplate:=False, DocumentType:=Word.WdNewDocumentType.wdNewBlankDocument, Visible:=False)

'' dispose objects
doc.Close()
While (Marshal.ReleaseComObject(doc) <> 0)
End While
doc = Nothing

While (Marshal.ReleaseComObject(documents) <> 0)
End While
documents = Nothing

word.Quit()
While (Marshal.ReleaseComObject(word) <> 0)
End While
word = Nothing

GC.Collect()

As you can see I’m creating and disposing the objects properly, even taking the extra step to loop Marsha.ReleaseComObject until it returns the proper code. Working with the Word objects is fine in other regards, it’s just that pesky Documents.Add that is causing me grief. Is there another object that gets created in this process that I need to reference and dispose of? Is there another disposal step I need to follow? Something else? Your help is much appreciated 🙂

Update: I tried GC.Collect at the end of the disposal step but still no luck.

Update 2: I’ve narrowed the problem down to the use of custom templates. When I invoke Documents.Add(…) I specify a custom template for the new document. If I don’t do this and instead invoke Add() with no parameters, then the problem does not happen.

Answer 1

I figured out that the use of Documents.Add() when using a custom template is to blame. I can’t explain why this would leave WinWord.exe hanging. However there are other ways to create documents from templates that don’t result in the same problem.

So I replaced:

Dim doc As Word.Document = documents.Add(Template:=CObj(templatePath))

with:

Dim doc As Word.Document = documents.Add()  
doc.AttachedTemplate = templatePath  
doc.UpdateStyles()

Using AttachedTemplate to specify the template works for me and doesn’t leave WinWord.exe hanging.

(One new issue has arisen however… An image in the template’s footer does not get copied to the document when using AttachedTemplate/UpdateStyles. I’m taking that up as a separate issue. But since this method solves my original problem, I’m satisfied. Thanks to everyone who offered answers!)