Class Position

A reference to a location in the document tab, 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

Method	Return type	Brief description
`getElement()`	`Element`	Gets the element that contains this `Position`.
`getOffset()`	`Integer`	Gets this `Position`'s relative location within the element that contains it.
`getSurroundingText()`	`Text`	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.
`getSurroundingTextOffset()`	`Integer`	Gets the offset of this `Position` within the `Text` element returned by `getSurroundingText()`.
`insertBookmark()`	`Bookmark`	Creates and inserts a new `Bookmark` at this `Position`.
`insertInlineImage(image)`	`InlineImage`	Creates and inserts a new `InlineImage` at this `Position` from the specified image blob.
`insertText(text)`	`Text`	Inserts 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

Name	Type	Description
`image`	`BlobSource`	the 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

Name	Type	Description
`text`	`String`	the 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