Remove hidden text from a word processing document

Hidden text is represented by run properties, usually <w:vanish/>, on runs or inherited styles.

vanish is a toggle property. As direct run formatting, values such as on, 1, or true hide the run, and off, 0, or false turn direct hidden formatting off. In styles, toggle behavior interacts with the style hierarchy, so direct markup alone is not always enough to know the effective result.

Hidden text markup

<w:r>
  <w:rPr><w:vanish/></w:rPr>
  <w:t>Hidden text</w:t>
</w:r>

Rust workflow

Remove runs whose direct run properties contain active vanish formatting:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
pub fn remove_hidden_text(path: &Path) -> Result<Vec<u8>, Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
  let mut document = WordprocessingDocument::new_from_file_with_settings(path, lazy_settings())?;
  let main_part = document.main_document_part()?;
  let document_xml = main_part.data_as_str(&document)?.unwrap_or_default();
  let updated_xml = remove_runs_with_direct_vanish(document_xml);

  main_part.set_data(&mut document, updated_xml.into_bytes())?;

  let mut buffer = Cursor::new(Vec::new());
  document.save(&mut buffer)?;
  Ok(buffer.into_inner())
}
}

The upstream sample removes runs whose run properties contain vanish, and removes extra vanish elements when they are not under a run. That is a useful cleanup pattern for direct formatting, but a complete Rust implementation should also account for hidden text inherited from character or paragraph styles.

In ooxmlsdk, generated schema types include Vanish, RunProperties, Run, ParagraphProperties, and Text.