Google Apps Script to remove all blank paragraphs in a Google Document

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๐Ÿš€ Elevating Document Clarity with Google Apps Script! ๐Ÿš€

Creating a Google Apps Script to remove all blank paragraphs in a Google Document is a straightforward task. The script needs to iterate through all the paragraphs in the document and check if they are empty. If a paragraph is empty (i.e., it contains no text), the script should remove it. Here’s a script that accomplishes this:

function removeBlankParagraphs() {
  const doc = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();
  const body = doc.getBody();
  const paragraphs = body.getParagraphs();

  // Iterate backwards through the paragraphs to avoid index shifting issues
  for (let i = paragraphs.length - 2; i >= 0; i--) {
    const paragraph = paragraphs[i];
    // Check if the paragraph is empty
    if (paragraph.getText().trim() === '') {
      paragraph.removeFromParent();
    }
  }
}

// Run the script
removeBlankParagraphs();

This script works as follows:

  1. It accesses the active document and gets its body.
  2. It retrieves all paragraphs in the body.
  3. It iterates through these paragraphs in reverse order (to prevent issues with changing indices as elements are removed).
  4. For each paragraph, it checks if the text is empty (after trimming any whitespace). If it is, the paragraph is removed.

To use this script:

  1. Open your Google Document.
  2. Go to Extensions > Apps Script.
  3. Delete any existing code in the script editor and paste the above script.
  4. Save the script and run removeBlankParagraphs function.