Class InlineDrawing

  • An InlineDrawing represents an embedded drawing within a ListItem or Paragraph, unless that parent is within a FootnoteSection, and cannot contain other elements itself.

  • The InlineDrawing element provides methods to manage its properties and position, such as copying, getting/setting alternate descriptions and titles, retrieving attributes, navigating siblings and parent, determining its type and position, merging, and removing from its parent.

  • Many of the methods require authorization with specific Google Docs API scopes.

InlineDrawing

An element representing an embedded drawing. AnInlineDrawing can be contained within aListItem orParagraph, unless theListItem orParagraph is withinaFootnoteSection. AnInlineDrawing cannot itself contain any other element. Formore information on document structure, see theguide to extending Google Docs.

Methods

MethodReturn typeBrief description
copy()InlineDrawingReturns a detached, deep copy of the current element.
getAltDescription()String|nullReturns the drawing's alternate description.
getAltTitle()String|nullReturns the drawing's alternate title.
getAttributes()ObjectRetrieves the element's attributes.
getNextSibling()Element|nullRetrieves the element's next sibling element.
getParent()ContainerElement|nullRetrieves the element's parent element.
getPreviousSibling()Element|nullRetrieves the element's previous sibling element.
getType()ElementTypeRetrieves the element'sElementType.
isAtDocumentEnd()BooleanDetermines whether the element is at the end of theDocument.
merge()InlineDrawing|nullMerges the element with the preceding sibling of the same type.
removeFromParent()InlineDrawing|nullRemoves the element from its parent.
setAltDescription(description)InlineDrawingSets the drawing's alternate description.
setAltTitle(title)InlineDrawingSets the drawing's alternate title.
setAttributes(attributes)InlineDrawingSets the element's attributes.

Detailed documentation

copy()

Returns a detached, deep copy of the current element.

Any child elements present in the element are also copied. The new element doesn't have aparent.

Return

InlineDrawing — The new copy.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

getAltDescription()

Returns the drawing's alternate description.

Return

String|null — The alternate description, ornull if the element does not have an alternate description.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

getAltTitle()

Returns the drawing's alternate title.

Return

String|null — The alternate title, ornull if the element does not have an alternate title.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

getAttributes()

Retrieves the element's attributes.

The result is an object containing a property for each valid element attribute where eachproperty name corresponds to an item in theDocumentApp.Attribute enumeration.

constdoc=DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();constdocumentTab=doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();constbody=documentTab.getBody();// Append a styled paragraph.constpar=body.appendParagraph('A bold, italicized paragraph.');par.setBold(true);par.setItalic(true);// Retrieve the paragraph's attributes.constatts=par.getAttributes();// Log the paragraph attributes.for(constattinatts){Logger.log(`${att}:${atts[att]}`);}

Return

Object — The element's attributes.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

getNextSibling()

Retrieves the element's next sibling element.

The next sibling has the same parent and follows the current element.

Return

Element|null — The next sibling element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

getParent()

Retrieves the element's parent element.

The parent element contains the current element.

Return

ContainerElement|null — The parent element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

getPreviousSibling()

Retrieves the element's previous sibling element.

The previous sibling has the same parent and precedes the current element.

Return

Element|null — The previous sibling element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

getType()

Retrieves the element'sElementType.

UsegetType() to determine the exact type of a given element.

constdoc=DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();constdocumentTab=doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();constbody=documentTab.getBody();// Obtain the first element in the active tab's body.constfirstChild=body.getChild(0);// Use getType() to determine the element's type.if(firstChild.getType()===DocumentApp.ElementType.PARAGRAPH){Logger.log('The first element is a paragraph.');}else{Logger.log('The first element is not a paragraph.');}

Return

ElementType — The element type.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

isAtDocumentEnd()

Determines whether the element is at the end of theDocument.

Return

Boolean — Whether the element is at the end of the tab.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

merge()

Merges the element with the preceding sibling of the same type.

Only elements of the sameElementType can be merged. Any child elements contained inthe current element are moved to the preceding sibling element.

The current element is removed from the document.

constdoc=DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();constdocumentTab=doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();constbody=documentTab.getBody();// Example 1: Merge paragraphs// Append two paragraphs to the document's active tab.constpar1=body.appendParagraph('Paragraph 1.');constpar2=body.appendParagraph('Paragraph 2.');// Merge the newly added paragraphs into a single paragraph.par2.merge();// Example 2: Merge table cells// Create a two-dimensional array containing the table's cell contents.constcells=[['Row 1, Cell 1','Row 1, Cell 2'],['Row 2, Cell 1','Row 2, Cell 2'],];// Build a table from the array.consttable=body.appendTable(cells);// Get the first row in the table.constrow=table.getRow(0);// Get the two cells in this row.constcell1=row.getCell(0);constcell2=row.getCell(1);// Merge the current cell into its preceding sibling element.constmerged=cell2.merge();

Return

InlineDrawing|null — The merged element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

removeFromParent()

Removes the element from its parent.

constdoc=DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();constdocumentTab=doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();constbody=documentTab.getBody();// Remove all images in the active tab's body.constimgs=body.getImages();for(leti=0;i <imgs.length;i++){imgs[i].removeFromParent();}

Return

InlineDrawing|null — The removed element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

setAltDescription(description)

Sets the drawing's alternate description. If the given description isnull, sets thedescription to the empty string.

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
descriptionStringThe alternate description.

Return

InlineDrawing — The current object.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

setAltTitle(title)

Sets the drawing's alternate title. If the given title isnull, sets the title to theempty string.

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
titleStringThe alternate title.

Return

InlineDrawing — The current object.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

setAttributes(attributes)

Sets the element's attributes.

The specified attributes parameter must be an object where each property name is an item intheDocumentApp.Attribute enumeration and each property value is the new value to beapplied.

constdoc=DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();constdocumentTab=doc.getActiveTab().asDocumentTab();constbody=documentTab.getBody();// Define a custom paragraph style.conststyle={};style[DocumentApp.Attribute.HORIZONTAL_ALIGNMENT]=DocumentApp.HorizontalAlignment.RIGHT;style[DocumentApp.Attribute.FONT_FAMILY]='Calibri';style[DocumentApp.Attribute.FONT_SIZE]=18;style[DocumentApp.Attribute.BOLD]=true;// Append a plain paragraph.constpar=body.appendParagraph('A paragraph with custom style.');// Apply the custom style.par.setAttributes(style);

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
attributesObjectThe element's attributes.

Return

InlineDrawing — The current element.

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the followingscopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.currentonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

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Last updated 2025-12-11 UTC.