How to Integrate Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services with Microsoft Word

Set Up Your Azure Cognitive Services Account

• Visit the Azure Cognitive Services page and sign up for a new Azure account if you don't already have one. You may also use existing Microsoft credentials.

 

• Once logged in, navigate to the Azure Portal. Click on ‘Create a resource’ and search for ‘Cognitive Services’.

 

• Select ‘Cognitive Services’ and fill out the necessary details such as Subscription, Resource Group, and Instance Details. Choose the API that best meets your needs (e.g., Text Analytics, Computer Vision, etc.).

 

• Review and create your resource. Once created, navigate to the resource to retrieve your API key and endpoint URL, as these will be needed for integrating with Microsoft Word.

Prepare Microsoft Word for Integration

• Open Microsoft Word and ensure you have the latest version installed. Check for updates if necessary.

 

• Navigate to `Insert` -> `Office Add-ins` to open the Office Add-ins store.

 

• Search for any relevant add-ins that allow HTTP requests or integrations. While Microsoft Word does not natively support such integrations, you may use third-party add-ins that support API requests.

Write a Macro to Connect with Azure Cognitive Services

• Open the `Developer` tab in Word. If it's not visible, go to `File` -> `Options` -> `Customize Ribbon` and check 'Developer'.

 

• Click on `Macros` and create a new Macro, giving it a suitable name.

 

• Enter the following VBA code in the macro editor. This example demonstrates a basic HTTP POST request to an Azure text analytics API:

  Sub CallAzureTextAnalyticsAPI()
      Dim http As Object
      Dim url As String
      Dim apiKey As String
      Dim inputText As String
      Dim jsonResponse As String
      
      ' Initialize API details
      url = "https://your-endpoint.cognitiveservices.azure.com/text/analytics/v3.0/sentiment"
      apiKey = "your-api-key"
  
      ' Set up your input text
      inputText = "{""documents"":[{""language"":""en"",""id"":""1"",""text"":""Hello World!""}]}"
  
      ' Create XMLHttpRequest object
      Set http = CreateObject("MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP")
      http.Open "POST", url, False
      http.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/json"
      http.setRequestHeader "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key", apiKey
      
      ' Send request
      http.send inputText
      jsonResponse = http.responseText
  
      ' Display result in a message box for now
      MsgBox jsonResponse
  End Sub
  

Execute the Macro and Handle the Response

• Ensure your macro security settings allow for macros to run. Go to `File` -> `Options` -> `Trust Center` -> `Trust Center Settings` and adjust as necessary.

 

• Run the macro you created. This will make a request to the Azure Cognitive Services Text Analytics API and display the response in a message box.

 

• Parse and utilize the JSON response from Azure according to your needs. You may choose to extract sentiment data, key phrases, etc., and manipulate Word documents based on this output.

Refinement and Iteration

• Improve the functionality by adding error handling and more comprehensive parsing of the JSON response.

 

• Consider adding a graphical user interface within Word for input text and displaying results.

 

• Expand the macro's capabilities to call different Azure Cognitive Services such as Speech Recognition, OCR, or Language Translation.