Possible to read/ write word files using Java?

Question

I'm planning to write a Java application that can read an MS word document, extract something (including mathematics equations created with the equation editor) from the document and write it to another word document.
Is it possible to do this?
Can anyone give me some idea?
Any idea is much appreciated :)

Answer 1

I think I may have misunderstood your question, but in case I didn't and you find this helpful, following is the code to read a word doc, replace certain strings, then write it out as a new doc.
import java.io.*;
public class Copy {
     public static String endResult;
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          String oldAuthor = "Samuel Foote";
          String newAuthor = "New Author";
          String oldDate = "1720-1777";
          String newDate = "1975 -- ";
      try {
          File inputFile = new File("C:\\document.doc");
          BufferedReader input = null;
          input = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(inputFile));
          StringBuffer contents = new StringBuffer();
          String line = null;
          while ((line = input.readLine()) != null){
               contents.append(line);
               contents.append(System.getProperty("line.separator"));          
          String text = contents.toString();
//     Replace the author and the dates
          Copy y = new Copy();
          y.replace(text, oldAuthor, newAuthor);
          text = endResult;
          y.replace(text, oldDate, newDate);
//     Copy the new, improved text to another file     //
          Copy z = new Copy();
          z.finalReplace(text);
          input.close();
     catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
          ex.printStackTrace();
     catch (IOException ex){
          ex.printStackTrace();
     String replace(String text, String oldSubstring, String newSubstring) {
//          Search the text for a string, then replace it //
          int fromIndex = 0;
          int e = 0;
          StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
          while ((e = text.indexOf(oldSubstring, fromIndex)) >= 0) {
               sb.append(text.substring(fromIndex, e));
               sb.append(newSubstring);
               fromIndex = e + oldSubstring.length();
          sb.append(text.substring(fromIndex));
          endResult = sb.toString();
          System.out.println("final string = " + sb);
          return sb.toString();
     String finalReplace (String args) throws IOException {
//          Move the altered text to a new file  //
          File outputFile = new File("C:\\copied document.doc");
          FileWriter out = new FileWriter(outputFile);
          Writer output = null;
          try {
               output = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(outputFile));
               output.write(endResult);
          finally {
               if (output != null) output.close();
             return endResult;