HWPF

HWPF is a component of the Apache POI project that provides support for Microsoft Word 97-2003 binary documents, with the file extension .doc. The acronym HWPF is commonly treated as a backronym, often described in developer circles as “Horrible Word Processor Format,” reflecting the historical complexity of the Word binary format. In practice, HWPF is the module within POI designed to read and, to a limited extent, write Word 97-2003 documents.

The library exposes a set of Java classes for working with the binary Word format, including representations such as HWPFDocument, Range, Paragraph, and CharacterRun. It also offers a WordExtractor utility to retrieve the textual content of a document. While HWPF can perform basic document processing, its focus is on text extraction and simple structural access rather than full fidelity editing. Writing capabilities exist but are constrained, and complex features found in Word products—such as advanced formatting, graphics, and certain embedded objects—may not be fully preserved or supported.

Due to the age and intricacy of the .doc format, HWPF provides a practical mechanism for legacy document handling within Java applications but is complemented by other POI components for newer formats. For Word documents created with Office 2007 and later (.docx), XWPF, which targets the OOXML format, is the preferred module. HWPF remains relevant for projects that must process legacy Word files within the POI ecosystem. See also Apache POI, XWPF, Word, and the .doc binary format.