Python Docx - Sections - Page Orientation

Question

The following code tries to use landscape orientation, but the document is created as potrait.
Can you suggest where the problem is?

from docx import Document
from docx.enum.section import WD_ORIENT

document = Document()

section = document.sections[-1]
section.orientation = WD_ORIENT.LANDSCAPE

document.add_heading('text')
document.save('demo.docx')

When I read the code back as XML

<w:document>
    <w:body>
       <w:p>
          <w:pPr>
             <w:pStyle w:val="Heading1"/>
          </w:pPr>
          <w:r>
              <w:t>TEXT</w:t>
          </w:r>
       </w:p>
       <w:sectPr w:rsidR="00FC693F" w:rsidRPr="0006063C" w:rsidSect="00034616">
           <w:pgSz w:w="12240" w:h="15840" w:orient="landscape"/>
           <w:pgMar w:top="1440" w:right="1800" w:bottom="1440" w:left="1800" w:header="720" w:footer="720" w:gutter="0"/>
           <w:cols w:space="720"/>
           <w:docGrid w:linePitch="360"/>
        </w:sectPr>
    </w:body>
 </w:document>

I don't know XML well by assume the section tags should come above the TEXT tags at the top rather than the bottom????

Which Python and OS are you using? When I try to run your code as is, I get `ImportError: cannot import name Document`: > $ cat stackoverflow1.py > > from docx import Document > from docx.enum.section import WD_ORIENT > > document = Document() > > section = document.sections[-1] > section.orientation = WD_ORIENT.LANDSCAPE > > document.add_heading('text') > document.save('demo.docx') > > $ python stackoverflow1.py > Traceback (most recent call last): > File "stackoverflow1.py", line 1, in > from docx import Document > ImportError: cannot import name Document > — boardrider, Aug 10 '15 at 11:14

score 18 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 07 '16 at 13:43

Whilst the page is correctly tagged as landscape, its dimensions remain the same as before and must be manually changed.

http://python-docx.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/sections.html

Page dimensions and orientation

Three properties on Section describe page dimensions and orientation. Together these can be used, for example, to change the orientation of a section from portrait to landscape:

...

new_width, new_height = section.page_height, section.page_width section.orientation = WD_ORIENT.LANDSCAPE section.page_width = new_width section.page_height = new_height

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 17 '18 at 10:35

I have made a function that makes it easy to change from landscape orientation to portrait orientation and viceversa:

def change_orientation():
    current_section = document.sections[-1]
    new_width, new_height = current_section.page_height, current_section.page_width
    new_section = document.add_section(WD_SECTION.NEW_PAGE)
    new_section.orientation = WD_ORIENT.LANDSCAPE
    new_section.page_width = new_width
    new_section.page_height = new_height

    return new_section

Then just use it whenever you want:

change_orientation()
document.add_picture(ax1)
change_orientation()
document.add_picture(ax2)

Thanks, this was helpful. To make it work, I had to also add the command: From docx.enum.section import WD_ORIENT — HyperMouse, Jun 05 '23 at 06:31

score -3 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 06 '22 at 04:29

def change_orientation():
    current_section = document.sections[-1]
    new_width, new_height = current_section.page_height, current_section.page_width
    new_section = document.add_section(WD_SECTION_START.NEW_PAGE)
    new_section.orientation = WD_ORIENTATION.LANDSCAPE
    new_section.page_width = new_width
    new_section.page_height = new_height

    return new_section

new code !

Python Docx - Sections - Page Orientation

3 Answers3

Page dimensions and orientation