There is a commonly used, preferred synonym for the plural: every [class name]. The usual For Each loop in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) that iterates through every member of a collection is replaced by a repeat loop in AppleScript, as shown in the following statements:

To get an idea of these constructions in action, compare the following examples used to unlink fields:

For Each oField In ActiveDocument.Fields 
	oField.Unlink 
Next oField

tell application "Microsoft Word"
	set allFields to (every field of active document)
	repeat with oField in allFields
		unlink oField
	end repeat
end tell

The VBA macro operates on the Fields collection, while the AppleScript example uses the every field syntax.

Because commands can act on a whole list at once in AppleScript, you might presume that you can avoid the repeat loop by using the plural in the manner shown in the following example:

tell application "Microsoft Word"
	unlink (every field of active document)
end tell

However, using a command with a list does not always work.

The example above returns an error, even if you use the explicit get or a variable. The error explains that {field 1 of active document, field 2 of active document,...} doesn't understand the unlink message. If you check the document, you'll see that the first field was in fact unlinked, but none of the others were. The reason is simply that the unlink command was not implemented to work on lists.

In most cases in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, you cannot use commands with lists. However, that is not true in Entourage. For the most part, commands mirror the VBA methods from which they were derived, and methods don't use lists. Therefore, you usually have to use repeat loops with lists.

As shown in the AppleScript example above that uses a repeat loop, you have to set a variable and refer to it, like allFields in the example.

If you try the following code instead, with no variable, the code returns an error, even when using the explicit get:

repeat with oField in (get every field of active document)
	unlink oField
end repeat

The error explains that field does not understand the unlink message. That's because the fields keep getting re-indexed as they get unlinked, skipping every second one, until the index is larger than the number of fields left. Instead, if you don't use a variable, you have to use the following code:

tell application "Microsoft Word"
	repeat with i from (count (get every field ¬
		of active document)) to 1 by -1
		set oField to item i of (get every field ¬
			of active document)
		unlink oField
	end repeat
end tell

The example above requires the following elements:

When you don't use a variable, you have to get every field of active document twice, sending an AppleEvent each time. Because the AppleEvents are unnecessary and slow, use a variable instead, like the example that uses allFields, above.

You can also use a repeat with i loop, as shown in the following example:

tell application "Microsoft Word"
	set allFields to (every field of active document)
	repeat with i from 1 to (count allFields)
		set oField to item i of allFields
		unlink oField
	end repeat
end tell

The example below is a VBA macro that unlinks every header and footer in the document. This example provides several opportunities to examine differences in objects between VBA and AppleScript.

Dim oField As Field 
Dim oSection As Section 
Dim oHeader As HeaderFooter 
Dim oFooter As HeaderFooter 
 
For Each oSection In ActiveDocument.Sections 
 
	For Each oHeader In oSection.Headers 
		If oHeader.Exists Then           
			For Each oField In oHeader.Range.Fields           
				oField.Unlink       
			Next oField 
		End If 
	Next oHeader 
 
	For Each oFooter In oSection.Footers 
		If oFooter.Exists Then       
			For Each oField In oFooter.Range.Fields      
				oField.Unlink
			Next oField 
		End If 
	Next oFooter 

Next oSection
 

This example unlinks fields in the Ranges of headers and footers, rather than in the main body of the document. Interestingly, the code is completely different in AppleScript for the following reasons:

Because the header footer class is not an element of any other class, not even of section, as you might expect, you can't create a list for it. These obstacles make the task more difficult in AppleScript.

The reason that header footer isn't an element of another class is likely because of the AppleScript rule that you cannot have read-only elements (you can have read-only properties). An object can have 0 to an infinite number of elements, and you only have to use make new element at someObject to create a new one.

Meanwhile, the object models for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint contain many collection objects that have no Add method; you can only use what you're given. The HeaderFooters collection object of each document Section is one of these types. You can use, at a maximum, three headers and three footers: the primary, first page, and even pages headers or footers. You cannot add your own.

Therefore, in AppleScript, header footer objects cannot be elements of section because you cannot make an unlimited number of them. They have to be self-standing objects that are divorced from the object model. The dictionary says they are inherited from base object.

To get these objects, you use the get header and get footer proprietary commands, rather than, for example, a statement like this: header footers of section 1 of active document.

You also have to use an index parameter to specify which header or footer you want. This construction is similar to using an index with the Headers and Footers properties of Section in VBA, as shown in the following example:

ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Headers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary)

The equivalent code in AppleScript is as follows:

get header (section 1 of active document) index ¬ 
	header footer primary

However, there's no easy way to get every header or every footer. There is no code in AppleScript that is the equivalent of ActiveDocument.Sections(1).Headers in the VBA example above.

Instead, you have to get each header and footer by index. You have a couple of options:

The following code executes the second option:

tell application "Microsoft Word"
		set theSections to every section ¬
			of active document
	repeat with theSection in theSections
		set theHeaderFooters to ¬
			{get header theSection index ¬
			header footer primary} & ¬
			{get header theSection index ¬
			header footer first page} & ¬
			{get header theSection index ¬
			header footer even pages} & ¬
			{get footer theSection index ¬
			header footer primary} & ¬
			{get footer theSection index ¬
			header footer first page} & ¬
			{get footer theSection index ¬
			header footer even pages}
		repeat with theHeaderFooter in theHeaderFooters
			set theFields to every field ¬
				of text object of theHeaderFooter
			repeat with theField in theFields
				unlink theField
			end repeat
		end repeat
	end repeat
end tell

Look out for other classes that are not elements of another class and are only available using proprietary commands. There are quite a few of these around.

One thing you may notice is that you don't have to run an exists test on the header footers as you do in VBA. In the VBA model, only primary headers and footers exist by default, even if they are empty. So, you have to check whether first page and even pages varieties exist, which are the constants wdHeaderFooterFirstPage and wdHeaderFooterEvenPages.

In AppleScript, because the commands get header and get footer can apply the parameters header footer first page and even pages and get a result, all of them exist by default, even if empty. There are no problems with empty lists for theFields when the text object of theHeaderFooter has none.