New PDF Document API Library
- 4 minutes to read
Important
You need a license for the DevExpress Office & PDF File API Subscription or DevExpress Universal Subscription to use this library in production code.
The PDF Document API is a cross-platform .NET library that lets you create, load, modify, save, and print PDF documents in code. You can use this library in desktop and web applications for a variety of platforms, including Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET Core, and Blazor.
Important
The new DevExpress PDF Document API library is currently available as a Community Technology Preview (CTP). Do not use this pre-release library in mission-critical applications. Try the library and share your feedback to help us make final adjustments before the official release. To start a conversation, submit a ticket through the DevExpress Support Center.
Why migrate to the new DevExpress PDF Document API?
Our new PDF Document API implements a strongly typed document object model (DOM) and allows you to access and modify all parts of a document, including pages, content fragments, annotations, form fields, metadata, attachments, and logical structure elements.
Our new PDF Document API is a ground-up redesign that introduces a more modern and consistent development experience and expands cross-platform capabilities. Key enhancements include:
- Simplified object model
- The new API eliminates the processor/facade split. You work directly with
PdfDocument→Page→ content fragments, annotations, and form fields. You can add content such as text or images through straightforward method calls likePage.AddTextFragment()orPage.AddImageFragment(). Modifications do not require a separate graphics pipeline or additional transformation steps. - Declarative content manipulation
- Create content objects such as
TextFragmentorImageFragmentand configure their properties. You can create, inspect, modify, reorder, or remove these elements to support flexible document composition workflows. - True cross-platform support
- The new library is fully cross-platform and runs consistently on Windows, Linux, and macOS without platform-specific dependencies. The previous graphics subsystem relied on OS-specific rendering components, while the new implementation provides a unified experience across all supported environments.
- Tagged PDF documents
- The new API allows you to create and edit tagged PDF documents that include a logical structure tree. Tagged PDFs improve accessibility for assistive technologies.
Both libraries are available side by side in v26.1 and later, so you can migrate at your own pace. For migration steps and a type-mapping reference, see Migrate to New PDF Document API.
Get Started
To create your first PDF document, follow our step-by-step tutorial:
Features
- Add Content
With the PDF Document API, you can add text, images, and graphics (shapes) to PDF pages.
- Text Formatting
- You can inspect, modify, reorder, or remove fragments without direct changes to raw PDF content streams.
- Fluent Text Search & Editing
The new API includes a structured search mechanism that returns position and content information for each match. You can use this information to edit text fragments, change their formatting, remove them, or redact them.
- Tagged PDF Documents
You can create and edit tagged PDF documents that include a logical structure tree. Tagged PDFs improve accessibility for assistive technologies.
- Merge and Split PDF Documents
- You can merge multiple PDF documents into a single file or split a PDF document into multiple files. The library allows you to specify page ranges and order.
- Page Organization
You can add, copy, reorder, rotate, resize, and remove pages in PDF documents.
- Security
You can encrypt PDF documents, remove encryption, and read or preserve current encryption settings when you save a document. You can set user and owner passwords, specify encryption algorithms (including AES-256), and restrict operations such as printing, modification, and data extraction.
- Printing
You can print PDF documents on Windows, Linux, and macOS. The library supports cross-platform printing through CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) for Unix-based environments.
- Interactive Forms (AcroForms)
The PDF Document API allows you to create, populate, flatten, and delete fillable PDF forms. You can work with text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, list boxes, combo boxes, and signature fields.
- Annotations
- The PDF Document API allows you to create, edit, and remove text annotations (sticky notes), text markup annotations (text highlights), redaction annotations, and many other annotation types. You can also insert comments and reviews associated with annotations.
- XMP Metadata & Document Info
- The API offers full access to both traditional PDF metadata and structured XMP metadata via a unified interface. You can specify standard fields such as Title, Author, Subject, Keywords and embed Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) data in your PDF document. To ensure consistency between PDF and XML metadata, you can synchronize changes between them on load, save, or on demand.
- ZugFeRD and Factur-X
- The PDF Document API allows you to attach XML data that complies with the ZugFeRD and Factur-X standards for electronic invoicing.