PDF Document API (New): Create a ZUGFeRD-Compliant PDF Invoices

• Jun 10, 2026
• 2 minutes to read

ZUGFeRD (Zentraler User Guide des Forums elektronische Rechnung Deutschland) is a standard for electronic invoices in Germany. It combines a PDF/A-3 file with an embedded XML file containing the invoice data.

The PDF Document API (New) allows you to create ZUGFeRD-compliant PDF invoices. The following versions are supported:

Version	Description
Version1_0	Original ZUGFeRD 1.0 format
Version2_0_1	ZUGFeRD 2.0.1+
Version2_1	ZUGFeRD 2.1+ (compatible with v2.1, v2.1.1, v2.2, and v2.3)
Version2_3_2	ZUGFeRD 2.3+ (compatible with v2.3.2, v2.3.3 and v.2.4)

Call the PdfDocument.AttachZugferdInvoice method to create a ZUGFeRD-compliant PDF invoice. You can load the invoice data from an XML file or a stream. The method also allows you to specify the ZUGFeRD version and the PDF/A-3 compliance level.

PDF Document API (New) supports the following ZUGFeRD conformance levels:

• Minimal: The PDF/A-3 file contains the XML invoice data and includes only the minimum required metadata to identify the invoice.
• Basic: The PDF/A-3 file contains the XML invoice data, but does not include any additional metadata or structure.
• BasicWL: The PDF/A-3 file contains the XML invoice data and includes additional metadata to improve the readability of the invoice.
• Comfort: The PDF/A-3 file contains the XML invoice data and includes additional metadata and structure to improve the readability and usability of the invoice.
• Extended: The PDF/A-3 file contains the XML invoice data and includes additional metadata and structure to improve the readability, usability, and interoperability of the invoice.
• EN16931: The PDF/A-3 file contains the XML invoice data and includes additional metadata and structure to comply with the EN 16931 standard for electronic invoicing in Europe.
• XRechnung: The PDF/A-3 file contains the XML invoice data and includes additional metadata and structure to comply with the XRechnung standard for electronic invoicing in Germany.

The following code snippet attaches a ZUGFeRD invoice to an existing PDF document and saves the result as a new file:

C#

using DevExpress.Docs.Pdf;
using System.IO;

using (PdfDocument pdfDocument =
    new PdfDocument(File.OpenRead(@"document_001.pdf")))
{
    pdfDocument.AttachZugferdInvoice(File.ReadAllBytes("ZUGFeRD-invoice.xml"), ZugferdVersion.Version2_3_2, ZugferdConformanceLevel.Basic);

    pdfDocument.Save(File.Create("document_001_attached.pdf"));
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.Docs.Pdf
Imports System.IO

Using pdfDocument As New PdfDocument(File.OpenRead("document_001.pdf"))
    pdfDocument.AttachZugferdInvoice(File.ReadAllBytes("ZUGFeRD-invoice.xml"), ZugferdVersion.Version2_3_2, ZugferdConformanceLevel.Basic)

    pdfDocument.Save(File.Create("document_001_attached.pdf"))
End Using