Add Text to PDF Documents

• Jul 13, 2026
• 2 minutes to read

The PDF Document API places text on a page as a text fragment. A text fragment defines text content and its formatting (such as font, size, position, and alignment).

You can add a single-line text fragment or a multiline paragraph.

Add a Simple Text Fragment

Use the addTextFragment(String text, float x, float y) method to add a single line of text with default formatting to a PDF page:

page.addTextFragment("The PDF Document API", 10, 740);

The following code snippet adds a text fragment with custom formatting:

import com.devexpress.docs.pdf.*;
import com.devexpress.drawing.*;
import com.devexpress.system.drawing.*;
import com.devexpress.drawing.printing.*;

import java.nio.channels.*;
import java.nio.file.*;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        // Create a new PDF document.
        try (PdfDocument pdfDocument = new PdfDocument()) {

            // Add a Letter-size page to the document.
            Page page = pdfDocument.getPages().add(DXPaperKind.LETTER);

            TextFragment text = new TextFragment();
            text.setFont(new TextFont("Courier New"));
            text.setLocation(new PointF(10, 740));
            text.setText("The PDF Document API");
            text.setFontSize(18);

            page.addFragment(text);

            // Save the document to a PDF file.
            try (WritableByteChannel writableByteChannel =
                    FileChannel.open(Path.of("result.pdf"),
                        StandardOpenOption.CREATE,
                        StandardOpenOption.WRITE,
                        StandardOpenOption.TRUNCATE_EXISTING)) {

                pdfDocument.save(writableByteChannel);
            }
        }
    }
}

Add a Paragraph

Use ParagraphFragment to add multiline text with wrapping and alignment to a PDF page.

ParagraphFragment paragraph = new ParagraphFragment();
paragraph.setText("The PDF Document API is a Java library that allows you " +
        "to generate, convert, merge, split, edit, password-protect, " +
        "and export PDF files.");
paragraph.setLocation(new PointF(10, 400));
paragraph.setWidth(500);
paragraph.setFont(new TextFont("Courier New"));

DXStringFormat format = new DXStringFormat();
format.setAlignment(DXStringAlignment.CENTER);
format.setLineAlignment(DXStringAlignment.NEAR);

paragraph.setStringFormat(format);

page.addFragment(paragraph);

Next Steps

• Add Images to PDF Documents
• Add Shapes to PDF Documents