Devexpress Office File Api Pdf

DevExpress PDF Document API

The PDF Document API is a non-visual .NET library for creating, loading, editing, merging, splitting, signing, and extracting content from PDF documents — without requiring Adobe Acrobat. It supports both new document generation via a graphics API and processing of existing PDFs through PdfDocumentProcessor. Features include interactive AcroForm fields, digital signatures (PKCS#7, PAdES), password protection, annotations, bookmarks, hyperlinks, content extraction, and XMP metadata management.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Create new PDF files from scratch using a graphics drawing API
• Load and modify existing PDF files (rotate pages, add content, change properties)
• Merge multiple PDF files into one or split pages out of a document
• Add or reorder pages, copy pages between documents
• Draw text, images, rectangles, lines, ellipses, and paths on PDF pages
• Create interactive AcroForms (text boxes, check boxes, combo boxes, radio groups, signature fields)
• Read and write AcroForm field values, or flatten forms
• Apply digital signatures (PKCS#7, PAdES) using PFX files or custom signers (Azure Key Vault)
• Validate existing digital signatures in PDFs
• Protect PDFs with user/owner passwords and restrict permissions (printing, editing, copying)
• Add annotations (highlight, underline, sticky notes, redaction) to pages
• Add bookmarks, hyperlinks, and file attachments
• Extract text (with word coordinates), search text, or extract images from PDF pages
• Convert PDFs to PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-2b, PDF/A-3b compliance
• Read and write XMP metadata packets
• Print PDFs with custom printer settings

Prerequisites & Installation

NuGet Packages

| Package | Purpose | |---------|---------| | DevExpress.Document.Processor | Core PDF processing: create, load, edit, merge, sign, extract | | DevExpress.Pdf.SkiaRenderer | Cross-platform rendering and image export (.NET 6+) |

.NET (6/7/8+)

dotnet add package DevExpress.Document.Processor
dotnet add package DevExpress.Pdf.SkiaRenderer  # For rendering/export on .NET 6+

.NET Framework (4.6.2+)

Install-Package DevExpress.Document.Processor

On .NET Framework, GDI+ is used for rendering — DevExpress.Pdf.SkiaRenderer is not required. See [references/getting-started-dotnet-fw.md](references/getting-started-dotnet-fw.md) for assembly references.

Important: All DevExpress packages in a project must share the same version number. A valid DevExpress license is required.

Before You Start — Ask the Developer

Before generating code, ask these questions to avoid rework:

General Questions

1. Target framework: Are you using .NET 8+, .NET 6/7, or .NET Framework 4.x?
2. New or existing project?: Creating new or adding to existing?
3. Hosting model: Console app, ASP.NET Core, Blazor, MAUI, WinForms, WPF, or something else?

PDF-Specific Questions

1. Operation type: Generate new PDF from scratch / read-extract from existing / merge-split / sign / protect / add interactive forms / add annotations?
2. Starting point: Create from scratch with graphics API / convert from another format / process an existing PDF?
3. Output needed: Modified PDF / extracted text or images / image render of pages / validated signature?

> Rule: If the developer's answer is ambiguous or missing, ask before generating code. Do not guess.

Component Overview

The PDF Document API provides:

• Document processing (PdfDocumentProcessor): Open, save, merge, organize pages, rotate, resize, extract content, print
• Graphics drawing (PdfGraphics): Draw text, images, shapes, and links on new or existing pages
• Interactive forms (PdfAcroFormField, PdfDocumentFacade): Create, read, write, and flatten AcroForm fields
• Document security (PdfEncryptionOptions, PdfDocumentSigner, Pkcs7Signer): Password protection, digital signatures, signature validation
• Annotations (PdfPageFacade, PdfMarkupAnnotationFacade): Add, edit, and remove markup and redaction annotations
• Content extraction: Extract text with coordinates, search text, extract embedded images
• XMP metadata (XmpDocument): Read and write XMP metadata packets

Core Entry Points

using DevExpress.Pdf;

// --- Process an existing PDF ---
using (PdfDocumentProcessor processor = new PdfDocumentProcessor())
{
    processor.LoadDocument("input.pdf");
    // modify pages, extract content, sign, etc.
    processor.SaveDocument("output.pdf");
}

// --- Create a new PDF from scratch ---
using (PdfDocumentProcessor processor = new PdfDocumentProcessor())
{
    processor.CreateEmptyDocument("output.pdf");
    using (PdfGraphics graph = processor.CreateGraphicsPageSystem())
    {
        // draw content here
        processor.RenderNewPage(PdfPaperSize.Letter, graph);
    }
}

Documentation & Navigation Guide

Getting Started

Refer to [references/getting-started.md](references/getting-started.md)

When you need to:

• Set up the PDF Document API for the first time (.NET 6+)
• Install NuGet packages and configure your project
• Create your first PDF document
• Load, modify, and save an existing PDF

Getting Started (.NET Framework)

Refer to [references/getting-started-dotnet-fw.md](references/getting-started-dotnet-fw.md)

When you need to:

• Set up the PDF Document API in a .NET Framework 4.6.2+ project
• Reference the correct assemblies (GDI+ rendering path)
• Understand .NET Framework-specific limitations

Document Generation

Refer to [references/document-generation.md](references/document-generation.md)

When you need to:

• Create a new PDF file from scratch
• Draw text, images, and shapes on pages
• Render pages from graphics content
• Set PDF/A compatibility mode
• Control font embedding

PDF Graphics API

Refer to [references/pdf-graphics.md](references/pdf-graphics.md)

When you need to:

• Draw text (DrawString), measure text (MeasureString)
• Draw images, rectangles, ellipses, lines, polygons, Bezier curves, paths
• Add hyperlinks to a page
• Apply transforms (scale, rotate, translate)
• Save and restore the graphics state
• Add graphics to an existing page foreground or background

Document Manipulation

Refer to [references/document-manipulation.md](references/document-manipulation.md)

When you need to:

• Merge multiple PDFs into one
• Add, insert, copy, or delete pages
• Rotate or resize pages
• Scale, rotate, or offset page content
• Convert to PDF/A-2b or PDF/A-3b
• Optimize file size with object streams

Interactive Forms

Refer to [references/interactive-forms.md](references/interactive-forms.md)

When you need to:

• Create text boxes, check boxes, combo boxes, list boxes, radio groups, or signature fields
• Read or write field values in an existing form
• Change form field appearance properties
• Flatten a form (bake fields into page content)
• Import/export AcroForm data

Document Security

Refer to [references/document-security.md](references/document-security.md)

When you need to:

• Protect a PDF with a user password (restrict opening)
• Protect a PDF with an owner password and restrict permissions (printing, copying, editing)
• Apply a PKCS#7 or PAdES digital signature using a PFX certificate
• Apply signatures with timestamps (TSA)
• Validate or verify existing signatures
• Use deferred or external signing (Azure Key Vault, hardware tokens)

Content Extraction

Refer to [references/content-extraction.md](references/content-extraction.md)

When you need to:

• Extract all text from a PDF page
• Search for a text string and get word/character coordinates
• Extract embedded images from pages
• Get word bounding boxes in page coordinates

Annotations

Refer to [references/annotations.md](references/annotations.md)

When you need to:

• Add markup annotations (highlight, underline, strikeout, squiggly)
• Add sticky notes or other markup annotation types
• Add redaction annotations and apply them
• Edit, flatten, or remove annotations
• Add comments or reviews to annotations

New PDF Document API (CTP — v26.1+)

> CTP Warning: The new DevExpress.Docs.Pdf namespace is a Community Technology Preview. Do not use in mission-critical production applications.

A separate, object-oriented PDF API (PdfDocument, Page, fragment-based content model) is available as a CTP alongside this legacy API. Both can coexist in one project. Use the devexpress-pdf-new skill for the new API.

Quick Start Example

A complete example — create a PDF with a title, body text, and a colored rectangle:

using DevExpress.Drawing;
using DevExpress.Pdf;
using System.Drawing;

using (PdfDocumentProcessor processor = new PdfDocumentProcessor())
{
    // Create an empty document
    processor.CreateEmptyDocument("QuickStart.pdf");

    // Create a graphics context using the page coordinate system
    using (PdfGraphics graph = processor.CreateGraphicsPageSystem())
    {
        // Draw a filled rectangle (banner)
        graph.FillRectangle(new DXSolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(68, 114, 196)),
            new RectangleF(30, 30, 540, 60));

        // Draw title text in white
        using (DXFont titleFont = new DXFont("Arial", 24, DXFontStyle.Bold))
        {
            graph.DrawString("DevExpress PDF Report", titleFont,
                new DXSolidBrush(Color.White), 40, 45);
        }

        // Draw body text in black
        using (DXFont bodyFont = new DXFont("Arial", 11))
        {
            graph.DrawString(
                "This document was generated programmatically with the DevExpress PDF Document API.",
                bodyFont, new DXSolidBrush(Color.Black), 30, 120);
        }

        // Render the page (Letter size = 612 x 792 points)
        processor.RenderNewPage(PdfPaperSize.Letter, graph);
    }
}

What This Does

Creates a single-page Letter-size PDF with a blue banner, white title text, and a body paragraph. The file QuickStart.pdf is saved to the working directory. See [examples/quickstart.cs](examples/quickstart.cs) for the full compilable console app version.

Key Properties & API Surface

PdfDocumentProcessor

| Property/Method | Type | Description | |----------------|------|-------------| | LoadDocument(path) | void | Load a PDF file from disk | | LoadDocument(stream, password) | void | Load from stream with optional password | | CreateEmptyDocument(path) | void | Create a new empty PDF | | CreateEmptyDocument(path, options) | void | Create with PdfCreationOptions (PDF/A, font embedding) | | SaveDocument(path) | void | Save the current document | | SaveDocument(path, PdfSaveOptions) | void | Save with encryption/signature options | | AppendDocument(path) | void | Merge another PDF into the current document | | RenderNewPage(paperSize, graphics) | void | Append a new page rendered from a PdfGraphics | | DeletePage(pageNumber) | void | Delete a page by 1-based number | | AddNewPage(rect) | void | Append a blank page | | InsertNewPage(pageNum, rect) | void | Insert a blank page at position | | CreateGraphicsPageSystem() | PdfGraphics | Create graphics in page coordinate system | | CreateGraphicsWorldSystem() | PdfGraphics | Create graphics in world coordinate system | | Document | PdfDocument | Access raw document model (pages, metadata) | | DocumentFacade | PdfDocumentFacade | High-level facade for annotations, forms, layers | | FindText(textToFind) | PdfTextSearchResults | Search text across all pages | | GetText(pageNumber) | IList | Get words from a page with coordinates | | GetDXImages(pageNumber) | IList | Extract images from a page | | Print(printerSettings) | void | Print the document |

PdfGraphics

| Method | Description | |--------|-------------| | DrawString(text, font, brush, x, y) | Draw text at a point | | DrawString(text, font, brush, rect, format) | Draw text within a rectangle | | MeasureString(text, font) | Measure rendered text size | | DrawImage(image, rect) | Draw an image | | DrawRectangle(pen, rect) | Draw a rectangle outline | | FillRectangle(brush, rect) | Fill a rectangle | | DrawEllipse(pen, rect) | Draw an ellipse outline | | FillEllipse(brush, rect) | Fill an ellipse | | DrawLine(pen, x1, y1, x2, y2) | Draw a line | | DrawPath(pen, path) | Draw a graphics path | | FillPath(brush, path) | Fill a graphics path | | AddLinkToUri(rect, uri) | Add a hyperlink to a URI | | AddLinkToPage(rect, pageNum, x, y) | Add a link to a page destination | | AddFormField(field) | Add an AcroForm field | | AddToPageForeground(page) | Stamp graphics on existing page foreground | | AddToPageBackground(page) | Stamp graphics on existing page background | | ScaleTransform(sx, sy) | Scale the coordinate system | | RotateTransform(angle) | Rotate the coordinate system | | TranslateTransform(dx, dy) | Translate the origin | | SaveGraphicsState() | Save current graphics state | | RestoreGraphicsState() | Restore previously saved graphics state |

Common Patterns

Load, Modify, Save

using (PdfDocumentProcessor processor = new PdfDocumentProcessor())
{
    processor.LoadDocument("input.pdf");
    foreach (PdfPage page in processor.Document.Pages)
        page.Rotate = 90;
    processor.SaveDocument("output.pdf");
}

Merge Two PDFs

using (PdfDocumentProcessor processor = new PdfDocumentProcessor())
{
    processor.CreateEmptyDocument("merged.pdf");
    processor.AppendDocument("file1.pdf");
    processor.AppendDocument("file2.pdf");
    // Processor is disposed — document is finalized
}

Add Graphics to an Existing Page

using (PdfDocumentProcessor processor = new PdfDocumentProcessor())
{
    processor.LoadDocument("input.pdf");
    PdfPage firstPage = processor.Document.Pages[0];
    using (PdfGraphics graphics = processor.CreateGraphicsPageSystem())
    {
        using (DXFont font = new DXFont("Arial", 14))
            graphics.DrawString("CONFIDENTIAL", font,
                new DXSolidBrush(Color.Red), 200, 400);
        graphics.AddToPageForeground(firstPage);
    }
    processor.SaveDocument("output.pdf");
}

Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Cause | Solution | |---------|-------|----------| | FileNotFoundException for SkiaSharp | Missing renderer package on .NET 6+ | Add DevExpress.Pdf.SkiaRenderer NuGet package | | PDF opens but shows blank pages | Graphics rendered but RenderNewPage not called | Always call RenderNewPage after drawing into a PdfGraphics from CreateGraphicsPageSystem | | No usable version of ICU on Linux | Missing ICU library | Set env variable: export DXEXPORT_ICU_VERSION_OVERRIDE=65.1 (or current version) | | Page origin confusion | Wrong coordinate system selected | Page system: origin bottom-left, Y up. World system: origin top-left, Y down (96 DPI). Choose the correct CreateGraphics*System method. | | Version mismatch build error | Mixed DevExpress package versions | Ensure all DX NuGet packages use the exact same version (e.g., all 25.2.x) | | License error at runtime | Missing DevExpress license | Register license key per the DevExpress installation guide | | PDF/A save fails | Transparency or non-embedded fonts in PDF/A-1b | Remove transparency; PDF/A-1b forbids transparency. Use PDF/A-2b for transparency support. | | Signature validation fails | Certificate not trusted | Add the certificate to the trusted store or pass it via CertificateStoreProvider | | ComplianceViolationException on load/save | FIPS mode active; operation uses non-compliant algorithm (RC4, AES-128 Rev 4) | Use PDF 2.0 AES-256 (PdfEncryptionAlgorithm.AES256). Detect FIPS mode with OperatingSystemLevelFipsMode.IsEnabled. |

Constraints & Rules

CRITICAL — follow these rules in every interaction:

1. Build verification: After making changes, verify with

…

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: DevExpress
• Source: DevExpress/agent-skills
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://www.devexpress.com

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.