Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format that enables users to exchange and view electronic documents easily and reliably, independently of the environment in which documents were created. Each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, graphics, and other information needed to display the document.

VintaSoft PDF .NET Plug-in is the add-on for VintaSoft Imaging .NET SDK, which allows to read, view, verify, generate, print, edit, protect, optimize, compress, convert and save PDF documents.

Plug-in features

• The plug-in can be used for developing .NET 9, .NET 8, .NET 7 and .NET 6 applications (console, WPF, WinForms, ASP.NET Core, service, etc) for Windows
• The plug-in can be used for developing .NET 9, .NET 8, .NET 7 and .NET 6 applications (console, ASP.NET Core, service, etc) for Linux and macOS
• The plug-in can be used for developing .NET Framework 4.8, 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, 4.0 and 3.5 applications (console, WPF, WinForms, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET WebForms, service, etc) for Windows
• The plug-in core is written in C#
• AnyCPU, x86 and x64 mode support
• PDF engine is written from scratch, no additional external third party libraries are necessary
  

• Create new PDF or PDF/A document

  • Create new PDF document in file or stream
  • Create PDF document compatible with PDF specification 1.0-1.7, 2.0
  • Create secured PDF document
  • Create PDF document with portfolio
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Load PDF document

  • Load an existing PDF document from file or stream
  • Load PDF documents compatible with PDF specification 1.0-1.7, 2.0
  • Load PDF documents compatible with PDF/A specification
  • Load secured PDF document
  • Load PDF document with portfolio
  • Load damaged PDF document
  • "PDF Reader license" is necessary
  
  

• Verify PDF document to conformance with PDF/A

  • Verify PDF document to conformance with PDF/A-1a, PDF/A-2a, PDF/A-3a, PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-2b, PDF/A-3b, PDF/A-2u, PDF/A-3u, PDF/A-4, PDF/A-4e, PDF/A-4f specification
  • "PDF Reader license" is necessary
  
  

• Render PDF document

  • Render the whole PDF page or a page region
  • Customize the algorithm of PDF content rendering
    • Disable rendering of text, images, graphics, etc
    • Change text before rendering
    • Preprocess image before rendering
    • Change vector graphics before rendering
    • Change graphic state before rendering
  • Get intermediate image while rendering a PDF page - this is necessary for progressive PDF page preview
  • Get scaled region of PDF page
  • Color management support
  • Transparency support
  • PDF functions support
  • Render text of PDF page
    • Supported fonts: TrueType, OpenType, CompactFontFormat, Type0, Type1, Type3
    • Supported text rendering modes: fill, stroke, invisible, clipping
    • Supported the rendering of vertically aligned text
  • Render images of PDF page
    • Render images with the following compressions: None, ASCII85, ASCIIHEX, CCITT Group 3, CCITT Group 4, JPEG, LZW, Run Length, Flate (ZIP)
    • Render images with JBIG2 compression - VintaSoft JBIG2 .NET Plug-in is necessary
    • Render images with JPEG2000 compression - VintaSoft JPEG2000 .NET Plug-in is necessary
  • Render graphics of PDF page
    • Render forms
    • Render annotations
    • Render shading and tiling patterns
    • Color blending support
  • Supported color spaces: CalGray, CalRGB, DeviceCMYK, DeviceGray, DeviceN, DeviceRGB, ICCBased, Indexed, Lab, Separation, Pattern
  • Render Optional Content Groups (OCGs) of PDF page
  • "PDF Reader license" is necessary for rendering of PDF document without interactive fields and custom appearance annotations
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary for rendering of any PDF document
  
  

• Print PDF document

  • Print PDF document in WinForms
  • Print PDF document in WPF
  • Print PDF document in web application
  • "PDF Reader license" is necessary for printing in raster form a PDF document without interactive fields and custom appearance annotations
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary for printing of any PDF document in raster or vector form
  
  

• Search text in PDF document and extract text from PDF document

  • Search text in the whole PDF document or in a PDF page
  • Extract text from PDF document
  • "PDF Reader license" is necessary
  
  

• Manage PDF document structure

  • Manage pages of PDF document
    • Create new empty PDF page
    • Add or insert new page to a PDF document
    • Add or insert an existing page to the same PDF document without re-encoding the page data
    • Add or insert an existing page to another PDF document without re-encoding the page data
    • Reorder pages of PDF document
    • Delete pages from PDF document
  • Manage fonts of PDF document
    • Extract font from PDF document
    • Create new PDF font based on standard PDF font
    • Create new PDF font based on PDF font of another PDF document
    • Create new PDF font based on TrueType font
    • Add new PDF font to a PDF document
    • Embed external and standard fonts into PDF document
    • Pack embedded fonts of PDF document
    • Create a subset of embedded font in PDF document
  • Manage (create, add, edit, resort, delete) bookmarks of PDF document
  • Manage (extract, add, compress, change compression) image-resources of PDF document
    • Compress image-resource using the following compression algorithms: None, ASCII85, ASCIIHEX, CCITT Group 4, JPEG, LZW, Run Length, ZIP
    • Compress image-resource using JBIG2 compression - VintaSoft JBIG2 .NET Plug-in is necessary
    • Compress image-resource using JPEG2000 compression - VintaSoft JPEG2000 .NET Plug-in is necessary
  • Manage (extract, add, delete, change description and compression) attachments of PDF document
  • Manage (view, create, edit) portfolio of PDF document
  • Manage (add, change, delete) actions of PDF document
  • Manage (create, delete) embedded PDF page thumbnails
  • Manage (create, add, edit, delete) annotations of PDF document
  • Manage (create, add, delete) optional content groups of PDF document
  • Manage (create) marked content
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Edit content of PDF page or form object

  • Edit content (graphics, images, forms, text, clip region) of PDF page
    • change size of content object
    • move content object
    • rotate content object
    • delete, copy, insert content object
    • set clip path (using graphics path) for content object
    • edit image of content object
    • change image/form to the image or form in content object
    • edit parameters of content object: fill color, stroke color, alpha constant, pen width, color blending mode, text output mode
    • edit parameters of the text output operator
  • Draw graphics on PDF page
    • Control the parameters of graphic state: transformation matrix, text rendering parameters, etc
    • Draw graphic primitives on PDF page: line, rectangle, ellipse, curve, image, text, etc
    • Draw graphic figures on PDF page: rectangle, alignment panel, image, text box, polygon, table, etc
  • Remove existing content of PDF document without the ability to restore
    • Remove text, images and graphics from PDF page
    • Apply redaction marks to PDF document
  • Overlay one PDF page into the specified rectangle of another PDF page
  • Rotate PDF page
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Work with low-level object tree of PDF document

  • View and edit low-level object tree of PDF document
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Create and edit PDF annotations of PDF document

  • Obtain information about PDF annotations of PDF document
  • Supported types of PDF annotations:
    • Link
    • Popup
    • Markup
      • File Attachment
      • Free Text
      • Circle
      • Ink
      • Line
      • Polygon
      • Polyline
      • Stamp
      • Square
      • Text
      • Office (VintaSoft Office .NET Plug-in is necessary)
    • Text Markup
      • Caret
      • Highlight
      • Underline
      • Strikeout
      • Squiggly
  • Add new PDF annotation to a PDF document
  • Change the parameters of an existing PDF annotation
  • Remove a PDF annotation from PDF document
  • Import/export PDF annotations in XFDF format
  • Add PDF annotation appearance to a PDF document and get your PDF annotations visible in any PDF viewer
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Comment PDF document

  • Add and remove comment or reply
  • Create comment threads
  • Set state for comment or reply
  • Comments, which are based on PDF markup and popup annotations, are compatible with third party PDF viewer applications
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" and "Annotation" license is necessary
  
  

• Create, edit and fill interactive form of PDF document

  • Create the new interactive form of PDF document
  • Obtain information about the fields of interactive form
  • Supported types of interactive form fields:
    • Push button
    • Text
    • List box
    • Combo box
    • Check box
    • Radio button
    • Signature field
    • Barcode field - may include DataMatrix, PDF417 or QR Code barcode. VintaSoft Barcode .NET SDK is necessary
    • Vintasoft Barcode field - may include any 1D or 2D barcode that supported by VintaSoft Barcode .NET SDK. VintaSoft Barcode .NET SDK is necessary
  • Add a field to interactive form
  • Change value, parameters or appearance of interactive form field
  • Assign actions to a field of interactive form
  • Verify or calculate a field value using JavaScript code
  • Remove a field from interactive form
  • Export and import fields of interactive form to/from XFDF format
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• View pages of PDF document in WPF image viewer

  • View PDF pages in WPF image viewer
  • Highlight text on PDF page in WPF image viewer, select text on PDF page in WPF image viewer using mouse and keyboard
  • Extract image-resources from PDF page in WPF image viewer
  • Navigate PDF document using bookmarks, links and buttons
  • "PDF Reader license" is necessary for viewing of PDF document without interactive fields and custom appearance annotations
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary for viewing of any PDF document
  
  

• View and fill pages of PDF document in WPF image viewer

  • View annotations on PDF page in WPF image viewer
  • View and fill the interactive fields on PDF page in WPF image viewer
  • Execute JavaScript actions
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• View pages of PDF document in WinForms image viewer

  • View PDF pages in WinForms image viewer
  • Highlight text on PDF page in WinForms image viewer, select text on PDF page in WinForms image viewer using mouse and keyboard
  • Extract image-resources from PDF page in WinForms image viewer
  • Navigate PDF document using bookmarks, links and buttons
  • "PDF Reader license" is necessary for viewing of PDF document without interactive fields and custom appearance annotations
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary for viewing of any PDF document
  
  

• View and fill pages of PDF document in WinForms image viewer

  • View annotations on PDF page in WinForms image viewer
  • View and fill the interactive fields on PDF page in WinForms image viewer
  • Execute JavaScript actions
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• View pages of PDF document in HTML5 image viewer in web application

  • "PDF Reader license" is necessary for viewing of PDF document without interactive fields and custom appearance annotations
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary for viewing of any PDF document
  
  

• Edit PDF document content in WPF image viewer

  • Edit content (graphics, images, forms, text, clip region) of PDF page in WPF image viewer
    • Edit content of PDF page in WPF image viewer
    • Change text on PDF page in WPF image viewer
    • Edit rich-text on PDF page in WPF image viewer - PDF Reader, Writer and Visual Editor license and Office license are necessary
  • Edit (build, transform, copy, delete) PDF annotations on PDF page in WPF image viewer
  • Edit (build, transform, copy, delete) interactive fields on PDF page in WPF image viewer
  • Add graphic (images, forms, vector graphics, etc) to a PDF page in WPF image viewer
  • Extract, transform, replace or remove image or form resources from PDF page in WPF image viewer
  • Remove and black out content of PDF page in WPF image viewer
  • Crop PDF page in WPF image viewer
  • "PDF Reader, Writer and Visual Editor" license is necessary
  
  

• Edit PDF document content in WinForms image viewer

  • Edit content (graphics, images, forms, text, clip region) of PDF page in WinForms image viewer
    • Edit content of PDF page in WPF image viewer
    • Change text on PDF page in WPF image viewer
    • Edit rich-text on PDF page in WPF image viewer - PDF Reader, Writer and Visual Editor license and Office license are necessary
  • Edit (build, transform, copy, delete) PDF annotations on PDF page in WinForms image viewer
  • Edit (build, transform, copy, delete) interactive fields on PDF page in WinForms image viewer
  • Add graphic (images, forms, vector graphics, etc) to a PDF page in image viewer
  • Extract, transform, replace or remove image or form resources from PDF page in image viewer
  • Remove and black out content of PDF page in image viewer
  • Crop PDF page in image viewer
  • "PDF Reader, Writer and Visual Editor" license is necessary
  
  

• Comment PDF document in WPF/WinForms image viewer

  • "PDF Reader and Writer" and "Annotation" license is necessary
  
  

• Verify digital signatures of PDF document, sign a PDF document

  • Get a list of all digital signatures of PDF document
  • Obtain information about digital signature: certificate that was used to create the signature; certificates chain that was used to create the signature; additional information
  • Verify a digital signature:
    • Supported digital signature formats: PKCS#1, PKCS#7
    • Supported digital signature computing methods: byte range digest
  • Add a digital signature to a PDF document:
    • Supported certificate formats: X509 certificate
    • Supported digital signature computing methods: byte range digest
    • Supported digital signature formats: PKCS#1, PKCS#7
  • Create a visual appearance of digital signature field
  • Embed information for long-term verification (LTV) of digital signature into a PDF document
  • Recover and save a revision of PDF document (the state of the document when it was signed)
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Protect PDF document

  • Encode and decode PDF documents using ARC4 and AES algorithms
  • Change owner or user password for PDF document
  • Change user access permissions for PDF document
  • Protect text (remove text encodings and obfuscate font programs) in PDF document against extraction
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Optimize, compress and cleanup PDF document

  • Optimize and recompress image-resources of PDF document
  • Use MRC (Mixed Raster Content) algorithm for compressing color images of PDF document - VintaSoft Document Cleanup .NET Plug-in is necessary
  • Use compressed XREF table of PDF document
  • Embed external and standard fonts into PDF document
  • Pack embedded fonts of PDF document
  • Create a subset of embedded font in PDF document
  • Cleanup PDF document
    • Remove duplicate resources
    • Remove unused resources
    • Remove unused pages
    • Remove invalid bookmarks
    • Remove invalid links
  • Linearize PDF document
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Save PDF document

  • Save PDF document to a file or stream
  • Save new PDF document
    • Save new PDF document as a document compatible with PDF specification 1.0-1.7
    • Save new PDF document as a document compatible with PDF/A specification
    • "PDF Writer" license is necessary
  • Save changes in an existing PDF document
    • Save changes in an existing PDF document using incremental update for preserving document history
    • Save changes in PDF document back to the source
    • Save changes in PDF document to a new source and switch the source after saving
    • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Convert PDF document to a PDF/A document

  • Convert PDF document to a PDF/A-1a, PDF/A-2a, PDF/A-3a, PDF/A-1b, PDF/A-2b, PDF/A-3b, PDF/A-2u, PDF/A-3u, PDF/A-4, PDF/A-4e, PDF/A-4f document
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Convert PDF document to a DOCX document

  • Convert PDF document to a DOCX document
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  • VintaSoft Office .NET Plug-in is necessary
  
  

• Recognize text from image and create searchable PDF or PDF/A document

  • VintaSoft OCR .NET Plug-in is necessary
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  

• Convert multipage TIFF file to a searchable PDF or PDF/A document

  • VintaSoft OCR .NET Plug-in is necessary
  • "PDF Reader and Writer" license is necessary
  
  
• Convert PDF document to a multipage TIFF file
• Convert PDF document to SVG files
• Convert a text file to a PDF document
• Split a PDF document to several PDF documents
• Merge several PDF documents to a single PDF document
• Use the embedded JavaScript interpreter

Plug-in does not support the following features from PDF specification

• Graphics, Overprint Control
• Graphics, PostScript XObjects
• Interactive Features, Annotations:
  • Sound Annotations
  • Movie Annotations
  • Trap Network Annotations
  • Projection Annotations
  • Rich-Media Annotations
• Interactive Features, Actions:
  • Thread Actions
  • Sound Actions
  • Movie Actions
  • Rendition Actions
  • Transition Actions
  • Go-To-3D-View Actions
  • Rich-Media-Execute Actions
• Interactive Features, Interactive Forms:
  • XFA Forms
• Interactive Features, Measurement Properties
• Multimedia Features
• Document Interchange, Rendering with color separations

Development and Deployment requirements

• Development requirements:

  • Development environments: Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Studio Code, JetBrains Rider, .NET CLI
  • Programming languages: C#, VB.NET, any .NET compatible language
  • Development platforms: .NET, WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET
  
  

• Deployment requirements:

  • Windows (Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7; Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016/2012/2008; 32-bit and 64-bit) with .NET 9, .NET 8, .NET 7 or .NET 6
  • Windows (Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP; Windows Server 2025/2022/2019/2016/2012/2008/2003; 32-bit and 64-bit) with .NET Framework 4.8, 4.7, 4.6, 4.5, 4.0, 3.5
  • Linux (Ubuntu 24/23/22/20/18; Debian 12/11/10; Fedora 40/39/38/37/36/35; OpenSUSE 15; CentOS 9/8/7; Redhate Enterprise Linux 9/8/7; Alpine 3) with .NET 9, .NET 8, .NET 7 or .NET 6
  • macOS (macOS 14/13/12/11/10) with .NET 9, .NET 8, .NET 7 or .NET 6