Xamarin Word Library | C# Word Processing API

Xamarin Word Library Overview

The Xamarin Word Library (Essential DocIO for Xamarin) is a feature-rich and high-performance library that allows you to add advanced Word processing functions to any Xamarin application. It allows you to create, read, and edit Word documents programmatically without Microsoft Office or interop dependencies. It allows you to create complex reports by merging data from various data sources using its powerful mail merge engine. This library also allows merging, splitting, organizing Word documents, and finding and replacing text with ease.

Overview Diagram of Xamarin Word Library

General Information

Blazing Fast Performance

It is optimized for a server environment where speed and low memory usage are critical, Xamarin Word Library works much faster and consumes less memory when compared to Office automation libraries.

No Server Deployment Fees

There are no distribution fees, per-server licensing fees, or royalties, which makes Xamarin Word Library very cost-effective.

Powerful and Comprehensive APIs

All the elements of a typical Word document like text, formatting, images, tables, sections, headers, and footers are accessible through a comprehensive set of APIs. It only takes a few lines of code to create or manipulate richly formatted Word documents.

Supported file formatss

Create, read, and edit popular text file formats like DOC, DOT, DOCM, DOTM, DOCX, DOTX, HTML, RTF, TXT, and XML (WordML). Convert Word documents to PDF, image (PNG, BMP, JPEG), and ODT files.

Start Reports with Word and Finish with Word Library

Design reports using Microsoft Word and use Word Library to dynamically populate them with data. The final report can be saved to a Word file or exported to other supported formats like PDF.

Mail Merge

Simple Mail merge using Xamarin Word library

Simple Mail Merge

Mail merge is a process of merging data from the data source with a Word document template to produce personalized documents. Multiple documents can also be created from a Word template.

Group Mail merge using Xamarin Word library

Group Mail Merge

Perform mail merge by repeating a particular region of the document automatically for every record in the data source.

Nested Mail merge using Xamarin Word library

Nested Mail Merge

Generate complex reports by repeating nested regions of a document with related data.

Data sources for performing Mail merge

Data Sources

Populate the Word document template with data from common data sources like arrays, IEnumerable collection, dynamic objects, XML, etc.

Format the merged data during Mail merge

Formatting

Format the merged text, numeric values, and date-times automatically with the help of field switches.

Merge image during Mail merge

Images

When the prefix “image:” is added to the merge field name, it replaces it with an image in the Xamarin Word document.

Mail merge events to customize the merged data

Mail Merge Events

Customize the document during mail merge by formatting and editing the merged text, numeric, and image data with mail merge events, and change the layout of the document by inserting breaks.

Options to customize Mail merge functionality

Mail Merge Options

Supports options like mapping merge fields with fields in data sources, retrieving merge field names, and removing merge fields that are not merged, empty paragraphs, and empty groups.

For more information, check out our Mail merge features.

Document Elements

Sections in Word document

Section

Organize the document content with sections for grouping and start on a new page, odd page, even page, or continue on the same page.

Header and footer in Word document

Header and Footer

Add information like title, author, branding, and page numbers to repeat it at the top and bottom of every page. Supports header and footer types such as different first page and different odd and even pages.

Text in Word document

Text

Create or edit documents with different language texts. Supports left-to-right and right-to-left text, also.

Image in Word document

Image

Insert images in a document with all the common layout options like text wrapping, position, size, etc. Supports image formats like PNG, BMP, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, EMF, WMF, SVG, etc.

Bookmark in Word document

Bookmarks

Create and insert bookmarks to identify a part of the document for future reference.

Hyperlink in Word document

Hyperlinks

Create a link in a document for quick access of webpages, files, emails, bookmarks, etc.

Fields in Word document

Fields

Add dynamic information like title, time, page number, etc., to a Word document automatically. Update IF field, date-time, page number, document properties, etc.

Text box in Word document

Text Boxes

Showcase important text or quotes in a document within a text box. Insert and edit text format, and remove an existing text box.

Shapes in Word document

Shapes

Add predefined shapes in Word Open XML Format document (DOCX, DOTX, DOCM, DOTM, Word XML). Insert, edit, format, and remove an existing shape.

Charts in Word document

Charts

Graphically represent a set of data with common chart types like column, line, pie, bar, etc., in Word Open XML Format document (DOCX, DOTX, DOCM, DOTM, Word XML). Add and modify data, title, axes, data labels, legends, trendlines, etc., and format and remove an existing chart.

OLE Objects in Word document

OLE Objects

Embed common file formats within a Word document. Extract the embedded OLE object data from a Word document and save its native file format.

Footnote and Endnote in Word document

Footnote and Endnote

Additional information like detailed descriptions, references, credits, etc., can be added at the end of each page and document. Edit and remove an existing note from a document.

Properties of a Word document

Document Properties

Read and write document information with built-in document properties. Also, supports custom document properties and document variables.

Accessible Word document

Accessible Document

Creates accessible Word documents with 508 standard compliance with directly accessible elements like text and tables, and sets alternate text for all graphical elements like images, text boxes, shapes, charts, etc.

Formatting

Text formatting in Word documents

Text Formatting

Customize the appearance of a text with text-level formatting options like font family, size, style, underline, strikethrough, text color, highlight, subscript, superscript, etc.

Paragraph formatting in Word documents

Paragraph Formatting

Customize the appearance of a paragraph with paragraph-level formatting options like indents, alignment, spacing, tab stops, text direction, etc.

Bullets and Numbering in Word documents

Bullets and Numbering

Organize items or create an outline of a document with bullets and numbering ranging from a single-level list to a multilevel list.

Page settings in Word documents

Page Settings

Design the structure and layout of document pages with properties like size, margins, orientation, columns, line numbers, borders, page background, watermarks, etc.

Styles in Word document

Styles

Create and apply styles to ensure consistency within a document. Supports predefined and custom character styles, paragraph styles, and predefined table styles.

Tables

Create, insert, and delete tables in a document. Supports nested tables also.

Edit tables in Word document

Edit

Edit an existing table in a document by merging cells, adding or removing cells and rows, resizing cells, etc.

Format tables in Word document

Format

Format a table with properties like indent, alignment, cell margins and spacing, borders, shadings, repeat header row, break row across pages, etc.

Table styles in Word document

Styles

Give a polished look to tables by applying built-in styles and conditional styling options like first row, last row, banded rows, first column, last column, and banded columns.

Edit and Organize

Copy and paste contents in Word document

Copy and Paste

Copy a part of a document and insert it in the same or a different document with formatting options like use destination styles, keep source formatting, etc.

Edit bookmark contents in Word document

Edit Bookmarks

Navigate to a bookmark in the document and insert, edit, retrieve, or delete its content. Also replace the bookmarked contents with text, a part of a document, or an entire document.

Merge multiple Word documents

Merge

Merge multiple documents into a single document with several formatting options like use destination styles, keep source formatting, etc.

Learn more about merge Word documents

Split Word document into multiple small documents

Split

Split a document into multiple small documents based on sections, placeholder text, or any document element.

Learn more about split Word documents

Find and Replace

Find text in Word document

Find Text

Find text by matching whole words, and then highlight or format it. Also, find text patterns using regular expressions.

Replace text in Word document

Advanced Replace

Replace the text or text patterns with another text, a part of a document, or an entire document. Retain source or target formatting.

Create, insert, and edit a table of contents (TOC) in a Word document. . Update or rebuild the TOC after modifying an existing Word document. Build TOC based on heading and custom styles, including page numbers, and hyperlinks for easy navigation.

Content Controls

Design form using content controls in Word document

Design Form

Create and insert content controls like plain text, rich text, pictures, check boxes, combo boxes, dropdown lists, date pickers, etc., in the Word Open XML Format document (DOCX, DOTX, DOCM, DOTM, Word XML). Group a part of a document with block content control.

Restrict editing the content of a content control

Restrict Editing

The content of the content control can only be viewed. Protect the content from being edited by locking it.. Also prevent deleting.

Bind the content control with XML elements

Binding

Bind content controls to an element in the custom XML part that is embedded in a document.

Form Filling

Form filling with Form fields in Word document

Form Fields

Create fillable forms with legacy form fields in Word documents for users to complete or print. Fill the form fields and extract data from the form fields effortlessly.

Form filling with content controls in Word document

Content Controls

Creates more functional forms with content controls like plain text, rich text, pictures, check boxes, combo boxes, dropdown lists, date pickers, etc., in Word Open XML Format document. Fills the form and extracts filled data from the content controls effortlessly.

Review

Comments in Word document

Comments

A comment is a note or annotation that an author or reviewer can add to a document. Also, edit and remove an existing comment from a document.

Accept and reject changes in Word document

Accept and Reject Changes

Accept and reject changes that are tracked within a Word document.

Compare Word documents.

Compare

Compare two Word documents and highlight the changes, such as insertions, deletions, and formatting, as tracked changes.

Feature Matrix

Document Content Features	WORD 97-2003	WORD 2007-2016	RTF
Create a Word document from scratch or edit an existing Word document.
Open an existing Word document from file system or stream.
Save the Word document to file system, stream, or stream it to the client browser.
Create, access, and modify paragraphs and text.
Create, access, and modify tables, rows, and cells.
Create, access, and modify hyperlinks.
Create, access, and modify bookmarks.
Rebuild and update a table of contents.
Create, access, and modify fields.
Update fields such as IF, formula, and other popular field types.
Update Page and NumPages fields.
Create, access, and modify footnotes and endnotes.
Create, access, and modify images.
Create, access, and modify shapes.
Group and ungroup shapes.
Insert text and picture watermarks.
Create, access, and modify OLE objects from the document.
Create, access, and modify charts .
Create, access, and modify mathematical equations.
Create equations using LaTeX.
Access and modify built-in document properties.
Create, access, and modify custom document properties.
Update paragraph, word, and character count.
Update page count.
Access, create, and modify document sections, headers, and footers.
Iterate over document content.
Access and move elements between documents.
Insert HTML text.

Form filling	WORD 97-2003	WORD 2007-2016	RTF
Create, access, and modify form fields (text, checkbox, dropdown).
Create, access, and modify structured document tags (rich text, plain, date picker, picture, dropdown list, and combo box content controls).
Bind content controls to custom XML parts (XML mapping).
Lock content controls.

Formatting	WORD 97-2003	WORD 2007-2016	RTF
Format characters including font size, color, name, bold, italic, underline, and more.
Format paragraphs including line spacing, alignment, indentation, spacing before and after, keep with next, and more.
Format bulleted and numbered lists including numbering and levels.
Format tables including alignment, borders, and shading.
Access and modify all section properties including paper size, margins, and orientation
Access, create, and modify character styles.
Access, create, and modify paragraph styles.
Apply built-in and custom table styles.

Review	WORD 97-2003	WORD 2007-2016	RTF
Create, access, and modify comments.
Accept and reject all track changes in a document.
Accept and reject changes of a particular reviewer.
Compare two Word documents

Merge and split	WORD 97-2003	WORD 2007-2016	RTF
Merge multiple Word documents into one.
Split large Word documents into smaller documents by sections, headings, bookmarks, and placeholders.

Mail merge	WORD 97-2003	WORD 2007-2016	RTF
Create, access, and modify merge fields.
Retrieve mail merge field names.
Insert images during mail merge.
Perform mail merge on documents that contain complex merge fields (conditional merge field).
Perform mail merge for a specified region.
Perform mail merge on reports that contain relational details (parent-child data).
Perform mail merge from any .NET data source such as string array, DataSet, DataTable, DataView, and DataReader.
Perform mail merge from any data source such as IEnumerable collection and dynamic objects.
Format the merged text, images, or other elements during mail merge.
Event hander to bind data for unmerged fields.
Map the merge field names with column names in the data source.
Skip to merge particular a image during the mail merge process.
Start a new page for each group of records.

Find and replace	WORD 97-2003	WORD 2007-2016	RTF
Find first occurrence of a specific text that matches the whole word and casing.
Find a specified pattern using a regular expression.
Find all occurrences of a specific text that matches the whole word and casing.
Replace a text with the same formatting.
Find and replace a text that extends to several paragraphs.
Find and replace a text with the document content (paragraph or table).
Find and replace a text with the content of another Word document.
Find elements (image, content control, chart, and more) in a document based on specified properties and their corresponding values.

Bookmarks	WORD 97-2003	WORD 2007-2016	RTF
Create and manipulate bookmarks.
Navigate to a specific bookmark.
Retrieve document content between the specified bookmarks and merge to an existing or a new document.
Insert text or part of a document content between the specified bookmarks.
Replace the content of a document between specified bookmarks with a text or part of another document.
Delete document content between specified bookmarks.

Security	WORD 97-2003	WORD 2007-2016	RTF
Open the password protected documents.
Protect the documents with passwords.
Restrict editing the documents.

File formats	Read	Write
Word 97-2003 formats (.doc, .dot)
Word 2007-2016 formats (.docx, .dotx, .docm, .dotm, *.xml)
Word 2003 XML Document (*.xml)
OpenDocument Text (*.odt)
RTF
HTML
Text
PDF
Image (PNG, BMP, JPEG)

PDF and image conversions	WORD 97-2003	WORD 2007-2016	RTF
Convert Word to PDF
Convert Word to PDF/A
Convert Word to PDF/UA (Section 508 compliant)
Create fillable PDF from Word document.
Convert Word to image (PNG, BMP, JPEG)
Convert a specific page in a Word document into an image (thumbnail image).
Convert a specified range of pages in a Word document into images.
Use alternate fonts from installed fonts during Word to PDF or image conversion.
Use alternate fonts without installing on the machine during Word to PDF or image conversion.