Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) Import

Existing PDF documents without available source files can be imported into TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms, allowing users to edit and save them in any supported file format.

However, calculating the layout of a page from an imported PDF is a tricky process: PDF files contain detailed information about the appearance of a page, but not necessarily about the meaning of the characters and images contained within a page.

In addition, PDF files typically contain no information about the order of text, text flow, or whether a piece of text is part of a header or table cell. Although recent additions to the PDF specification allow some of this information to be stored (tagged PDF), it is rarely used.

TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms extracts and converts all identifiable text, inserts missing spaces and paragraph breaks, and reorders the various text blocks and images to appear in their logical order.

The following four parameters are available to specify the exact behavior of the import filter:

GenerateLines: The imported document is built from singular lines of text, terminated by a line break. This option is most suitable if only the textual content of the PDF file is of interest.

GenerateParagraphs: The singular lines of text are grouped into paragraphs. This option simplifies post-import editing and is best suited for text-heavy documents, such as legal contracts.

GenerateTextFrames: The imported blocks of text and images are organized into text frames and placed in the same position as in the original PDF file. This option produces documents that most closely resemble the original.

GenerateTextFramesFirstPageOnly: This option functions similarly to GenerateTextFrames but loads only the first page of the PDF file. It can be used for previewing the document without loading the entire file.