Convert an Excel document to PDF in ASP.NET MVC

22 Jul 20263 minutes to read

Syncfusion^® XlsIO is a .NET Excel Library used to create, read, edit, and convert Excel documents programmatically, without Microsoft Excel or interop dependencies.

Steps to convert an Excel document to PDF in C#

Step 1: Create a new ASP.NET Web Application Project.

Step 2: Name the project, choose the framework, and click Create.

Step 3: Select the MVC template. Set Authentication to No Authentication to keep the sample minimal, and click Create.

Step 4: Install the Syncfusion.ExcelToPdfConverter.AspNet.Mvc5 NuGet package as a reference to your project from NuGet.org. This package transitively pulls in the required Syncfusion.XlsIO.Base and Syncfusion.Pdf.Base assemblies.

NOTE

Starting with v16.2.0.x, if you reference Syncfusion^® assemblies from the trial setup or from the NuGet feed, you must also add the Syncfusion.Licensing reference and register a license key. Refer to this link to learn how to register the Syncfusion^® license key. The simplest approach is to add the following call in Global.asax Application_Start (or Startup):

Syncfusion.Licensing.SyncfusionLicenseProvider.RegisterLicense("YOUR_LICENSE_KEY");

Step 5: Add a new button to Index.cshtml as shown below.

CSHTML

@{Html.BeginForm("ConvertExceltoPDF", "Home", FormMethod.Get);
    {
        <div>
            <input type="submit" value="Convert Excel to PDF" style="width:150px;height:27px" />
        </div>
    }
    Html.EndForm();
}

Step 6: Add the following namespaces in HomeController.cs.

C#

using Syncfusion.XlsIO;
using Syncfusion.Pdf;
using Syncfusion.ExcelToPdfConverter;

Step 7: Add the following code in HomeController.cs to convert an Excel document to PDF. Place a Sample.xlsx file in the project root (or under App_Data) so the relative path resolves.

C#

public ActionResult ConvertExceltoPDF()
{
  using (ExcelEngine excelEngine = new ExcelEngine())
  {
    IApplication application = excelEngine.Excel;
    application.DefaultVersion = ExcelVersion.Xlsx;

    //Open the existing Excel workbook. Adjust the path as required.
    IWorkbook workbook = application.Workbooks.Open(Server.MapPath("~/Sample.xlsx"));

    //Initialize the Excel-to-PDF converter
    ExcelToPdfConverter converter = new ExcelToPdfConverter(workbook);

    //Convert the Excel document to a PDF document
    PdfDocument pdfDocument = converter.Convert();

    //Create a MemoryStream to save the converted PDF
    MemoryStream pdfStream = new MemoryStream();

    //Save the converted PDF document to the MemoryStream
    pdfDocument.Save(pdfStream);
    pdfStream.Position = 0;

    //Close the workbook and the PDF document to release resources
    workbook.Close();
    pdfDocument.Close();

    //Return the PDF document for download in the browser
    return File(pdfStream, "application/pdf", "Sample.pdf");
  }
}

NOTE

For additional control over page size, orientation, and font embedding, pass an ExcelToPdfConverterSettings instance when creating the ExcelToPdfConverter and call the Convert(ExcelToPdfConverterSettings) overload. See the Excel-to-PDF conversion settings for details.

A complete working example of how to convert an Excel document to PDF in ASP.NET MVC is present on this GitHub page.

By executing the program, you will get the PDF document as shown below.

Click here to explore the rich set of Syncfusion^® Excel library (XlsIO) features.

An online sample link to convert an Excel document to PDF in ASP.NET MVC.