Overview of Word library (DocIO)

23 Jul 20262 minutes to read

Essential® DocIO is a native .NET Word library used by developers to create, read, write, and convert Microsoft Word documents using C#, VB.NET, and managed C++ code from any of the following .NET platforms: Windows Forms, WPF, ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET Core, Blazor, WPF, Xamarin, WinUI, and .NET MAUI applications.

It is a non-UI component that provides a full-fledged document instance model similar to the Microsoft Office COM libraries, allowing you to iterate over the document elements explicitly and perform necessary manipulations. It is built from scratch in C# and does not require Microsoft Word to be installed on the machine. It supports Word 97-2003 and later version documents. The minimum framework requirement is .NET Framework 4.0, .NET Core 2.0, or .NET 5.0 and later.

TIPS

If you encounter issues while using the .NET Word library in ASP.NET Core, refer to the troubleshooting guide for recommended checks and solutions.

Key Features

  • Support to create Word documents from scratch.
  • Support to open, modify, and save existing Word documents.
  • Advanced Mail merge support with different data sources.
  • Ability to create or edit Word 97-2003 and later version documents, and convert them to commonly used file formats such as RTF, WordML, TXT, and HTML, and vice versa.
  • Ability to export a Word document as an Image, PDF file, and EPUB in high quality.
  • Ability to merge and split Word documents.
  • Support to compare two DOCX format documents.
  • Ability to create and manipulate charts, Shapes, and Group Shape in DOCX and WordML format documents.
  • Ability to read and write Built-In and Custom Document Properties.
  • Ability to find and replace text with its original formatting.
  • Ability to insert Bookmarks and navigate corresponding bookmarks to insert, replace, and delete content.
  • Support to insert and edit the form fields.
  • Support to protect the document to restrict access to the elements present within the document.
  • Ability to encrypt and decrypt Word documents.
  • Ability to insert and extract OLE objects.
  • Support to run DocIO applications in multi-threaded environments; the library is thread-safe.

Compatible Microsoft Word Versions

  • Microsoft Word 97-2003
  • Microsoft Word 2007
  • Microsoft Word 2010
  • Microsoft Word 2013
  • Microsoft Word 2016
  • Microsoft Word 2019
  • Microsoft Word 2021
  • Microsoft Word 2024
  • Microsoft 365

See Also

NOTE

Looking for the full .NET Word Library overview, features, pricing, and documentation? Visit the .NET Word Library page.