Comprehensive PDF toolkit for .NET — find/replace, merge, split, build, form filling, redaction, image editing, watermark, optimization, digital signatures, and PDF/A compliance. Zero external dependencies. Operates directly on PDF content streams.
Features: text find/replace (regex, case-insensitive, whole-word, width-aware fitting), PDF merging (with page range selection), page splitting/extraction, fluent document builder (text, JPEG/PNG images, shapes), structured text extraction (with positions and font data), form filling (AcroForm text/checkbox/choice fields), text and area redaction, image finding and replacement (JPEG/PNG, by index or page range), text watermarks (configurable position, font size, color, opacity, page selection), stream compression and object deduplication, digital signatures (PKCS#7, net8.0), PDF/A validation and conversion (1b/2b/3b), document inspection.
The netstandard2.0 build is compatible with .NET Framework 4.6.1+, .NET Core 2.0+, and .NET 5/6/7/8/9/10+. The net8.0 build adds digital signature support and is used by .NET 8, 9, 10, and later. NuGet resolves automatically.
Made in USA.
Comprehensive PDF toolkit for .NET — find/replace, merge, split, build, form filling, redaction, optimization, digital signatures, and PDF/A compliance. Operates directly on PDF content streams with zero external dependencies.
NuGet automatically selects the correct build for your project. .NET 9 and .NET 10 projects use the net8.0 build with full feature support. No additional configuration required.
dotnet add package Exis.PdfEditor
Features
Find & Replace — regex, case-insensitive, whole-word matching with width-aware text fitting
Merge — combine multiple PDFs with optional page range selection
Split — extract individual pages or page ranges into separate PDFs
Build — create PDFs from scratch with absolute positioning or auto-layout (tables, pagination, headers/footers)
Form Filling — read and fill AcroForm fields (text, checkbox, choice/dropdown)
Redaction — remove sensitive text or areas with black rectangles (regex supported)
Digital Signatures — sign with X.509 certificates, verify existing signatures (net8.0+)
PDF/A Compliance — validate and convert to PDF/A-1b, 2b, 3b
Extract — pull text content with optional position and font metadata
Inspect — read metadata, fonts, page dimensions (no license required)
Async — all I/O APIs have async overloads with CancellationToken support
Zero dependencies — no iTextSharp, no PDFsharp, no Aspose
Lossless — preserves form fields, checkboxes, digital signatures, layout
Quick Start
using Exis.PdfEditor;
using Exis.PdfEditor.Licensing;
// Initialize (optional: pass license key for documents over 3 pages)
ExisLicense.Initialize("XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX");
Find & Replace
var result = PdfFindReplace.Execute("input.pdf", "output.pdf", "old text", "new text");
Console.WriteLine($"Replaced {result.TotalReplacements} occurrences on {result.PagesModified} pages");
Merge PDFs
byte[] merged = PdfMerger.Merge(new[] { "file1.pdf", "file2.pdf", "file3.pdf" });
File.WriteAllBytes("merged.pdf", merged);
// Or merge to file directly
PdfMerger.MergeToFile(new[] { "file1.pdf", "file2.pdf" }, "merged.pdf");
// Merge with page range selection
byte[] selected = PdfMerger.Merge(new[]
{
new PdfMergeInput(File.ReadAllBytes("doc1.pdf"), new[] { 1, 3, 5 }),
new PdfMergeInput(File.ReadAllBytes("doc2.pdf")) // all pages
});
byte[] pdf = PdfDocumentBuilder.Create()
.PageSize(PdfPageSize.A4)
.Margins(72)
.WithMetadata(m => m.Title("Report").Author("Exis"))
.Header(h => h
.AddText("Quarterly Report", PdfHorizontalAlignment.Center, 12, o => o.Bold())
.AddLine())
.Footer(f => f
.AddLine()
.AddPageNumber()) // "Page 1 of 3"
.AddParagraph("Introduction", 18, o => o.Bold())
.AddSpacing(8)
.AddParagraph("This report covers Q1 results.")
.AddSpacing(12)
.AddTable(t => t
.Columns(2, 1, 1)
.HeaderRow(r => r.AddCell("Product").AddCell("Units").AddCell("Revenue"))
.AddRow(r => r.AddCell("Widget A").AddCell("1,200").AddCell("$24,000"))
.AddRow(r => r.AddCell("Widget B").AddCell("850").AddCell("$17,000")))
.AddPageBreak()
.AddParagraph("Appendix", 14, o => o.Bold())
.Build();
Features: auto-pagination, text wrapping, tables with headers repeated on page breaks, headers/footers with page numbers, horizontal rules, images, spacing.
Form Filling
// Read form fields
List<PdfFormField> fields = PdfFormFiller.GetFields("form.pdf");
foreach (var field in fields)
Console.WriteLine($"{field.Name} ({field.FieldType}) = {field.CurrentValue}");
// Fill form fields
var result = PdfFormFiller.Fill("form.pdf", "filled.pdf", new Dictionary<string, string>
{
{ "FirstName", "John" },
{ "LastName", "Doe" },
{ "State", "CA" },
{ "AgreeToTerms", "Yes" } // checkbox
});
Console.WriteLine($"Filled {result.FieldsFilled} fields");
Redaction
var result = PdfRedactor.Redact("input.pdf", "redacted.pdf", new[]
{
// Text-based redaction
new PdfRedaction { Text = "CONFIDENTIAL" },
// Regex pattern (e.g., SSN)
new PdfRedaction { Text = @"\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}", IsRegex = true },
// Replace with alternative text
new PdfRedaction { Text = "SECRET", ReplaceWith = "[REDACTED]" },
// Area-based redaction on a specific page
new PdfRedaction { PageNumber = 3, Area = new PdfRect(100, 200, 300, 50) }
});
Console.WriteLine($"Applied {result.RedactionsApplied} redactions");
Optimization
var result = PdfOptimizer.Optimize("input.pdf", "optimized.pdf", new PdfOptimizeOptions
{
CompressStreams = true, // Compress uncompressed streams
RemoveDuplicateObjects = true, // Deduplicate identical objects
RemoveMetadata = false // Keep metadata by default
});
Console.WriteLine($"Saved {result.BytesSaved} bytes ({result.ReductionPercent:F1}%)");
Digital Signatures (net8.0+)
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;
// Sign a PDF
var cert = new X509Certificate2("certificate.pfx", "password");
PdfSigner.Sign("input.pdf", "signed.pdf", new PdfSignOptions
{
Certificate = cert,
Reason = "Approved",
Location = "New York",
ContactInfo = "admin@example.com"
});
// Verify a signed PDF
PdfSignatureInfo info = PdfSigner.Verify("signed.pdf");
Console.WriteLine($"Signed: {info.IsSigned}");
Console.WriteLine($"Valid: {info.IsValid}");
Console.WriteLine($"Signer: {info.SignerName}");
PDF/A Compliance
// Validate (no license required)
PdfAValidationResult result = PdfAConverter.Validate("input.pdf", PdfALevel.PdfA2b);
Console.WriteLine($"Compliant: {result.IsCompliant}");
foreach (var v in result.Violations)
Console.WriteLine($" [{v.Code}] {v.Message} (auto-fix: {v.CanAutoFix})");
// Convert to PDF/A
byte[] pdfa = PdfAConverter.Convert("input.pdf", PdfALevel.PdfA2b);
File.WriteAllBytes("output-pdfa.pdf", pdfa);
Extract Text
// Simple extraction
PdfTextResult text = PdfTextExtractor.ExtractText("input.pdf");
Console.WriteLine(text.FullText);
// Extract from specific pages
PdfTextResult partial = PdfTextExtractor.ExtractText("input.pdf", new[] { 1, 3 });
// Structured extraction with position and font data
PdfStructuredTextResult structured = PdfTextExtractor.ExtractStructured("input.pdf");
foreach (var block in structured.Pages[0].TextBlocks)
Console.WriteLine($"[{block.X:F0},{block.Y:F0}] {block.Text} " +
$"(font={block.FontName}, size={block.FontSize})");
List<byte[]> Split(string inputPath); // One PDF per page
List<byte[]> Split(Stream inputStream);
List<byte[]> Split(byte[] inputData);
byte[] ExtractPages(string inputPath, int[] pageNumbers); // Selected pages in one PDF
byte[] ExtractPages(Stream inputStream, int[] pageNumbers);
byte[] ExtractPages(byte[] inputData, int[] pageNumbers);
void SplitToFiles(string inputPath, string outputPattern); // Pattern: "page_{0}.pdf"
PdfBuilder
PdfBuilder.Create()
.WithMetadata(m => m
.Title("...").Author("...").Subject("...").Creator("...").Keywords("..."))
.AddPage(page => page
.Size(PdfPageSize.A4) // A4, Letter, Legal, A3, A5, Tabloid
.Size(widthPoints, heightPoints) // Custom size (72pt = 1 inch)
.AddText(text, x, y, fontSize, options?) // Positioned text
.AddImage(imageBytes, x, y, width, height) // JPEG or PNG (auto-detected)
.AddLine(x1, y1, x2, y2, strokeWidth?, r?, g?, b?)
.AddRectangle(x, y, w, h, fill?, strokeWidth?,
strokeRed?, strokeGreen?, strokeBlue?,
fillRed?, fillGreen?, fillBlue?))
.Build(); // Returns byte[]
.BuildToFile(path); // Write to file
.BuildToStream(stream); // Write to stream
Built-in fonts (no embedding needed): Helvetica, Times-Roman, Courier — each with Bold, Italic, BoldItalic variants.
Text options:
.AddText("text", 72, 700, 14, o => o
.Font("Helvetica") // Font family
.Bold() // Bold variant
.Italic() // Italic variant
.Color(1, 0, 0)) // RGB color (0.0 to 1.0)