Supported Platforms

GemBox.Document support for file formats depends on the used framework as following:

FrameworkDOCXDOCODTPDFHTMLMHTMLXMLRTFTXTXPSImage
.NET 6.0+ on Windows
YYYYYYYYYYY
.NET Standard 2.0+
(for Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, …)		YYYYYYYYYNY
.NET Framework 3.5+
YYYYYYYYYYY

Support on Linux or macOS

When using GemBox.Document on a non-Windows platform, such as Linux or macOS, the HarfBuzzSharp package is used for text layout and the SkiaSharp package is used for rasterizing document content to a bitmap. For bitmap decoding and encoding, GemBox.Document uses SkiaSharp or SixLabors.ImageSharp packages.

These packages are required for saving to PDF or image formats, so your project must reference an appropriate HarfBuzzSharp.NativeAssets.* and SkiaSharp.NativeAssets.* NuGet packages depending on the platform on which your application is running.

Please note that the following features are currently not supported on non-Windows platform:

Support on Windows

When using GemBox.Document on a Windows operating system, the WPF is used for text layout, rasterizing document content to a bitmap, and bitmap decoding and encoding.

In order for the application to use WPF, it must target .NET Framework 3.5+, or target .NET 6.0+ with the Windows-specific TFM (e.g. "net6.0-windows") and a .NET Windows Desktop Runtime must be installed.

However, you can avoid using WPF, and instead use the same packages as for non-Windows platforms, by setting the RenderingMode property. This is useful in cases where an application is converting documents to images with multiple threads because switching from RenderingMode.WPF to RenderingMode.Skia will then avoid creating a WPF Dispatcher instance for each thread.

Note

The SkiaSharp package is always used when saving the document to an SVG image, regardless of the specified ImageSaveOptions.RenderingMode. Because of that, for SVG support your application needs to target at least .NET Framework 4.6.2. Lower .NET Framework versions, 3.5 to 4.6.1, don't support SVG output format.

Important

The System.Drawing.Common package (GDI+) is used when exporting document images in SVG, WMF, and EMF format.

Support on Windows server

When saving to XPS or image format in an ASP.NET Core application using the WPF, you need a .NET Windows Desktop Runtime installed on the Windows server and you need to use a Windows-specific TFM in the project file (e.g. <TargetFramework>net6.0-windows</TargetFramework>).

Also, you need to enable the following compatibility switch with the AppContext class:

public class Startup
{
    public Startup(IConfiguration configuration)
    {
        Configuration = configuration;
        // Add compatibility switch.
        AppContext.SetSwitch("Switch.System.Windows.Media.ShouldRenderEvenWhenNoDisplayDevicesAreAvailable", true);
    }

    public IConfiguration Configuration { get; }

    // ...

}

Alternatively, you can enable that compatibility switch by adding the following runtimeconfig.template.json file to your project:

{
  "configProperties": {
    "Switch.System.Windows.Media.ShouldRenderEvenWhenNoDisplayDevicesAreAvailable": true
  }
}

Support for Partially Trusted applications

Most Internet Service Providers restrict hosted ASP.NET applications to Medium Level Trust and by doing so, disable accessing files outside the application directory, among other things, as explained in trust Element (ASP.NET Settings Schema) level Attribute.

GemBox.Document support for Partially Trusted applications depends on the used file formats as follows:

  • Word Document (DOCX), Word 97-2003 Document (DOC), OpenDocument Text (ODT), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Flat OPC Format (XML), WordML (XML), Rich Text Format (RTF) (except ExportPictureWithMetafile property) and Plain Text (TXT) are fully supported in Partially Trusted applications.
  • Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) is supported in Partially Trusted applications if the font location is set to a directory that is available to the Partially Trusted application.
    Important

    Setting the font location directory is necessary for Partially Trusted applications because they can only access files inside the application directory, and font files are, by default, located in C:\Windows\Fonts, which is not accessible for Partially Trusted applications. For more information on how to set the font location directory, see the Private Fonts example. Font files are usually copyrighted, so make sure you conform to the font license before copying a font file to another location.

  • Microsoft XML Paper Specification (XPS) is not supported in Partially Trusted applications because ReachFramework.dll assembly, where most of the XPS implementation resides, is not decorated with .
  • Creating a digitally signed PDF file is not supported in Partially Trusted applications because does not work in partial trust.
  • Image formats (PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, WMP) are not supported in Partially Trusted applications because the class and its derived classes, used for writing image data to the specific image file format, do not work in partial trust.
  • Printing is not supported in Partially Trusted applications because it uses XPS infrastructure.
  • Charts are not supported in Partially Trusted applications because they rely on reflection.
  • Using Skia rendering mode is not supported because it uses unmanaged code.