DEV Community

Cover image for What’s New in Document Processing Libraries: 2024 Volume 4
Calvince Moth for Syncfusion, Inc.

Posted on • Originally published at syncfusion.com on

What’s New in Document Processing Libraries: 2024 Volume 4

TL;DR: Explore the new features in Syncfusion’s Document Processing Libraries for the 2024 Volume 4 release. Highlights include custom fonts in FreeText annotation, preserving WMF images, handling multi-column layouts, and more.

Syncfusion Document Processing Libraries allow us to create, read, write, and convert PDF, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files programmatically in .NET Framework, .NET Core, ASP.NET Core, UWP, Xamarin, WinUI, .NET MAUI, and Flutter apps without the use of Microsoft Office or Adobe Reader.

This blog briefly describes the new features and enhancements introduced in our Document Processing Libraries for the 2024 volume 4 release.

.NET PDF Library

The Syncfusion .NET PDF Library now supports the following new features:

Add and retrieve document JavaScript in a PDF

This functionality enables users to add or embed, retrieve, modify, and remove document-level JavaScript actions within PDF documents. These JavaScript actions, written in ECMAScript, allow for dynamic content and interactivity by executing scripts when the document is opened or in response to user interactions.

Refer to the following image.

Add and retrieve JavaScript actions in PDF document


Add and retrieve JavaScript actions in PDF document

Flattening specific types of annotations in a PDF

This feature allows users to flatten specific types of annotations in PDF documents, converting them into static content while leaving others editable. It ensures secure, consistent viewing and is ideal for finalizing documents for sharing or submission.

Flattening specific types of annotations in PDF


Flattening specific types of annotations in PDF

Add the signed date while signing a PDF document

This functionality allows users to set the signed date while adding a signature to a PDF document. By including the exact date of signing, this ensures the integrity and authenticity of the document.

Add signed date while signing a PDF


Add signed date while signing a PDF

HTML to PDF enhancements

The .NET PDF Library includes the following enhancements when converting HTML to PDF:

  • Calculating dynamic HTML content size: This enhancement allows for the automatic calculation of dynamic HTML content size before conversion to PDF. It ensures that the content scales appropriately within the PDF, providing a more accurate and consistent conversion experience for responsive or dynamic HTML content.
  • Automatic scaling support: This enhancement enables automatic scaling of HTML content during conversion to PDF, ensuring that the content adjusts to fit the PDF page size. It provides a more seamless and accurate conversion experience, especially for responsive or dynamically sized HTML content.
  • Waiting for rendering external fonts: This enhancement ensures that external fonts are properly rendered before converting HTML to PDF. It improves the accuracy and consistency of PDF documents by ensuring that all font styles are correctly applied, even when external font resources are used.

Support for selecting revisions in the beforeAcceptRejectChanges event

This feature provides the ability to select content during the beforeAcceptRejectChanges event. It allows you to:

  • Identify the specific content that is being accepted or rejected.
  • Retrieve the start and end offsets of the selected content.
  • Perform custom actions based on the selected content.

Additionally, you can use this feature to prevent the acceptance or rejection of changes, giving you fine-grained control over the revision management process.

Refer to the following image.

Enhanced revision management in PDF


Enhanced revision management in PDF

Event for document loading failure notification

This feature allows you to capture document load failures in the Document Editor. By using this event, you can perform custom actions whenever a document fails to load, enabling you to handle errors effectively and improve user experience.

Restart and continue list numbering programmatically

This feature allows you to restart and continue list numbering from the currently selected paragraph programmatically, providing greater flexibility and control over document editing workflows.

Performance improvement in pasting content inside a large table

The performance of pasting content inside a large table has been significantly improved, i.e., pasting content inside a table extending 60 pages has been reduced from 43 to 3 seconds approximately. Now, content can be pasted into tables seamlessly, without any lag, ensuring a smoother user experience.

.NET Word Library

Word-to-PDF and image conversion enhancements

The .NET Word Library includes the following enhancements when converting Word documents to PDF files or images:

  • WMF image preservation: The WMF images in the Word documents are now preserved during PDF or image conversion.

  • Multiple columns: Improved the column balancing on pages with multicolumn layouts and continuous section breaks during Word-to-PDF and image conversions.

.NET Excel Library

Excel-to-PDF and image conversion enhancements

The .NET Excel Library includes enhancements to preserve the WMF images when converting Excel documents to PDF files or images.

Refer to the following image.

Preserving WMF images in Excel to PDF conversion


Preserving WMF images in Excel to PDF conversion

.NET PowerPoint Library

PowerPoint-to-PDF and image conversion enhancements

The .NET PowerPoint Library includes enhancements to preserve the WMF images when converting PowerPoint presentations to PDF files or images.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading! In this blog, we’ve explored the new features and enhancements added to the Syncfusion Document Processing Libraries for the 2024 Volume 4 release. We hope you are excited to use these new features in your apps or products. You can also check out all the new features and components in the 2024 Volume 4 release on our Release Notes and What’s New pages.

If you’re already a Syncfusion user, the latest version of Essential Studio® is available on the License and Downloads page. We offer our new users a 30-day free trial to explore all our components’ features and capabilities.

If you need further assistance, contact us via our support forum, support portal, or feedback portal. We’re always here to help you!

Related Blogs

Top comments (0)