How do I convert Word files to PDF programmaticall

Question

I have found several open-source/freeware programs that allow you to convert .doc files to .pdf files, but they're all of the application/printer driver variety, with no SDK attached.

I have found several programs that do have an SDK allowing you to convert .doc files to .pdf files, but they're all of the proprietary type, $2,000 a license or thereabouts.

Does anyone know of any clean, inexpensive (preferably free) programmatic solution to my problem, using C# or VB.NET?

Thanks!

Answer 1

For programmers who are in a situation where they cannot install Office on their server, or operating in some cloud environment -- an inexpensive alternative to the other answers is Api2Pdf which supports converting Word files to PDF as well as any other MS Office file. It is a web API and uses LibreOffice under the hood.

Answer 2

Seems to be some relevent info here:

Converting MS Word Documents to PDF in ASP.NET

Also, with Office 2007 having publish to PDF functionality, I guess you could use office automation to open the *.DOC file in Word 2007 and Save as PDF. I'm not too keen on office automation as it's slow and prone to hanging, but just throwing that out there...

Answer 3

Use a foreach loop instead of a for loop - it solved my problem.

int j = 0;
foreach (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Page p in pane.Pages)
{
    var bits = p.EnhMetaFileBits;
    var target = path1 +j.ToString()+  "_image.doc";
    try
    {
        using (var ms = new MemoryStream((byte[])(bits)))
        {
            var image = System.Drawing.Image.FromStream(ms);
            var pngTarget = Path.ChangeExtension(target, "png");
            image.Save(pngTarget, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);
        }
    }
    catch (System.Exception ex)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);  
    }
    j++;
}

Here is a modification of a program that worked for me. It uses Word 2007 with the Save As PDF add-in installed. It searches a directory for .doc files, opens them in Word and then saves them as a PDF. Note that you'll need to add a reference to Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word to the solution.

using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

...

// Create a new Microsoft Word application object
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application word = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application();

// C# doesn't have optional arguments so we'll need a dummy value
object oMissing = System.Reflection.Missing.Value;

// Get list of Word files in specified directory
DirectoryInfo dirInfo = new DirectoryInfo(@"\\server\folder");
FileInfo[] wordFiles = dirInfo.GetFiles("*.doc");

word.Visible = false;
word.ScreenUpdating = false;

foreach (FileInfo wordFile in wordFiles)
{
    // Cast as Object for word Open method
    Object filename = (Object)wordFile.FullName;

    // Use the dummy value as a placeholder for optional arguments
    Document doc = word.Documents.Open(ref filename, ref oMissing,
        ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
        ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
        ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
    doc.Activate();

    object outputFileName = wordFile.FullName.Replace(".doc", ".pdf");
    object fileFormat = WdSaveFormat.wdFormatPDF;

    // Save document into PDF Format
    doc.SaveAs(ref outputFileName,
        ref fileFormat, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
        ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
        ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing,
        ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);

    // Close the Word document, but leave the Word application open.
    // doc has to be cast to type _Document so that it will find the
    // correct Close method.                
    object saveChanges = WdSaveOptions.wdDoNotSaveChanges;
    ((_Document)doc).Close(ref saveChanges, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
    doc = null;
}

// word has to be cast to type _Application so that it will find
// the correct Quit method.
((_Application)word).Quit(ref oMissing, ref oMissing, ref oMissing);
word = null;

Answer 4

When I stumbled upon some problems with server side office automation we looked into the technique described here on codeproject. It uses the portable version (which can be deployed via xcopy) of OpenOffice in combination with a macro. Although we haven't done the switch ourselves yet, it looks very promissing.

Answer 5

PDFCreator has a COM component, callable from .NET or VBScript (samples included in the download).

But, it seems to me that a printer is just what you need - just mix that with Word's automation, and you should be good to go.

Answer 6

To sum it up for vb.net users, the free option (must have office installed):

Microsoft office assembies download:

• pia for office 2010

• pia for office 2007

• Add reference to Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application

• Add using or import (vb.net) statement to Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application

VB.NET example:

        Dim word As Application = New Application()
        Dim doc As Document = word.Documents.Open("c:\document.docx")
        doc.Activate()
        doc.SaveAs2("c:\document.pdf", WdSaveFormat.wdFormatPDF)
        doc.Close()