Read text from PDF files in C# and VB.NET

GemBox.Pdf provides a very fast reading of PDF files from your C# or VB.NET application. It can read a 1,000 page PDF file full of text (almost 500,000 words) in just three seconds.

The text extraction is fairly straightforward to carry out. Using a simple API and just a few lines of code, you can quickly retrieve the entire text content from a PDF file as a single String, ready for your further processing.

The following example shows how you can easily read the text content of each page in your PDF document.

Reading PDF file's text in C# and VB.NET
Screenshot of read text from input PDF
Upload your file (Drag file here) 
using System;
using GemBox.Pdf;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // If using Professional version, put your serial key below.
        ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY");

        // Iterate through PDF pages and extract each page's Unicode text content.
        using (var document = PdfDocument.Load("%InputFileName%"))
        {
            foreach (var page in document.Pages)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(page.Content.ToString());
            }
        }
    }
}
Imports System
Imports GemBox.Pdf

Module Program

    Sub Main()

        ' If using Professional version, put your serial key below.
        ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY")

        ' Iterate through PDF pages and extract each page's Unicode text content.
        Using document = PdfDocument.Load("%InputFileName%")

            For Each page In document.Pages

                Console.WriteLine(page.Content.ToString())
            Next
        End Using
    End Sub
End Module

Reading additional information about a text

GemBox.Pdf simplifies PDF page content operations by representing the content as a sequence of parsed, or compiled, elements, such as text, path, and external objects (images and forms). For more information see the Content Streams and Resources help page.

The PdfTextContent elements can be used to extract additional information about a text such as its bounds, font, and color as shown in the next example.

Retrieving PDF text elements in C# and VB.NET
Screenshot of read text elements from input PDF
Upload your file (Drag file here) 
using System;
using GemBox.Pdf;
using GemBox.Pdf.Content;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // If using Professional version, put your serial key below.
        ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY");

        // Iterate through all PDF pages and through each page's content elements,
        // and retrieve only the text content elements.
        using (var document = PdfDocument.Load("%InputFileName%"))
        {
            foreach (var page in document.Pages)
            {
                var contentEnumerator = page.Content.Elements.All(page.Transform).GetEnumerator();
                while (contentEnumerator.MoveNext())
                {
                    if (contentEnumerator.Current.ElementType == PdfContentElementType.Text)
                    {
                        var textElement = (PdfTextContent)contentEnumerator.Current;

                        var text = textElement.ToString();
                        var font = textElement.Format.Text.Font;
                        var color = textElement.Format.Fill.Color;
                        var bounds = textElement.Bounds;

                        contentEnumerator.Transform.Transform(ref bounds);

                        // Read the text content element's additional information.
                        Console.WriteLine($"Unicode text: {text}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"Font name: {font.Face.Family.Name}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"Font size: {font.Size}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"Font style: {font.Face.Style}");
                        Console.WriteLine($"Font weight: {font.Face.Weight}");

                        if (color.TryGetRgb(out double red, out double green, out double blue))
                            Console.WriteLine($"Color: Red={red}, Green={green}, Blue={blue}");

                        Console.WriteLine($"Bounds: Left={bounds.Left:0.00}, Bottom={bounds.Bottom:0.00}, Right={bounds.Right:0.00}, Top={bounds.Top:0.00}");
                        Console.WriteLine();
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
Imports System
Imports GemBox.Pdf
Imports GemBox.Pdf.Content

Module Program

    Sub Main()

        ' If using Professional version, put your serial key below.
        ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY")

        ' Iterate through all PDF pages and through each page's content elements,
        ' and retrieve only the text content elements.
        Using document = PdfDocument.Load("%InputFileName%")

            For Each page In document.Pages

                Dim contentEnumerator = page.Content.Elements.All(page.Transform).GetEnumerator()
                While contentEnumerator.MoveNext()

                    If contentEnumerator.Current.ElementType = PdfContentElementType.Text Then

                        Dim textElement = CType(contentEnumerator.Current, PdfTextContent)

                        Dim text = textElement.ToString()
                        Dim font = textElement.Format.Text.Font
                        Dim color = textElement.Format.Fill.Color
                        Dim bounds = textElement.Bounds

                        contentEnumerator.Transform.Transform(bounds)

                        ' Read the text content element's additional information.
                        Console.WriteLine($"Unicode text: {text}")
                        Console.WriteLine($"Font name: {font.Face.Family.Name}")
                        Console.WriteLine($"Font size: {font.Size}")
                        Console.WriteLine($"Font style: {font.Face.Style}")
                        Console.WriteLine($"Font weight: {font.Face.Weight}")

                        Dim red, green, blue As Double
                        If color.TryGetRgb(red, green, blue) Then Console.WriteLine($"Color: Red={red}, Green={green}, Blue={blue}")

                        Console.WriteLine($"Bounds: Left={bounds.Left:0.00}, Bottom={bounds.Bottom:0.00}, Right={bounds.Right:0.00}, Top={bounds.Top:0.00}")
                        Console.WriteLine()
                    End If
                End While
            Next
        End Using
    End Sub
End Module

Reading text from a specific rectangular area

With GemBox.Pdf, you can extract a PDF document's text from a specific rectangular area. To do this, you define the bounds of the targeted area and retrieve only the PdfTextContent elements that are within it, as shown in the next example.

Reading PDF text from specified area in C# and VB.NET
Screenshot of read text elements in specified area from input PDF
Upload your file (Drag file here) 
using System;
using GemBox.Pdf;
using GemBox.Pdf.Content;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // If using Professional version, put your serial key below.
        ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY");

        var pageIndex = 0;
        double areaLeft = 400, areaRight = 550, areaBottom = 680, areaTop = 720;

        using (var document = PdfDocument.Load("%InputFileName%"))
        {
            // Retrieve first page object.
            var page = document.Pages[pageIndex];

            // Retrieve text content elements that are inside specified area on the first page.
            var contentEnumerator = page.Content.Elements.All(page.Transform).GetEnumerator();
            while (contentEnumerator.MoveNext())
            {
                if (contentEnumerator.Current.ElementType == PdfContentElementType.Text)
                {
                    var textElement = (PdfTextContent)contentEnumerator.Current;

                    var bounds = textElement.Bounds;

                    contentEnumerator.Transform.Transform(ref bounds);

                    if (bounds.Left > areaLeft && bounds.Right < areaRight &&
                        bounds.Bottom > areaBottom && bounds.Top < areaTop)
                    {
                        Console.Write(textElement.ToString());
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
Imports System
Imports GemBox.Pdf
Imports GemBox.Pdf.Content

Module Program

    Sub Main()

        ' If using Professional version, put your serial key below.
        ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY")

        Dim pageIndex = 0
        Dim areaLeft As Double = 400, areaRight As Double = 550, areaBottom As Double = 680, areaTop As Double = 720

        Using document = PdfDocument.Load("%InputFileName%")

            ' Retrieve first page object.
            Dim page = document.Pages(pageIndex)

            ' Retrieve text content elements that are inside specified area on the first page.
            Dim contentEnumerator = page.Content.Elements.All(page.Transform).GetEnumerator()
            While contentEnumerator.MoveNext()

                If contentEnumerator.Current.ElementType = PdfContentElementType.Text Then

                    Dim textElement = CType(contentEnumerator.Current, PdfTextContent)

                    Dim bounds = textElement.Bounds

                    contentEnumerator.Transform.Transform(bounds)

                    If bounds.Left > areaLeft AndAlso bounds.Right < areaRight AndAlso
                        bounds.Bottom > areaBottom AndAlso bounds.Top < areaTop Then

                        Console.Write(textElement.ToString())
                    End If
                End If
            End While
        End Using
    End Sub
End Module

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Check the next example or select an example from the menu. You can also download our examples from the GitHub.

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Download Buy

If you want to try the GemBox.Pdf yourself, you can download the free version. It delivers the same performance and set of features as the professional version, but with some operations limited. To remove the limitation, you need to purchase a license.

Published: December 13, 2018 | Modified: March 7, 2021 | Author: Stipo Rubic