This is the 2nd post in the series. Previous post is here.
This post is about support for the Microsoft Word DOC binary format in Aspose.Words.
Microsoft Word (DOC)
DOC is a popular file format used by all versions of Microsoft Word to store word processing documents. It is a proprietary binary format developed by Microsoft. DOC is a not a single format, but a family of formats that evolved with every new Microsoft Word version.
Aspose.Words can read DOC files created by the software listed below. When Aspose.Words writes a DOC file, the same set of software can read it:
· Microsoft Word versions 97 to 2007
· Microsoft Word for Macintosh 98 to X
· Other applications including OpenOffice and AbiWord
The DOC format is very complex because it needs to represent modern word processing documents that can have richly formatted formatted content and complex layout. There are hundreds of document element types and formatting attributes defined by the DOC format. Add to that the fact that the DOC format is proprietary and not documented.
The distinctive advantage of Aspose.Words is the great extent to which it supports the DOC format. It is hard or impossible to find the same level of support for many important DOC features elsewhere. Aspose.Words for .NET and Aspose.Words for Java support the DOC format equally well.
In addition to all the common DOC features such as paragraphs, tables, styles, lists and fields, Aspose.Words fully supports most of the advanced DOC features:
· Revisions
· All drawing objects including images, textboxes, AutoShapes and group shapes
· Linked and embedded OLE objects
· ActiveX controls
· VBA projects (with preservation of digital signatures)
· Embedded TrueType fonts
· Encrypted documents
When shopping for a solution that claims to support DOC files, make detailed enquires about the level to which the DOC features are supported. Create a complex test file and run it through the proposed solution. You will often find that many document elements and formatting will be lost. Shapes, textboxes, fields, columns, OLE objects, revisions, right-to-left text are among the features that usually suffer. Then run the same document through Aspose.Words and enjoy the umatched completeness of the DOC format implementation.
A complex DOC file generated by Aspose.Words and opened in Microsoft Office Word 2007.
Stay tuned, more to come.
About Aspose.Words
Aspose.Words enables .NET and Java applications to read, modify and write Word® documents without utilizing Microsoft Word®. Aspose.Words supports a wide array of features including document creation, content and formatting manipulation, powerful mail merge abilities, exporting to DOC, HTML, WordprocessingML, RTF and PDF (requires Aspose.Pdf). Aspose.Words is truly the most affordable, fastest and feature rich Word component on the market.
