Using Text Annotation for PDF

How to add Text Annotation into existing PDF file

The following code snippet also work with Aspose.PDF.Drawing library.

A Text Annotation is an annotation attached to a specific location in a PDF document. When closed, the annotation is displayed as an icon; when opened, it should display a pop-up window containing the note text in the font and size chosen by the reader.

Annotations are contained by the Annotations collection of a particular Page. This collection contains the annotations for that individual page only; every page has its own Annotations collection.

To add an annotation to a particular page, add it to that page’s Annotations collection with the Add method.

First, create an annotation that you want to add to the PDF.
Then open the input PDF.
Add the annotation to the Page object’s Annotations collection.

The following code snippet shows you how to add an annotation in a PDF page.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
// The path to the documents directory.
string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();

// Open document
Document document = new Document(dataDir + "AddAnnotation.pdf");

// Create annotation
TextAnnotation textAnnotation = new TextAnnotation(document.Pages[1], new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(200, 400, 400, 600));
textAnnotation.Title = "Sample Annotation Title";
textAnnotation.Subject = "Sample Subject";
textAnnotation.State = AnnotationState.Accepted;
textAnnotation.Contents = "Sample contents for the annotation";
textAnnotation.Open = true;
textAnnotation.Icon = TextIcon.Key;

Border border = new Border(textAnnotation);
border.Width = 5;
border.Dash = new Dash(1, 1);
textAnnotation.Border = border;
textAnnotation.Rect = new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(200, 400, 400, 600);

// Add annotation in the annotations collection of the page
document.Pages[1].Annotations.Add(textAnnotation);

// Save output file
document.Save(dataDir + "AddAnnotation_out.pdf");

A Pop-up Annotation displays text in a pop-up window for entry and editing. It shall not appear alone but is associated with a markup annotation, its parent annotation, and shall be used for editing the parent’s text.

It shall have no appearance stream or associated actions of its own and shall be identified by the Popup entry in the parent’s annotation dictionary.

The following code snippet shows you how to add Popup Annotation in a PDF page using an example of adding a parent’s Line annotation.

// The path to the documents directory.
private const string dataDir = "..\\..\\..\\..\\Samples\\";
public static void AddLineAnnotation()
{
    // Load the PDF file
    Document document = new Document(dataDir + "Appartments.pdf");

    // Create Line Annotation
    var lineAnnotation = new LineAnnotation(
        document.Pages[1],
        new Rectangle(550, 93, 562, 439),
        new Point(556, 99), new Point(556, 443))
    {
        Title = "John Smith",
        Color = Color.Red,
        Width = 3,
        StartingStyle = LineEnding.OpenArrow,
        EndingStyle = LineEnding.OpenArrow,
        Popup = new PopupAnnotation(document.Pages[1], new Rectangle(842, 124, 1021, 266))
    };

    // Add annotation to the page
    document.Pages[1].Annotations.Add(lineAnnotation);
    document.Save(dataDir + "Appartments_mod.pdf");
}

How to add (or Create) new Free Text Annotation

A free text annotation displays text directly on the page. The PdfContentEditor.CreateFreeText method allows creating this type of annotation. In the following snippet, we add free text annotation above the first occurrence of the string.

private static void AddFreeTextAnnotationDemo()
{
    _document = new Document(@"C:\tmp\pdf-sample.pdf");
    var pdfContentEditor = new PdfContentEditor(_document);

    tfa.Visit(_document.Pages[1]);
    if (tfa.TextFragments.Count <= 0) 
    {
        return;
    }
    var rect = new System.Drawing.Rectangle
    {
        X = (int)tfa.TextFragments[1].Rectangle.LLX,
        Y = (int)tfa.TextFragments[1].Rectangle.URY + 5,
        Height = 18,
        Width = 100
    };

    pdfContentEditor.CreateFreeText(rect, "Free Text Demo", 1); // last param is a page number
    pdfContentEditor.Save(@"C:\tmp\pdf-sample-0.pdf");
}

Set Callout Property for FreeTextAnnotation

For a more flexible configuration of annotation in the PDF document, Aspose.PDF for .NET provides Callout property of FreeTextAnnotation class which allows specifying Array of point of callout line. The following code snippet show, how to use this functionality:

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
// The path to the documents directory.
string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();

Document document = new Document();
Page page = document.Pages.Add();
DefaultAppearance da = new DefaultAppearance();
da.TextColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
da.FontSize = 10;
FreeTextAnnotation fta = new FreeTextAnnotation(page, new Rectangle(422.25, 645.75, 583.5, 702.75), da);
fta.Intent = FreeTextIntent.FreeTextCallout;
fta.EndingStyle = LineEnding.OpenArrow;
fta.Callout = new Point[]
{
    new Point(428.25,651.75), new Point(462.75,681.375), new Point(474,681.375)
};
page.Annotations.Add(fta);
fta.RichText = "<body xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml\" xmlns:xfa=\"http://www.xfa.org/schema/xfa-data/1.0/\" xfa:APIVersion=\"Acrobat:11.0.23\" xfa:spec=\"2.0.2\"  style=\"color:#FF0000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-stretch:normal\"><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Helvetica\">This is a sample</span></p></body>";
document.Save(dataDir + "SetCalloutProperty.pdf");

Set Callout Property for XFDF File

If you use import from XFDF file please use callout-line name instead just Callout. The following code snippet shows, how to use this functionality:

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
// The path to the documents directory.
string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();
Document document = new Document(dataDir + "AddAnnotation.pdf");
StringBuilder Xfdf = new StringBuilder();
Xfdf.AppendLine("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><xfdf xmlns=\"http://ns.adobe.com/xfdf/\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><annots>");
CreateXfdf(ref Xfdf);
Xfdf.AppendLine("</annots></xfdf>");
document.ImportAnnotationsFromXfdf(new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Xfdf.ToString())));
document.Save(dataDir + "SetCalloutPropertyXFDF.pdf");

The following method is being used to CreateXfdf:

private static void CreateXfdf(ref StringBuilder pXfdf)
{
    pXfdf.Append("<freetext");
    pXfdf.Append(" page=\"0\"");
    pXfdf.Append(" rect=\"422.25,645.75,583.5,702.75\"");
    pXfdf.Append(" intent=\"FreeTextCallout\"");
    pXfdf.Append(" callout-line=\"428.25,651.75,462.75,681.375,474,681.375\"");
    pXfdf.Append(" tail=\"OpenArrow\"");
    pXfdf.AppendLine(">");
    pXfdf.Append("<contents-richtext><body ");
    pXfdf.Append(" style=\"font-size:10.0pt;text-align:left;color:#FF0000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-family:Helvetica;font-stretch:normal\">");
    pXfdf.Append("<p dir=\"ltr\">This is a sample</p>");
    pXfdf.Append("</body></contents-richtext>");
    pXfdf.AppendLine("<defaultappearance>/Helv 12 Tf 1 0 0 rg</defaultappearance>");
    pXfdf.AppendLine("</freetext>");
}

Make Free Text Annotation Invisible

Sometimes, it is necessary to create a watermark that isn’t visible in the document when viewing it but should be visible when the document is printed. Use annotation flags for this purpose. The following code snippet shows how.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
// The path to the documents directory.
string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();

// Open document
Document document = new Document(dataDir + "input.pdf");

FreeTextAnnotation annotation = new FreeTextAnnotation(document.Pages[1], new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(50, 600, 250, 650), new DefaultAppearance("Helvetica", 16, System.Drawing.Color.Red));
annotation.Contents = "ABCDEFG";
annotation.Characteristics.Border = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
annotation.Flags = AnnotationFlags.Print | AnnotationFlags.NoView;
document.Pages[1].Annotations.Add(annotation);

// Save output file
document.Save(dataDir + "InvisibleAnnotation_out.pdf");

Set Formatting of FreeTextAnnotation

This part looks at how to format the text in a free text annotation.

Annotations are contained in a Page object’s AnnotationCollection collection. When adding a FreeTextAnnotation to a PDF document, you can specify the formatting information such as font, size, color and so on using the DefaultAppearance class. It is also possible to specify the formatting information using the TextStyle property. Furthermore, you can update the formatting of any FreeTextAnnotation already in the PDF document.

The TextStyle class supports working with the default style entry. This class allows you to set color, font size and font name:

The FontName property gets or sets the font name (string).
The FontSize property gets and sets the default text size (double).
The System.Drawing.Color property gets and sets the text colour (color).
The TextAlignment property gets and sets the annotation’s text alignment (alignment).

The following code snippet shows how to add a FreeTextAnnotation with specific text formatting.

.NET Core 3.1

private static void AddFreeAnnotation()
{
    // The path to the documents directory
    string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();

    // Open document
    using (var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document(dataDir + "SetFreeTextAnnotationFormatting.pdf"))
    {
        // Instantiate DefaultAppearance object
        var defaultAppearance = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.DefaultAppearance("Arial", 28, System.Drawing.Color.Red);
        // Create annotation
        var freetext = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.FreeTextAnnotation(document.Pages[1], new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(200, 400, 400, 600), defaultAppearance);
        // Specify the contents of annotation
        freetext.Contents = "Free Text";
        // Add anootation to annotations collection of page
        document.Pages[1].Annotations.Add(freetext);
        // Save the updated document
        document.Save(dataDir + "SetFreeTextAnnotationFormatting_out.pdf");
    }
}

.NET 8

private static void AddFreeAnnotation(string fontName = "Arial", float fontSize = 28)
{
     // The path to the documents directory.
    string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();
    using var document = new Aspose.Pdf.Document($"{dataDir}SetFreeTextAnnotationFormatting.pdf");
    // Set default values
    var textColor = System.Drawing.Color.Red;
    var position = new Aspose.Pdf.Rectangle(200, 400, 400, 600);

    // Instantiate DefaultAppearance object
    Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.DefaultAppearance defaultAppearance = new(fontName, fontSize, textColor);
    // Create annotation
    var freetext = new Aspose.Pdf.Annotations.FreeTextAnnotation(document.Pages[1], position, defaultAppearance)
    {
        // Specify the contents of annotation
        Contents = "Free Text"
    };
    // Add anootation to annotations collection of page
    document.Pages[1].Annotations.Add(freetext);

    // Save the updated document
    document.Save($"{dataDir}SetFreeTextAnnotationFormatting_out.pdf");
}

When you change the contents or text style of a free text annotation, the annotation’s appearance is regenerated to reflect changes.

Strike Out Words using StrikeOutAnnotation

Aspose.PDF for .NET allows you to add, delete and update annotations in PDF documents. One of the classes allows you to strike out annotations too. This is useful when you want to strike out one or more text fragments in a documect. Annotations are held in a Page object’s AnnotationCollection collection. A class named StrikeOutAnnotation can be used to add strike out annotations to a PDF document.

To strike out a certain TextFragment:

Search for a TextFragment in the PDF file.
Get the TextFragment object’s coordinates.
Use the coordinates to instantiate a StrikeOutAnnotation object.

The following code snippet shows how to search for a particular TextFragment and add a StrikeOutAnnotation to that object.

This feature is supported by version 19.6 or greater.

Delete All Annotations from Page of PDF File

A Page object’s AnnotationCollection collection contains all the annotations for that particular page. To delete all the annotations from a page, call the Delete method of the AnnotationCollectoin collection.

The following code snippet shows you how to delete all the annotations from a particular page.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
// The path to the documents directory.
string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();

// Open document
Document document = new Document(dataDir + "DeleteAllAnnotationsFromPage.pdf");

// Delete particular annotation
document.Pages[1].Annotations.Delete();

// Save updated document
document.Save(dataDir + "DeleteAllAnnotationsFromPage_out.pdf);

Delete Particular Annotation from PDF File

You can check the quality of Aspose.PDF and get the results online at this link: products.aspose.app/pdf/annotation

Aspose.PDF allows you to remove a particular Annotation from PDF file. This topic explains how.

To delete a particular annotation from a PDF, call the AnnotationCollection collection’s Delete method. This collection belongs to the Page object. The Delete method requires the index of the annotation you want to delete. Then, save the updated PDF file. The following code snippet shows how to delete a particular annotation.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
// The path to the documents directory.
string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();

// Open document
Document document = new Document(dataDir + "DeleteParticularAnnotation.pdf");

// Delete particular annotation
document.Pages[1].Annotations.Delete(1);

// Save updated document
document.Save(dataDir + "DeleteParticularAnnotation_out.pdf");

Get All Annotations from Page of PDF Document

Aspose.PDF allows you to get annotations from an entire document, or from a given page. To get all annotations from the page in a PDF document, loop through the AnnotationCollection collection of desired page resources. The following code snippet shows you how to get all the annotations of a page.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
// The path to the documents directory.
string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();

// Open document
Document document = new Document(dataDir + "GetAllAnnotationsFromPage.pdf");

// Loop through all the annotations
foreach (MarkupAnnotation annotation in document.Pages[1].Annotations)
{
    // Get annotation properties
    Console.WriteLine("Title : {0} ", annotation.Title);
    Console.WriteLine("Subject : {0} ", annotation.Subject);
    Console.WriteLine("Contents : {0} ", annotation.Contents);
}

Please note that to get all annotations from the whole PDF, you have to loop through the document’s PageCollection Class collection before navigating through the AnnotationCollection class collection. You can get each annotation of the collection in a base annotation type called MarkupAnnotation Class and then show its properties.

Get Particular Annotation from PDF File

Annotations are associated with individual pages and stored in a Page object’s AnnotationCOllection collection. To get a particular annotation, specify its index. This returns an Annotation object which needs to be cast to a particular annotation type, for example TextAnnotation. The following code snippet shows how to get a particular annotation and its properties.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
// The path to the documents directory.
string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();

// Open document
Document document = new Document(dataDir + "GetParticularAnnotation.pdf");

// Get particular annotation
TextAnnotation textAnnotation = (TextAnnotation)document.Pages[1].Annotations[1];

// Get annotation properties
Console.WriteLine("Title : {0} ", textAnnotation.Title);
Console.WriteLine("Subject : {0} ", textAnnotation.Subject);
Console.WriteLine("Contents : {0} ", textAnnotation.Contents);

Get Resource of Annotation

Aspose.PDF allows you to get a resource of annotation from an entire document, or from a given page. The following code snippet shows you how to get the resource of annotation as FileSpecification object of input PDF file.

// For complete examples and data files, please go to https://github.com/aspose-pdf/Aspose.PDF-for-.NET
// The path to the documents directory.
string dataDir = RunExamples.GetDataDir_AsposePdf_Annotations();

// Open document
Document document = new Document(dataDir + "AddAnnotation.pdf");
//Create annotation
ScreenAnnotation sa = new ScreenAnnotation(document.Pages[1], new Rectangle(100, 400, 300, 600), dataDir + "AddSwfFileAsAnnotation.swf");
document.Pages[1].Annotations.Add(sa);
// Save Doucument
document.Save(dataDir + "GetResourceOfAnnotation_Out.pdf");

// Open document
Document document1 = new Document(dataDir + "GetResourceOfAnnotation_Out.pdf");

//Get action of the annotation
RenditionAction action = (document1.Pages[1].Annotations[1] as ScreenAnnotation).Action as RenditionAction;

//Get rendition of the rendition action
Rendition rendition = ((document1.Pages[1].Annotations[1] as ScreenAnnotation).Action as RenditionAction).Rendition;

//Media Clip
MediaClip clip = (rendition as MediaRendition).MediaClip;
FileSpecification data = (clip as MediaClipData).Data;
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
int read = 0;
//Data of media are accessible in FileSpecification.Contents
Stream source = data.Contents;
while ((read = source.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0)
{
    ms.Write(buffer, 0, read);
}
Console.WriteLine(rendition.Name);
Console.WriteLine(action.RenditionOperation);

PDF Highlight Annotation using C#