Get bounds of each word

GemBox.Pdf
1

Dear Gembox,

Is it possible to get the bounds of each word (or even better, each character) in a PdfTextContent? I see there is a GetGlyphOffsets but that only gives me the x position of each letter. And if possible is it also possible to get a SpaceCharWidth value for that PdfTextContent (the .format.[text].WordSpacing seems to be 0)?

2

Hi Mario,

Can I nudge this question for an answer please.

3

Hi Simon,

There is no way to get height information for each letter, but we’re working on it.
I’ll contact you again as soon as possible.

Regards,
Mario

1 Like
4

Hi Simon,

We added support for retrieving PDF text content glyphs with PdfTextContent.Text property.
Please try using this NuGet package:

Install-Package GemBox.Pdf -Version 2025.4.100-hotfix

Note that this is a hidden (unlisted) version. To install it, you’ll need to run the above command on the NuGet Package Manager Console (Tools → NuGet Package Manager → Package Manager Console).

And try the following example that draws rectangles on PdfTextContent elements’ bounds and individual glyphs bounds:

static void Main()
{
    using var document = PdfDocument.Load("input.pdf");
    var page = document.Pages[0];

    var elements = page.Content.Elements;
    var boundsGroup = elements.AddGroup();
    elements.Group(elements.First, elements.Last.Previous);

    // Use page.Transform if not drawing bounds on the page but calculating the bounds on a potentially transformed (rotated) page.
    // var transform = page.Transform;
    var transform = PdfMatrix.Identity;

    using var enumerator = elements.All(transform, flattenForms: true).GetEnumerator();
    while (enumerator.MoveNext())
    {
        if (enumerator.Current.ElementType != PdfContentElementType.Text)
            continue;

        var textElement = (PdfTextContent)enumerator.Current;
        transform = textElement.Transform * enumerator.Transform;
        foreach (var glyph in textElement.Text)
        {
            var glyphBounds = glyph.Bounds;
            transform.Transform(ref glyphBounds);
            DrawBounds(boundsGroup, PdfColors.Green, glyphBounds);
        }

        transform = enumerator.Transform;
        var elementBounds = textElement.Bounds;
        transform.Transform(ref elementBounds);
        DrawBounds(boundsGroup, PdfColors.Red, elementBounds);
    }

    document.Save("output.pdf");
}

static void DrawBounds(PdfContentGroup group, PdfColor color, PdfQuad bounds)
{
    var pathElement = group.Elements.AddPath();
    pathElement.BeginSubpath(bounds.Point0, isClosed: true)
        .LineTo(bounds.Point1)
        .LineTo(bounds.Point2)
        .LineTo(bounds.Point3);

    var strokeFormat = pathElement.Format.Stroke;
    strokeFormat.IsApplied = true;
    strokeFormat.Width = 0.5;
    strokeFormat.Color = color;
}

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Mario

5

Hi Mario,

Works perfectly, thank you.

Does that mean this feature will be released in the next general update or do I need to avoid updating the dll so as not to overwrite this hot-fix version?

Regards,
Simon

6

Hi Simon,

We have released a new version today; it includes this, so you can feel free to update to the latest version.

Regards,
Mario

1 Like