To generate PDF, I would recommend using iText, or its .NET port, iTextSharp:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IText[
^],
http://itextpdf.com/[
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http://sourceforge.net/projects/itextsharp/[
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In included the reference to Java iText site as well, because most documentation is there. If you understand C#, it would not be difficult to understand Java-bases API documentation.
For parsing Office documents, I would recommend using Open XML SDK:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30425[
^].
This way, you can support new XML-based Office formats (such as .DOCX, .XLSX), ECMA-376 standard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_XML_formats[
^],
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML[
^].
This way, you can work without Office installed. Also, the documents are supported by 3rd-party software. Please see my past answers:
Convert Office-Documents to PDF without interop[
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Need a rather unique WPF text editor control[
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Hi how can i display word file in windows application using c#.net[
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Read a word file without using Interop.word dll...Do not want to install word in IIS..[
^].
This is another option:
http://npoi.codeplex.com/[
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See also:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q257757#kb2[
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See also this CodeProject article:
Creating basic Excel workbook with Open XML[
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You can also use Office Interop, but this is less recommended, especially in server settings. By the way, see these Microsoft article on the topic:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q257757#kb2[
^],
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257757/en-us[
^].
—SA
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