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MIGRATION GUIDES

How to Migrate from TallComponents to IronPDF in C#

Curtis Chau
Curtis Chau
Updated:

On May 27, 2025, Apryse acquired TallComponents. New licenses for TallPDF.NET and PDFKit.NET are no longer offered, and Apryse routes new buyers to the iText SDK (also owned by Apryse). Existing customers continue to receive support, but the engine is on maintenance-only. For teams currently shipping on TallComponents, planning a migration now avoids a forced cutover later.

This guide provides a migration path from TallComponents to IronPDF, including step-by-step instructions, API mappings, and code examples for .NET developers planning the transition.

Why Plan a TallComponents Migration

TallComponents (founded 2001) shipped two main .NET PDF products: PDFKit.NET for loading and manipulating PDFs, and TallPDF.NET for layout-oriented document generation. Following the Apryse acquisition, new license sales have ended, which changes the planning horizon for teams relying on the library.

Key TallComponents Limitations Today

Closed to new licenses: Apryse's TallComponents page states it is no longer offering new licenses for TallComponents products, and directs new buyers to the iText SDK. Existing license holders continue to be supported.

XHTML-only HTML pipeline: TallPDF.NET ships an XhtmlParagraph class that parses XHTML 1.0 Strict / XHTML 1.1 + CSS 2.1. PDFKit.NET on its own has no HTML pipeline. Modern HTML5 + CSS3 + JavaScript content does not render reliably — there is no headless-browser engine in the box.

Frozen platform target: TallComponents.PDFKit5 targets .NET Standard 2.0; the older TallComponents.PDFKit (4.x) targets .NET Framework 2.0. There is no .NET 8/9 TFM published.

Maintenance-only road map: With Apryse's development energy focused on Apryse SDK and iText, TallComponents-branded packages receive maintenance updates but no new feature road map.

IronPDF: A Modern TallComponents Alternative

IronPDF addresses the core gaps that affect TallComponents users on current .NET stacks:

Feature TallComponents IronPDF
Current sale status Closed to new licenses (Apryse acquired 2025-05-27) Actively sold
HTML-to-PDF support XHTML 1.0/1.1 + CSS 2.1 via XhtmlParagraph (TallPDF.NET) Yes (HTML5/CSS3 with Chromium)
JavaScript in HTML No Full ES2024
Installation NuGet (TallComponents.PDFKit5, TallComponents.TallPDF5) NuGet (IronPdf)
Customer support Existing customers only; new buyers routed to iText Active support and community
Future investment Maintenance only Long-term road map

TallComponents uses an XML/layout-oriented model rooted in an earlier era of .NET document generation, while IronPDF provides Chromium-powered HTML rendering aligned with how teams build front-end applications today.

Quick Start: TallComponents to IronPDF Migration

Step 1: Replace NuGet Packages

Remove the TallComponents packages your project references. The real package IDs on nuget.org are TallComponents.PDFKit5 (or TallComponents.PDFKit for 4.x) and TallComponents.TallPDF5 / TallPDF6:

# Remove TallComponents packages (whichever your project uses)
dotnet remove package TallComponents.PDFKit5
dotnet remove package TallComponents.TallPDF5
dotnet remove package TallComponents.PDFRasterizer4
# Remove TallComponents packages (whichever your project uses)
dotnet remove package TallComponents.PDFKit5
dotnet remove package TallComponents.TallPDF5
dotnet remove package TallComponents.PDFRasterizer4
SHELL

Install IronPDF:

# Install IronPDF
dotnet add package IronPdf
# Install IronPDF
dotnet add package IronPdf
SHELL

For specialized frameworks, IronPDF offers dedicated extension packages:

Blazor Server:

PM > Install-Package IronPdf.Extensions.Blazor
PM > Install-Package IronPdf.Extensions.Blazor
SHELL

MAUI:

PM > Install-Package IronPdf.Extensions.Maui
PM > Install-Package IronPdf.Extensions.Maui
SHELL

MVC Framework:

PM > Install-Package IronPdf.Extensions.Mvc.Framework
PM > Install-Package IronPdf.Extensions.Mvc.Framework
SHELL

Step 2: Update Namespaces

Replace TallComponents namespaces with the IronPDF namespace:

// Before (TallComponents — real namespaces)
using TallComponents.PDF;                    // Document, Page (PDFKit.NET)
using TallComponents.PDF.Shapes;             // TextShape, ImageShape (PDFKit)
using TallComponents.PDF.Security;           // PasswordSecurity
using TallComponents.PDF.Layout;             // Document, Section (TallPDF.NET)
using TallComponents.PDF.Layout.Paragraphs;  // TextParagraph, XhtmlParagraph

// After (IronPDF)
using IronPdf;
// Before (TallComponents — real namespaces)
using TallComponents.PDF;                    // Document, Page (PDFKit.NET)
using TallComponents.PDF.Shapes;             // TextShape, ImageShape (PDFKit)
using TallComponents.PDF.Security;           // PasswordSecurity
using TallComponents.PDF.Layout;             // Document, Section (TallPDF.NET)
using TallComponents.PDF.Layout.Paragraphs;  // TextParagraph, XhtmlParagraph

// After (IronPDF)
using IronPdf;
Imports IronPdf

' Before (TallComponents — real namespaces)
' Imports TallComponents.PDF                    ' Document, Page (PDFKit.NET)
' Imports TallComponents.PDF.Shapes             ' TextShape, ImageShape (PDFKit)
' Imports TallComponents.PDF.Security           ' PasswordSecurity
' Imports TallComponents.PDF.Layout             ' Document, Section (TallPDF.NET)
' Imports TallComponents.PDF.Layout.Paragraphs  ' TextParagraph, XhtmlParagraph

' After (IronPDF)
Imports IronPdf
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

Step 3: Initialize Your License

Add license initialization at application startup:

IronPdf.License.LicenseKey = "YOUR-LICENSE-KEY";
IronPdf.License.LicenseKey = "YOUR-LICENSE-KEY";
IronPdf.License.LicenseKey = "YOUR-LICENSE-KEY"
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

TallComponents to IronPDF API Mapping Reference

Understanding how TallComponents concepts map to IronPDF accelerates the migration process:

TallComponents IronPDF Notes
Document (TallPDF.NET: layout) ChromePdfRenderer Create renderer for PDF generation
Document (PDFKit.NET: manipulate) PdfDocument Load/edit existing PDFs
Section Automatic Sections derived from HTML structure
TextParagraph HTML text elements Use <p>, <h1>, <div>, etc.
ImageParagraph <img> tag Standard HTML images
TableParagraph HTML <table> Standard HTML tables
XhtmlParagraph (XHTML 1.x + CSS 2.1) RenderHtmlAsPdf() (HTML5/CSS3 via Chromium) Modern HTML works
Font CSS font-family Web fonts supported
document.Write(...) pdf.SaveAs() / pdf.BinaryData File or byte[] output
page.Overlay.Add(shape) pdf.ApplyStamp(stamper) Watermark / overlay
outputDoc.Pages.Add(page.Clone()) PdfDocument.Merge(...) / pdf.AppendPdf(...) Merge multiple PDFs
Document.Security = new PasswordSecurity { ... } pdf.SecuritySettings PDF security configuration
PageLayout RenderingOptions Page settings and margins

Code Migration Examples

Converting HTML to PDF

TallComponents handles HTML through TallPDF.NET's XhtmlParagraph, which parses XHTML 1.0/1.1 + CSS 2.1 only. Modern HTML5, CSS3, flexbox, grid, and JavaScript-driven content fall outside that grammar:

TallComponents Approach:

// NuGet: Install-Package TallComponents.TallPDF5
// (HTML/XHTML conversion lives in TallPDF.NET, not in PDFKit.NET.)
using TallComponents.PDF.Layout;
using TallComponents.PDF.Layout.Paragraphs;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Document document = new Document();
        Section section = document.Sections.Add();

        // XhtmlParagraph supports XHTML 1.0/1.1 + CSS 2.1 only.
        XhtmlParagraph xhtml = new XhtmlParagraph();
        xhtml.Text = "<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF from XHTML.</p></body></html>";
        section.Paragraphs.Add(xhtml);

        using (FileStream fs = new FileStream("output.pdf", FileMode.Create))
        {
            document.Write(fs);
        }
    }
}
// NuGet: Install-Package TallComponents.TallPDF5
// (HTML/XHTML conversion lives in TallPDF.NET, not in PDFKit.NET.)
using TallComponents.PDF.Layout;
using TallComponents.PDF.Layout.Paragraphs;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Document document = new Document();
        Section section = document.Sections.Add();

        // XhtmlParagraph supports XHTML 1.0/1.1 + CSS 2.1 only.
        XhtmlParagraph xhtml = new XhtmlParagraph();
        xhtml.Text = "<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF from XHTML.</p></body></html>";
        section.Paragraphs.Add(xhtml);

        using (FileStream fs = new FileStream("output.pdf", FileMode.Create))
        {
            document.Write(fs);
        }
    }
}
Imports TallComponents.PDF.Layout
Imports TallComponents.PDF.Layout.Paragraphs
Imports System.IO

Class Program
    Shared Sub Main()
        Dim document As New Document()
        Dim section As Section = document.Sections.Add()

        ' XhtmlParagraph supports XHTML 1.0/1.1 + CSS 2.1 only.
        Dim xhtml As New XhtmlParagraph()
        xhtml.Text = "<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF from XHTML.</p></body></html>"
        section.Paragraphs.Add(xhtml)

        Using fs As New FileStream("output.pdf", FileMode.Create)
            document.Write(fs)
        End Using
    End Sub
End Class
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

IronPDF Approach:

// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Create a PDF from HTML string
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
        string html = "<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF from HTML.</p></body></html>";

        var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(html);
        pdf.SaveAs("output.pdf");
    }
}
// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Create a PDF from HTML string
        var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
        string html = "<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF from HTML.</p></body></html>";

        var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(html);
        pdf.SaveAs("output.pdf");
    }
}
Imports IronPdf

Class Program
    Shared Sub Main()
        ' Create a PDF from HTML string
        Dim renderer As New ChromePdfRenderer()
        Dim html As String = "<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF from HTML.</p></body></html>"

        Dim pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(html)
        pdf.SaveAs("output.pdf")
    End Sub
End Class
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

IronPDF's ChromePdfRenderer uses a genuine Chromium engine, providing full HTML5 and CSS3 support. This means your PDFs render exactly as they would appear in a modern browser. Learn more in the HTML to PDF tutorial.

Merging Multiple PDFs

PDF merging demonstrates the verbosity difference between TallComponents and IronPDF.

TallComponents Approach:

// NuGet: Install-Package TallComponents.PDFKit5
using TallComponents.PDF;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Create target document
        Document outputDoc = new Document();

        // Load first PDF and clone each page into the target
        using (FileStream fs1 = new FileStream("document1.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
        {
            Document doc1 = new Document(fs1);
            foreach (Page page in doc1.Pages)
            {
                outputDoc.Pages.Add(page.Clone()); // clone is required across documents
            }
        }

        // Load second PDF and append the whole page collection
        using (FileStream fs2 = new FileStream("document2.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
        {
            Document doc2 = new Document(fs2);
            outputDoc.Pages.AddRange(doc2.Pages.CloneToArray());
        }

        // Save merged document
        using (FileStream output = new FileStream("merged.pdf", FileMode.Create))
        {
            outputDoc.Write(output);
        }
    }
}
// NuGet: Install-Package TallComponents.PDFKit5
using TallComponents.PDF;
using System.IO;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Create target document
        Document outputDoc = new Document();

        // Load first PDF and clone each page into the target
        using (FileStream fs1 = new FileStream("document1.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
        {
            Document doc1 = new Document(fs1);
            foreach (Page page in doc1.Pages)
            {
                outputDoc.Pages.Add(page.Clone()); // clone is required across documents
            }
        }

        // Load second PDF and append the whole page collection
        using (FileStream fs2 = new FileStream("document2.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
        {
            Document doc2 = new Document(fs2);
            outputDoc.Pages.AddRange(doc2.Pages.CloneToArray());
        }

        // Save merged document
        using (FileStream output = new FileStream("merged.pdf", FileMode.Create))
        {
            outputDoc.Write(output);
        }
    }
}
Imports TallComponents.PDF
Imports System.IO

Class Program
    Shared Sub Main()
        ' Create target document
        Dim outputDoc As New Document()

        ' Load first PDF and clone each page into the target
        Using fs1 As New FileStream("document1.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)
            Dim doc1 As New Document(fs1)
            For Each page As Page In doc1.Pages
                outputDoc.Pages.Add(page.Clone()) ' clone is required across documents
            Next
        End Using

        ' Load second PDF and append the whole page collection
        Using fs2 As New FileStream("document2.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)
            Dim doc2 As New Document(fs2)
            outputDoc.Pages.AddRange(doc2.Pages.CloneToArray())
        End Using

        ' Save merged document
        Using output As New FileStream("merged.pdf", FileMode.Create)
            outputDoc.Write(output)
        End Using
    End Sub
End Class
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

IronPDF Approach:

// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Load PDFs
        var pdf1 = PdfDocument.FromFile("document1.pdf");
        var pdf2 = PdfDocument.FromFile("document2.pdf");

        // Merge PDFs
        var merged = PdfDocument.Merge(pdf1, pdf2);

        // Save merged document
        merged.SaveAs("merged.pdf");
    }
}
// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Load PDFs
        var pdf1 = PdfDocument.FromFile("document1.pdf");
        var pdf2 = PdfDocument.FromFile("document2.pdf");

        // Merge PDFs
        var merged = PdfDocument.Merge(pdf1, pdf2);

        // Save merged document
        merged.SaveAs("merged.pdf");
    }
}
Imports IronPdf

Class Program
    Shared Sub Main()
        ' Load PDFs
        Dim pdf1 = PdfDocument.FromFile("document1.pdf")
        Dim pdf2 = PdfDocument.FromFile("document2.pdf")

        ' Merge PDFs
        Dim merged = PdfDocument.Merge(pdf1, pdf2)

        ' Save merged document
        merged.SaveAs("merged.pdf")
    End Sub
End Class
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

The TallComponents version requires manual page iteration and cloning. IronPDF reduces this to a single PdfDocument.Merge() call. For advanced merging scenarios, see the PDF merging documentation.

Adding Watermarks

Watermarking PDFs reveals another significant difference in developer experience.

TallComponents Approach:

// NuGet: Install-Package TallComponents.PDFKit5
using TallComponents.PDF;
using TallComponents.PDF.Shapes;
using System.IO;
using System.Drawing;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Load existing PDF
        using (FileStream fs = new FileStream("input.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
        {
            Document document = new Document(fs);

            foreach (Page page in document.Pages)
            {
                TextShape watermark = new TextShape();
                watermark.Text = "CONFIDENTIAL";
                watermark.Font = new Font("Arial", 60);
                watermark.Pen = new Pen(Color.FromArgb(128, 255, 0, 0));
                watermark.X = 200;
                watermark.Y = 400;
                // Rotation is applied via a transform on PDFKit.NET
                // (TextShape has no Rotate property in the PDFKit API).
                watermark.Transform = new RotateTransform(45);

                page.Overlay.Add(watermark);
            }

            using (FileStream output = new FileStream("watermarked.pdf", FileMode.Create))
            {
                document.Write(output);
            }
        }
    }
}
// NuGet: Install-Package TallComponents.PDFKit5
using TallComponents.PDF;
using TallComponents.PDF.Shapes;
using System.IO;
using System.Drawing;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Load existing PDF
        using (FileStream fs = new FileStream("input.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
        {
            Document document = new Document(fs);

            foreach (Page page in document.Pages)
            {
                TextShape watermark = new TextShape();
                watermark.Text = "CONFIDENTIAL";
                watermark.Font = new Font("Arial", 60);
                watermark.Pen = new Pen(Color.FromArgb(128, 255, 0, 0));
                watermark.X = 200;
                watermark.Y = 400;
                // Rotation is applied via a transform on PDFKit.NET
                // (TextShape has no Rotate property in the PDFKit API).
                watermark.Transform = new RotateTransform(45);

                page.Overlay.Add(watermark);
            }

            using (FileStream output = new FileStream("watermarked.pdf", FileMode.Create))
            {
                document.Write(output);
            }
        }
    }
}
Imports TallComponents.PDF
Imports TallComponents.PDF.Shapes
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Drawing

Class Program
    Shared Sub Main()
        ' Load existing PDF
        Using fs As New FileStream("input.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)
            Dim document As New Document(fs)

            For Each page As Page In document.Pages
                Dim watermark As New TextShape()
                watermark.Text = "CONFIDENTIAL"
                watermark.Font = New Font("Arial", 60)
                watermark.Pen = New Pen(Color.FromArgb(128, 255, 0, 0))
                watermark.X = 200
                watermark.Y = 400
                ' Rotation is applied via a transform on PDFKit.NET
                ' (TextShape has no Rotate property in the PDFKit API).
                watermark.Transform = New RotateTransform(45)

                page.Overlay.Add(watermark)
            Next

            Using output As New FileStream("watermarked.pdf", FileMode.Create)
                document.Write(output)
            End Using
        End Using
    End Sub
End Class
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

IronPDF Approach:

// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;
using IronPdf.Editing;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Load existing PDF
        var pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("input.pdf");

        // Create watermark
        var watermark = new TextStamper()
        {
            Text = "CONFIDENTIAL",
            FontSize = 60,
            Opacity = 50,
            Rotation = 45,
            VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Middle,
            HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center
        };

        // Apply watermark to all pages
        pdf.ApplyStamp(watermark);

        // Save watermarked PDF
        pdf.SaveAs("watermarked.pdf");
    }
}
// NuGet: Install-Package IronPdf
using IronPdf;
using IronPdf.Editing;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Load existing PDF
        var pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("input.pdf");

        // Create watermark
        var watermark = new TextStamper()
        {
            Text = "CONFIDENTIAL",
            FontSize = 60,
            Opacity = 50,
            Rotation = 45,
            VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Middle,
            HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center
        };

        // Apply watermark to all pages
        pdf.ApplyStamp(watermark);

        // Save watermarked PDF
        pdf.SaveAs("watermarked.pdf");
    }
}
Imports IronPdf
Imports IronPdf.Editing

Class Program
    Shared Sub Main()
        ' Load existing PDF
        Dim pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("input.pdf")

        ' Create watermark
        Dim watermark = New TextStamper() With {
            .Text = "CONFIDENTIAL",
            .FontSize = 60,
            .Opacity = 50,
            .Rotation = 45,
            .VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Middle,
            .HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center
        }

        ' Apply watermark to all pages
        pdf.ApplyStamp(watermark)

        ' Save watermarked PDF
        pdf.SaveAs("watermarked.pdf")
    End Sub
End Class
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

IronPDF's TextStamper class provides intuitive alignment options and automatic page iteration. The stamping and watermarks guide covers additional customization options.

Digital Signatures

Document signing is critical for enterprise applications.

TallComponents Approach:

using TallComponents.PDF;
using TallComponents.PDF.Signing;
using System.IO;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

using (FileStream fs = new FileStream("unsigned.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
{
    Document document = new Document(fs);

    X509Certificate2 cert = new X509Certificate2("certificate.pfx", "password");
    SignatureField field = new SignatureField("Signature1");
    field.Sign(cert);
    document.Fields.Add(field);

    using (FileStream output = new FileStream("signed.pdf", FileMode.Create))
    {
        document.Write(output);
    }
}
using TallComponents.PDF;
using TallComponents.PDF.Signing;
using System.IO;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

using (FileStream fs = new FileStream("unsigned.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
{
    Document document = new Document(fs);

    X509Certificate2 cert = new X509Certificate2("certificate.pfx", "password");
    SignatureField field = new SignatureField("Signature1");
    field.Sign(cert);
    document.Fields.Add(field);

    using (FileStream output = new FileStream("signed.pdf", FileMode.Create))
    {
        document.Write(output);
    }
}
Imports TallComponents.PDF
Imports TallComponents.PDF.Signing
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates

Using fs As New FileStream("unsigned.pdf", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)
    Dim document As New Document(fs)

    Dim cert As New X509Certificate2("certificate.pfx", "password")
    Dim field As New SignatureField("Signature1")
    field.Sign(cert)
    document.Fields.Add(field)

    Using output As New FileStream("signed.pdf", FileMode.Create)
        document.Write(output)
    End Using
End Using
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

IronPDF Approach:

using IronPdf;
using IronPdf.Signing;

var pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("unsigned.pdf");

// Sign with certificate
var signature = new PdfSignature("certificate.pfx", "password")
{
    SigningContact = "support@company.com",
    SigningLocation = "New York",
    SigningReason = "Document Approval"
};

pdf.Sign(signature);
pdf.SaveAs("signed.pdf");
using IronPdf;
using IronPdf.Signing;

var pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("unsigned.pdf");

// Sign with certificate
var signature = new PdfSignature("certificate.pfx", "password")
{
    SigningContact = "support@company.com",
    SigningLocation = "New York",
    SigningReason = "Document Approval"
};

pdf.Sign(signature);
pdf.SaveAs("signed.pdf");
Imports IronPdf
Imports IronPdf.Signing

Dim pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("unsigned.pdf")

' Sign with certificate
Dim signature = New PdfSignature("certificate.pfx", "password") With {
    .SigningContact = "support@company.com",
    .SigningLocation = "New York",
    .SigningReason = "Document Approval"
}

pdf.Sign(signature)
pdf.SaveAs("signed.pdf")
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

IronPDF's signature API includes additional metadata properties for contact information, location, and signing reason—important for audit trails. Explore the digital signature documentation for complete implementation details.

Feature Comparison: TallComponents vs IronPDF

Feature TallComponents IronPDF
Status Closed to new licenses (Apryse acquired 2025-05-27) Active
Support Existing customers only Full
Updates Maintenance only Regular feature releases
Content Creation
HTML to PDF XHTML 1.0/1.1 + CSS 2.1 (XhtmlParagraph) Full HTML5/CSS3 via Chromium
URL to PDF Yes for XHTML URLs (XhtmlParagraph.Path) Yes
CSS Support CSS 2.1 Full CSS3
JavaScript No Full ES2024
XML / Layout DOM Templates Yes (TallPDF.NET) Not needed (HTML)
PDF Operations
Merge PDFs Yes (Pages.Add(page.Clone())) Yes (PdfDocument.Merge)
Split PDFs Yes Yes
Watermarks page.Overlay.Add(TextShape) pdf.ApplyStamp(...)
Headers/Footers Layout DOM HTML/CSS
Security
Password Protection Yes (PasswordSecurity) Yes
Digital Signatures Yes (SignatureField.Sign) Yes
Encryption RC4 / AES-128 / AES-256 AES-128 / AES-256
PDF/A PDF/A-1, PDF/A-2, PDF/A-3 Yes
Platform
Target Frameworks PDFKit5: .NET Standard 2.0; PDFKit (4.x): .NET Framework 2.0 .NET Framework 4.6.2+, .NET 6/7/8/9
Development
Learning Curve XML / layout DOM HTML
Documentation Frozen at acquisition; new docs route to Apryse / iText Maintained
Community Quiet (no new sales) Active

TallComponents Migration Checklist

Pre-Migration Tasks

Audit your codebase to identify all TallComponents usage:

grep -r "using TallComponents" --include="*.cs" .
grep -rE "XhtmlParagraph|TextParagraph|PasswordSecurity|page\.Overlay" --include="*.cs" .
grep -r "using TallComponents" --include="*.cs" .
grep -rE "XhtmlParagraph|TextParagraph|PasswordSecurity|page\.Overlay" --include="*.cs" .
SHELL

Document existing XML/layout templates—these will be converted to HTML. Identify security settings currently in use, noting password configurations and digital signature implementations.

Code Update Tasks

  1. Remove TallComponents packages via NuGet
  2. Install IronPDF package
  3. Convert XHTML / layout DOM templates to HTML5
  4. Replace Section/Paragraph model with HTML elements
  5. Update table code to use standard HTML tables
  6. Convert headers/footers to HTML with HtmlHeaderFooter
  7. Update security settings to use pdf.SecuritySettings
  8. Add license initialization at startup

Headers and Footers Migration

TallPDF.NET uses a layout DOM (Section.Header / Section.Footer) for page headers. IronPDF provides HTML-based headers with dynamic placeholders:

renderer.RenderingOptions.HtmlHeader = new HtmlHeaderFooter()
{
    HtmlFragment = "<div style='text-align:center;'>Header Text</div>",
    MaxHeight = 25
};
renderer.RenderingOptions.HtmlFooter = new HtmlHeaderFooter()
{
    HtmlFragment = "<div style='text-align:center;'>Footer Text</div>",
    MaxHeight = 25
};
renderer.RenderingOptions.HtmlHeader = new HtmlHeaderFooter()
{
    HtmlFragment = "<div style='text-align:center;'>Header Text</div>",
    MaxHeight = 25
};
renderer.RenderingOptions.HtmlFooter = new HtmlHeaderFooter()
{
    HtmlFragment = "<div style='text-align:center;'>Footer Text</div>",
    MaxHeight = 25
};
Imports System

renderer.RenderingOptions.HtmlHeader = New HtmlHeaderFooter() With {
    .HtmlFragment = "<div style='text-align:center;'>Header Text</div>",
    .MaxHeight = 25
}
renderer.RenderingOptions.HtmlFooter = New HtmlHeaderFooter() With {
    .HtmlFragment = "<div style='text-align:center;'>Footer Text</div>",
    .MaxHeight = 25
}
$vbLabelText   $csharpLabel

Learn more about headers and footers in IronPDF.

Testing Phase

  1. Compare visual output between TallComponents and IronPDF versions
  2. Test all document templates
  3. Validate PDF merging functionality
  4. Test digital signatures
  5. Confirm security settings apply correctly

Since TallComponents is closed to new licenses and on maintenance-only support, plan the move at your own pace but do not stall:

Week 1: Audit codebase and identify all TallComponents usage
Week 2: Convert XHTML / layout templates to HTML5
Week 3: Update security, merging, and signing code
Week 4: Testing and production deployment

The longer a stack stays on TallComponents, the further it drifts from current .NET targets and current HTML.

Please noteApryse, PDFKit, Tall Components, and iText are registered trademarks of their respective owners. This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Apryse, PDFKit, PDFTron, TallComponents, or iText Group. All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. Comparisons are for informational purposes only and reflect publicly available information at the time of writing.

Curtis Chau
Curtis Chau
  Chat with engineering team now
Technical Writer

Curtis Chau holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (Carleton University) and specializes in front-end development with expertise in Node.js, TypeScript, JavaScript, and React. Passionate about crafting intuitive and aesthetically pleasing user interfaces, Curtis enjoys working with modern frameworks and creating well-structured, visually appealing manuals.

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