Class TextBlock

Block of text lines grouped by vertical proximity (PyMuPDF-style block).

Inheritance
System.Object
TextBlock
Namespace: IronSoftware
Assembly: IronPdf.dll
Syntax
public class TextBlock : Object

Grouped text extraction from a PDF page becomes navigable when TextBlock organizes adjacent TextLine objects into a single spatial unit. Each TextBlock represents a cluster of lines that fall within close vertical proximity, mirroring the block model used by PyMuPDF, and gives code a structured way to reason about paragraphs, columns, and captions rather than raw character streams.

BoundingBox exposes a RectangleF describing the rectangle that encloses all lines in the block, useful for coordinate-based filtering or layout analysis. Contents collapses every line into a single string, giving quick access to the block's full text without iterating Lines. Index records the block's position in the sequence returned by the extraction call, so ordering is always recoverable. Lines provides an IReadOnlyList<TextLine> for per-line inspection, letting code examine individual line positions, text, or spacing within the block.

using IronPdf;

foreach (TextBlock block in PdfDocument.FromFile("report.pdf").Pages[0].GetTextBlocks())
{
    if (block.BoundingBox.Y < 100)
        Console.WriteLine($"Header block {block.Index}: {block.Contents}");
}

The IReadOnlyList<TextLine> surface on Lines pairs naturally with LINQ, making it straightforward to filter blocks by line count, bounding-box position, or keyword presence. Because BoundingBox uses page-coordinate units consistent with IronPDF's rendering pipeline, the same rectangle can drive annotation placement or region-based redaction without coordinate conversion.

Explore related techniques at the IronPDF text extraction how-to and browse runnable samples at the PDF text extraction examples.

Constructors

TextBlock()

Declaration
public TextBlock()

Properties

BoundingBox

Bounds in PDF user space, matching BoundingBox: Y grows upward, so Height is negative and Bottom sits below Top. Note that System.Drawing.RectangleF.IsEmpty is therefore true for a valid box.

Declaration
public RectangleF BoundingBox { get; }
Property Value
Type Description
System.Drawing.RectangleF

Contents

Text of all lines in this block, separated by a newline.

Declaration
public string Contents { get; }
Property Value
Type Description
System.String

Index

Zero based index of this block on the page.

Declaration
public int Index { get; }
Property Value
Type Description
System.Int32

Lines

Lines in this block, top first.

Declaration
public IReadOnlyList<TextLine> Lines { get; }
Property Value
Type Description
System.Collections.Generic.IReadOnlyList<TextLine>