# Introduction

> Word processing for WPF windows: what TX Text Control .NET for WPF does, what you build with it, its controls, namespaces and setup, and related products.

- **Product:** TX Text Control .NET for WPF
- **Section:** Documentation
- **Kind:** Topic
- **Path:** TX Text Control .NET for WPF > Overview > Introduction
- **1145 words**
- **Web URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/introduction/
- **LLMs URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/introduction/llms.txt
- **LLMs-Full URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/introduction/llms-full.txt

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New to TX Text Control and building with WPF? Start with the essentials of TX Text Control .NET for WPF: a word processing control for the windows of your desktop application, the classes that come with it, and how it is installed. With that picture, you can tell which parts your application needs and which page of the documentation to read next.

### What TX Text Control .NET for WPF Is

TX Text Control .NET for WPF adds word processing to WPF applications. You declare the `TextControl` in the XAML of a window, and your users get a document editor with character and paragraph formatting, tables, images, headers and footers, sections, fields and mail merge. The same engine works without a user interface, so your code can create, merge and convert documents in the same application.

- **Current version.** Version 34.0 was released in November 2025. Its latest service pack, Service Pack 5, was released on September 14, 2026.
- **.NET and .NET Framework.** The NuGet package `TXTextControl.TextControl.WPF.SDK` targets .NET 8 and works in WPF projects for .NET 8 or higher. Projects on the .NET Framework reference the assemblies that the setup installs. [Supported Platforms](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/platforms/llms-full.txt) lists the versions.
- **Windows only.** WPF runs on Windows, and the native libraries of TX Text Control are built for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows.
- **Royalty-free.** Applications built by licensed developers are distributed without runtime licenses or royalties. See [Licensing Overview](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/licensing/llms-full.txt).
- **Three editions.** Enterprise, Professional and Standard share the editor and differ in features and file formats. See [Editions and Feature Availability](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/editions/llms-full.txt).

The TX Words sample application, which comes with the product, shows what a complete editor looks like: here with ribbon tabs, a contextual **Table Tools** group, rulers, a sidebar and a status bar around a form document.

![The TX Words sample for WPF with the Form Fields tab of the ribbon, a booking request form in the editor, a Conditional Instructions sidebar at the right and a status bar at the bottom.](https://docs.textcontrol.com/assets/img/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/conditional-instr-sidebar.e7bf0dc0.webp)

### What You Can Build

| Task | Examples | Main classes |
|---|---|---|
| A word processor inside your application | Users write and format letters, contracts or reports in a window of your application | `TextControl` |
| A complete editing interface | Ribbon tabs or a button bar, rulers, a status bar and sidebars that drive the editor | `RibbonFormattingTab` and the other tabs, `ButtonBar`, `RulerBar`, `StatusBar`, `Sidebar` |
| Templates and reports | Users design a template with merge fields, and your code fills it with data | `MailMerge` |
| Document processing without a window | Create, convert and save documents that are never displayed | `ServerTextControl` |
| Barcodes and drawings in documents | Place a barcode or a shape in the text | `TXBarcodeControl`, `TXDrawingControl` |

A document a user edits is the same kind of document your code processes: a template designed in the editor can be merged in the background and loaded into the editor again.

### Building Blocks

TX Text Control .NET for WPF consists of the editor control `TextControl`, the ribbon tabs, bars and sidebars around it, and two classes without a user interface, `MailMerge` and `ServerTextControl`. [Components](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/components/#the-components-at-a-glance) introduces each of them. Their classes are spread over a few namespaces: everything that is a WPF element has `WPF` in its namespace, such as `TXTextControl.WPF`, while the classes of a document are in `TXTextControl` and mail merge is in `TXTextControl.DocumentServer`. The [.NET API](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/reference/dotnet-api/llms-full.txt) lists every namespace.

### How You Install It

A development machine gets the setup of TX Text Control .NET for WPF, full or trial, which brings the local package source for .NET projects, the assemblies for .NET Framework projects and the toolbox items. Build servers restore the same NuGet package from the Text Control Private NuGet Feed. [How You Get the Product](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/installation/#how-you-get-the-product) compares the two, the [Installation Guide](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/installation/llms-full.txt) goes through each step, and [Getting Started](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/getting-started/llms-full.txt) builds a working editor from an empty project.

### Other Text Control Products

- **TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms** is the same word processing component for Windows Forms. Its editor is the class `TXTextControl.TextControl`, and its ribbon is a control of TX Text Control.
- **TX Text Control .NET Server** processes documents on servers and provides a document editor and viewer for the browser. Choose it for web applications and services.
- **TX Text Control ActiveX** is the editor for COM-based Windows applications.

Text Control released version 34.0 of all four products at the same time.

### Next Steps

- [Product Architecture](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/architecture/llms-full.txt): how the controls, the classes and the engine work together.
- [Components](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/components/llms-full.txt): each control and class in detail.
- [Supported Platforms](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/platforms/llms-full.txt): the .NET, Windows and Visual Studio versions.
- [Getting Started](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/getting-started/llms-full.txt): your first WPF application with TX Text Control.

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## Nearby

- **Previous:** [Overview](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/llms-full.txt)
- **Next:** [Product Architecture](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-wpf/overview/architecture/llms-full.txt)
