Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office Is Live

I speak with customers every day about the productivity solutions they build using Microsoft Office. Rarely now do my conversations not include a discussion of Open XML. This is because it is such a powerful way to work with Office documents as a data source.

Basically, developers can shuttle data in and out of Office documents by working with the underlying document XML without invoking the Office object models. The documents can then be more easily integrated in platform agnostic kinds of ways. Users get to work with the documents in the applications they love, and developers can leverage the document content anywhere it is needed.

Now, developers working with the Open XML file formats in solutions like this have more powerful tools and guidance via the Open XML SDK 2.0. Check out Zeyad Rajabi's excellent session from SharePoint Conference 2009 where he demonstrates the SDK and Open XML with very compelling demos.

What is the Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office?

The Open XML Format SDK 2.0  is a superset of the Open XML SDK 1.0. It contains a collection of classes that let you create and manipulate Open XML documents - documents that adhere to the Office Open XML File Formats Standard. The SDK provides an API that lets you manipulate Open XML documents directly outside the context of the client products in both client and server operating environments.

We've added support for .NET Language-Integrated Query (LINQ) and classes to construct and query the contents of parts within a package. We've expanded the number of tools and resources to improve programmatic document processing thus making a task of the developer more efficient and with less code.

Microsoft has released an RTM version of Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office today, and here's where you can get the download & online versions:

	Download the Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office This download provides strongly typed part and content classes for use with Open XML documents. https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c6e744e5-36e9-45f5-8d8c-331df206e0d0
	MSDN Online version of the Open XML SDK 2.0 for Microsoft Office This reference provides strongly typed part and content classes to manipulate Open XML documents. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb448854(office.14).aspx

Distribution and requirement notes

·  Open XML SDK 2.0 is freely redistributable by any solution provider implementing the formats.

·  Office applications are not required to use the Open XML SDK 2.0, and no software purchase is required. Developers can freely use the Open XML SDK to build document processing solutions for Microsoft Office files and for other implementations of the IS29500 standard.

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