Installation
Installation
This page walks through installing Aspose.Words FOSS for .NET via NuGet, or building it from source and referencing it in your own .NET project.
Prerequisites
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| .NET SDK | Any SDK that can target .NET Standard 2.0 — .NET Framework 4.6.2+, .NET 6, .NET 8, or .NET 10 |
| Git | Required to clone the source repository |
| OS | Windows, Linux, or macOS |
| Dependencies | None — pure managed C#, no native dependencies |
1. Install the Library
Option A: NuGet (recommended)
dotnet add package Aspose.Words.FOSSOption B: Build from source
Clone the repository and build the solution in Release configuration:
git clone https://github.com/aspose-words-foss/Aspose.Words-FOSS-for-.NET.git
cd Aspose.Words-FOSS-for-.NET
dotnet build Aspose.Words.sln -c Release2. Reference the Library from Your Project
If you installed via NuGet, the library is already referenced — skip to Verify the Build. If you built from source:
Add a project reference to Aspose.Words.csproj from your own application, either through
your IDE’s Add Reference dialog or with the dotnet CLI:
dotnet add reference path/to/Aspose.Words-FOSS-for-.NET/Aspose.Words/Aspose.Words.csprojThe library targets .NET Standard 2.0, so it runs on .NET Framework 4.6.2+ and .NET 6/8/10, on Windows, Linux, and macOS, with no native dependencies.
3. Verify the Build
Create a minimal console application and build a document with a chart to confirm the reference resolves and the library runs correctly:
using Aspose.Words;
using Aspose.Words.Drawing.Charts;
Document doc = new Document();
DocumentBuilder builder = new DocumentBuilder(doc);
Shape shape = builder.InsertChart(ChartType.Line, 432, 252);
Chart chart = shape.Chart;
// Delete default generated series.
chart.Series.Clear();
string[] categories = new string[] { "AW Category 1", "AW Category 2", "AW Category 3" };
chart.Series.Add("AW Series 1", categories, new double[] { 4.3, 2.5, 3.5 });
doc.Save("chart.docx");If chart.docx is created without errors, the build and reference are working correctly.
Next Steps
- Quickstart — A complete working example to get started
- License Information — MIT license details
- Developer Guide — Document creation, editing, and chart APIs
- Features and Functionalities — Full feature reference with examples