OpenXML

This technology from microsoft

OpenXML SDK 2.0

This is for Office 2010 and .NET 3.5.

After playing around with this I had recognized that the "(Microsoft) Office OpenXML File Format" is NOT really compatible with Microsoft office's produced documents, especially complexer documents. This leads to the problem, that even really simple Word or Excel documents in MS native xml format simple cannot be parsed or opened with the OpenXML SDK. Therefore you cannot parse them with the standard mechanisms given by the XML assemblies. To make it clear: stay completely with Microsoft native format and use COM or produce "Office Open XML Format" documents first, then check them with the Open XML SDK Productivty Tool which is available in your start menu when you installed the SDK.

For convenience: The 'Office Open XML Format IS NOT compatible with OpenOffice / Libreoffice , therefore use the in the microsoft world socalled OpenDocument Format (e. g. ODF 1.1, which is supported by Office 2010). If in practice the MS Office suite is really compatible will be part of a later research ;-)

• http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=5124

Here an article on how to use it:

"How to create a document from a template (dotx, dotm) and attach to it using Open XML SDK":

• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vsod/archive/2012/02/18/how-to-create-a-document-from-a-template-dotx-dotm-and-attach-to-it-using-open-xml-sdk.aspx