Modern .NET applications frequently need to display, preview, annotate, search, and convert documents directly inside a web interface, without relying on browser plugins, external apps, or unstable client-side solutions. Doconut offers a unified platform that solves this challenge with a server-side document viewer and conversion engine capable of handling 75 extensions across 18 families used across enterprise, educational, financial, and engineering environments.
With Doconut, developers can embed the viewer into ASP.NET MVC, .NET Core, Blazor, and WebForms applications. It provides consistent rendering, predictable performance, and zero client-side dependencies. All heavy processing—PDF decoding, Word rendering, PowerPoint layouting, CAD interpretation, image processing, and text extraction—happens entirely on the server. The browser only receives lightweight HTML5 output, ensuring compatibility across Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and all major browsers.
Doconut's ecosystem is structured around the Viewer and four separately licensed plugins: Annotation, Converter, DICOM and Search. Controlled printing is not one of them — it is part of the viewer itself. Buy a plugin against a requirement you can name; plenty of applications only ever need to display a document.
What Makes Doconut a Standout Choice for .NET Developers?
1. A catalogue of 75 file extensions
Doconut handles a remarkably wide range of document types, covering the majority of business and engineering formats, including:
- PDF (all versions, encrypted files supported)
- Microsoft Office: Word (DOC/DOCX), Excel (XLS/XLSX), PowerPoint (PPT/PPTX)
- CAD formats: DWG, DXF
- Images: PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, JPEG2000
- Email formats: MSG, EML
- Text-based formats: TXT, RTF, EPUB, HTML
- PSD, vector images, and other graphic formats
A single library handling this many formats reduces the need for multiple third-party viewers or complex client-side fallback logic.
Core Features of the Doconut Platform
Server-Side Rendering for Maximum Compatibility
The Doconut Viewer processes documents entirely server-side, generating pixel-precise previews regardless of the browser, operating system, or device. There is no need for browser plugins, PDF readers, ActiveX controls, or WebAssembly modules. Everything is drawn using Doconut’s rendering core, ensuring consistent output.
This architecture brings major benefits:
- Works on every device and browser
- Reduces client-side complexity
- Keeps sensitive documents within your server infrastructure
- Makes rendering predictable and stable across environments
Annotations Plugin – Markup, Notes, and Visual Feedback
Doconut provides a full annotation system enabling users to interact with documents directly in the viewer. Supported annotation types include:
- Highlights
- Rectangles, circles, arrows, and other shapes
- Sticky notes and text comments
- Underlines and strike-through marks
- Callouts and visual markers
Annotations can be saved, loaded, customized, and integrated into workflow systems. For internal teams—legal, HR, engineering, finance—this dramatically simplifies document review processes.
Search Plugin – Fast Text Search Over the PDF Text Layer
The Search Plugin brings full-document search capabilities to Doconut:
- Keyword search across supported document types
- Instant hit highlighting
- Navigation between results
- Search across the text layer a PDF already carries
What the plugin reads is the text layer: the characters stored in the file alongside the page images. A PDF written out by Word, by a report generator, or by a scanner with text recognition switched on already has one, and those files are searchable the moment they load. A page held only as an image carries no text layer, so there is nothing to match, and Doconut does not read characters off the image today. Extraction runs server-side, so the raw file never leaves your infrastructure.
Converter Plugin – Document Transformation Made Easy
The Converter Plugin extends Doconut by enabling conversions between:
- PDF ↔ Word, Excel, PowerPoint
- Images → PDF
- CAD → PDF or images
- Email formats → PDF or images
This is especially useful for batch exporting, generating shareable reports, preparing documents for long-term storage, or transforming files into formats suitable for printing or archiving.
Caching System for Optimized Performance
Caching significantly reduces rendering time for large files and repetitive previews.
Doconut caches rendered pages, images, thumbnails, and layout information, minimizing CPU load and improving responsiveness.
Integration with Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage
Doconut can load documents directly from popular cloud storage systems:
- Amazon S3
- Azure Blob Storage
This is particularly useful for:
- SaaS applications
- Distributed teams
- Systems with cloud-first architecture
- Document-heavy portals storing user content remotely
Doconut retrieves files securely, processes them server-side, and never exposes source files to the client.
Real-World Scenarios Where Doconut Excels
1. Enterprise Portals & Business Systems
Organizations with document-heavy workflows rely on Doconut to embed document previews without forcing users to download files.
2. Engineering & Technical Environments
DWG/DXF support makes Doconut suitable for engineering dashboards where teams need to view CAD drawings without AutoCAD installed.
3. Financial & Insurance Platforms
Financial systems often generate statements, reports, and spreadsheets. Doconut allows users to view them instantly in the browser.
4. HR & Training Platforms
PPTX, DOCX, and PDF viewing is essential for training materials, onboarding documents, and policy distribution.
5. Systems Requiring Document Conversion
The Converter Plugin automates transformations between formats, reducing manual work and streamlining workflows.
Common Questions
Q: Does Doconut require any client-side plugins or extensions?
No. All processing is done server-side.
Q: Can Doconut convert documents?
Yes. The Converter Plugin supports PDF, Office, images, CAD, and email formats.
Q: Does Doconut support annotations?
Yes. The Annotations Plugin includes highlights, shapes, notes, and callouts.
Q: Does Doconut offer OCR?
Not today. The Search Plugin searches the text layer a PDF already carries, which covers most scans that came through a scanner or a document management system with text recognition enabled. A page stored as a bare image holds no text, so there is nothing to search, and Doconut does not extract characters from it.
Q: Can Doconut read documents out of S3 or Azure Blob Storage?
Yes, it loads from both. The bucket is yours: Doconut reads from the storage you already run, it does not provide storage of its own.
Key Takeaways
- Doconut is a server-side viewer reading 75 file extensions across 18 families.
- Works with ASP.NET MVC, WebForms, .NET Core, and Blazor.
- Offers Annotations, Text-Layer Search, and Converter Plugins.
- Supports Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage.
- Uses server-side rendering for pixel-perfect fidelity.
- DCN caching accelerates repeated file loads.
- No browser plugins required.
- Ideal for enterprise portals, engineering dashboards, HR systems, financial platforms, and SaaS solutions.
Doconut brings performance, stability, and flexibility to any document-driven .NET application, helping teams build secure and powerful content experiences fully within their own infrastructure.