c# - Is using Interop the recommended method when auto-generating Office documents?

Question

As stated in the title, I need to do some C# coding from a Web Application that will auto-generate a Word document. So far, targeted towards Office 2007 and above users.

My question would be, is using the Interop library the recommended way of doing this? Isn't there some issues with using it between different versions (e.g. 2007 -> 2010 -> 2013)? What are its advantages and disadvantages? And finally, are there any better alternatives?

Answer 1

On the contrary, Microsoft's advice is very much not to use it:

Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not support, Automation of Microsoft Office applications from any unattended, non-interactive client application or component (including ASP, ASP.NET, DCOM, and NT Services), because Office may exhibit unstable behavior and/or deadlock when Office is run in this environment.

There are various libraries available in managed code (OpenXML SDK, Aspose Words etc.)