Conversion Service
The Conversion Service is a comprehensive on-premises solution for automating your document processes. It takes input documents of different formats from various sources and processes them according to your use case to produce high-quality PDF/A documents. The robust client-server architecture of the Conversion Service provides high availability and stability, allowing you to access the service through a powerful REST APIs (HTTP or HTTPS).
To learn more about how you can convert documents as part of an automated document workflow, see how the Conversion Service works.
Key features
- High throughput job processing
- Specialized workflows: Archive PDF/A-2, Archive PDF/A-3, Archive PDF/A-1, Conversion, Invoice, Dossier
- Multiple configuration profiles for each workflow
- Convenient conversion configurator
- Watched folder: Convert all files included in a folder you specify using your configured workflow.
- Statistics: Activity and job processing information.
- Logging and monitoring
- API integration with Advanced or Simple APIs.
Compatible operating systems
The Conversion Service is available for the following operating systems:
- Windows version
- Docker version
| Version | Bit version |
|---|---|
| Windows Server 2019 | x64 |
| Windows Server 2022 | x64 |
| Windows Server 2025 | x64 |
| Containerization tool | Minimal required version |
|---|---|
| Docker | 20.10 or later |
| Docker Compose | 1.27 or later |
| Linux distributions and toolchains | Bit version |
|---|---|
| Red Hat | x64 |
| CentOS | x64 |
| Oracle Linux 8+ | x64 |
| Fedora 29+ | x64 |
| Debian 10+ | x64 |
| Linux kernel 2.6+ | x64 |
| GCC Toolset 4.8+ | x64 |
| glibc 2.27+ | x64 |
- To convert Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files to PDFs with the Conversion Service, you need a valid Microsoft 365 for Business license.
- For Microsoft Office file conversion, we recommend using the English (en-US) version of the operating system. For more information, review Microsoft Office conversion.
Hardware requirements
The Conversion Service has the following hardware requirements:
| Components | Minimal | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor | 2.5 GHz 64-bit processor |
| RAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| Storage | 32 GB Disk space | 64 GB Disk space |
| Network Interface | - | Gigabit Ethernet |
- A multi-core processor is preferable for optimal performance.
- Use an SSD drive to boost the performance, as the Conversion Service heavily relies on input/output operations.
The optimal performance of the Conversion Service varies depending on the tasks you want it to perform and how fast you need it to process the results.
Network and security recommendations
Antivirus
Use Windows Defender. Third-party antivirus software can adversely affect the performance of the Conversion Service. Exclude specific folders and processes from Windows Defender (or any third-party security software) checks that can affect the performance of the service.
| Excluded | Path |
|---|---|
| Folder | INSTALLATION_PATH\Pdftools\Conversion Service |
| Folder | INSTALLATION_PATH\Pdftools\Conversion Service\Logs |
| Processes | INSTALLATION_PATH\Pdftools\Conversion Service\bin* |
| Processes | C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16 |
- Replace the
INSTALLATION_PATHwith the installation path of the Conversion Service on your system.
Firewall configuration
The Pdftools support and warranty cover issues up to the firewall level. If a firewall interferes with the Conversion Service, it is beyond the scope of Pdftools support. If the service works with the firewall disabled or on a local machine, any issues arising due to firewall configuration are your responsibility.
| Rule | Port |
|---|---|
| Inbound | 13033 (HTTP/HTTPS) |
| Inbound | 13034 (HTTP/HTTPS) |
| Inbound | 9999 (HTTP) |
| Outbound | Integration related ports (for example, REST Output, Mailbox-related Connectors) |
Data encryption standards
It is recommended to ensure limited access to the machine, as the files that are stored on the system are not encrypted. Configure HTTPS to encrypt the data that is exchanged and to ensure the data integrity.
Access controls
To use the Conversion Service Configurator on Windows Server, you need to have administrator rights.
For the Microsoft Office file conversion, use the user account of Microsoft Office with regular user permissions and also Log on as a batch job and Allow log on locally security policies.
Input formats
The Conversion Service supports a variety of input formats:
- Raster image formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, JBIG2, JPEG2000, HEIC, HEIF, WebP)
- Microsoft Word binary formats (DOC, DOT)
- Microsoft Word OOXML-based formats (DOCX, DOCM, DOTX, DOTM)
- WordML or WordprocessingML (XML)
- Microsoft Excel binary formats (XLS, XLT)
- Microsoft Excel OOXML-based formats (XLSX, XLSM, XLTX, XLTM)
- SpreadsheetML (XML)
- Microsoft PowerPoint binary formats (PPT, PPS)
- Microsoft PowerPoint OOXML-based formats (PPTX, PPTM, PPSX, PPSM)
- Open Document Text (ODT)
- Open Document Spreadsheet (ODS)
- Open Document Presentation (ODP)
- MIME-email (EML)
- Outlook-email (MSG)
- ZIP archive
- Plain text (TXT)
- Rich text (RTF)
- Comma-separated values (CSV)
- Document-like HTML
However, the Conversion Service does not support PDF with XFA forms (Adobe Lifecycle), JPEG2000 compound image (JPM), MS Project, MS Visio, RAR-Archive, Website-Archive (MHT, HTMZIP), URL as a file format, Metafile (EMF), XPS as input formats and custom formats (Plugins).
Output formats
The Conversion Service can convert input files to the following output formats:
- PDF/A-1
- PDF/A-2
- PDF/A-3
- Plain PDF (1.x)
- TIFF
API overview
Automate documentation workflows and processes by using one of the two Conversion Service APIs:
- Simple API: Process files in one API call. Get started fast with the Simple API, designed to solve common use cases of the conversion process.
- Advanced API: Leverage fine-grained control over the conversion process, letting you convert many documents in bulk and check their status during the conversion process. Reliably process the harmonization of documents from various sources and prepare them optimally for your intended purpose.
Simple API
The examples of the Simple API use cases include the following:
- Convert files with one API call.
- Convert documents one by one with a blocking call until the API delivers the converted PDFs.
- Implement the Conversion Service with multiple applications with a dedicated API for each application. Each application can include different Workflows and Profiles.
- Convert large files (larger than 100 MB) using the plain HTTP input endpoint of the Simple API.
Advanced API
The examples of Advance API use cases include the following:
- Merge hundreds of documents into a single PDF using the Dossier workflow.
- List and monitor all jobs processed, workflows, and profiles on your server.
- Monitor the status of the Conversion Service to ensure that everything is running correctly.
- Store the results of the conversion on an Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, SharePoint and choose the destination location on the fly.
- Collect all the files over time and wait until all documents are ready to be converted. Create a job, add files over time, and then start the conversion job.
- Convert large files (larger than 100 MB).