SharePoint PDF – Convert Office Files to PDFs in SharePoint

Create, store, and distribute PDF versions of your Microsoft Office documents via SharePoint, automatically.

Read about the release of the NEW version 1.5 of Office to PDF on the Bamboo Team Blog.

See what other users are saying about the Office to PDF Conversion Solution Accelerator

Check out the Bamboo Knowledge Base.

Create an easy-to-maintain, automated library of PDF files for any Document Library!

If you're looking to distribute version controlled, accessible, read-only versions of your Microsoft Office documents through SharePoint, the Office to PDF Conversion Solution Accelerator is exactly what you're looking for. With Office to PDF, your portal can make conversions automatically, either on a set schedule, or whenever documents are updated. Office to PDF is an integrated, flexible system even that allows you to assign conversion duties to a different server, if you don't want to burden your SharePoint server with the workload.

Best of all, Office to PDF is a snap to manage once you're up and running. It runs off a configuration list, which allows you to customize the conversion process (include some or all versions of the document, add metadata, etc.), and audit the list of any failed conversions. And while it's easy to get under the hood should the need arise, you'll spend most of your time not interacting with the software at all -- just sit back as an automated workflow protects your source documents and keeps your public PDF libraries up to date.

Bamboo Office to PDF Conversion

Here are just some of the capabilities of the Office to PDF Solution Accelerator: Automatically convert your Office and other documents to PDF. Works with a scheduler based on the Windows NT Scheduler for configuring when and how often your documents are converted to PDF. Includes an option to convert only the most current version of a document to PDF or all of its versions (provided versioning is turned on for the Master Document Library). Detects when document has been added or modified and performs conversion immediately. Can automatically copy one or all meta data fields from the Master Library to the Shadow Library, and keep meta data in sync. Enables you to store the Master Library on a restricted site and display Shadow Library on a separate public site. Includes support for many Microsoft Office 2007 file types (.docx, .xlsx, .pubx). - NEW! Includes an option for viewing the corresponding PDF available in SharePoint Edit drop-down menu for each document item in the Master Library. Power your conversion server with OpenOffice or Microsoft Office 2007, for maximum compatibility. Allows you to offload the conversion process to a different server, if desired. Provides easy auditing with an automatically maintained failed conversion list for simple troubleshooting.
This Solution Accelerator is a powerful, automated tool that enables you to leverage your existing SharePoint infrastructure for the important, but tedious task of document control. If you are distributing internal documents across the portal, the last thing you'll ever want to see are multiple verions of source documents (.doc, .xls., etc.) files being exchanged and swapped by users. Worst of all, without a central document authority, it's impossible for end-users to have any confidence that what they're reading is up-to-date, or even an officially sanctioned document. Office to PDF changes all of this. By storing your source documents in a private, "master" library, and routing them as read only PDFs to a public, "shadow" library, you remove source documents from circulation, ensuring that only authorized users with access to the private library can make changes. Without an automated solution like Office to PDF, this is a painful, manual procedure that, frankly, it's impossible to get content authors to follow. Fortunately, Office to PDF eliminates manual conversion and file relocation, automatically converting and distributing read-only versions of source files as they're updated. Content authors don't have to do anything different; just update/author, check in, and walk away. Meanwhile, old versions are pulled from the public library, new versions instantly become available, and valuable library metadata (date, version, department, author, etc.) is included in the distributed copy, so users don't miss out on that, either. Office to PDF gives you all the benefits of a strong, consistent document control system without placing the burden on content authors, or tying up IT resources with document management tasks they'd rather not be spending their time on.
The Office to PDF Conversion Solution Accelerator has two main parts: The Conversion Activator and the Conversion Server. The Conversion Activator is installed on the SharePoint server and includes the configuration and scheduling list, services, and software for communicating with the Bamboo Conversion Server. The Conversion Server is installed on a separate physical server to handle the load of converting large numbers of files. Once the Conversion Activator is installed on the SharePoint Server, you must navigate to the ConversionConfigurationList and create conversion settings for each of the conversion types you want to convert (i.e. DOC to PDF, XLS to PDF or PPT to PDF). These settings include entering in the internal URL to the Master Document Library and the Shadow PDF Document Library, whether you want to convert all versions of each document or only the most current (provided versioning is turned on for the Master Document Library), and scheduling when the conversion should run and how often. In addition, you can indicate whether you want to convert documents as soon as they are added or modified and you can copy specific meta data columns or all columns from the Master Library to the Shadow Library each time the scheduler runs. You can also use this list to check the status, date and time the conversion was last run and any errors that may have occurred during the conversion process. After setting up each conversion configuration, you are ready to start converting your documents in your Master Document Library.