Microsoft Office Files Conversion

You can configure your system to automatically convert Microsoft Office files to Adobe PDF format files for viewing online.

Conversion Process and Benefits

Conversion of uploaded Word and Powerpoint files into PDF occurs within the SobekCM Builder/Bulk Loader. This will convert files which are dropped into the builder's incoming folders. In addition, any time a file is uploaded into a digital resource through the web application, the item is marked to be re-processed by the Builder, usually within the next minute. In this way, the Builder gets a chance to do any conversion processes, even on items uploaded through the web application.

NOTE: The architecture is built in this way to avoid having to (a) install Microsoft Office on your web server, and (b) to not slow down the web server's primary function by having it perform lots of file conversions. This ensures both a secure web environment and maintains the responsiveness of your web presence.

In addition to providing the PDF downloadable version, this process additionally creates a main thumbnail for the resource and indexes the full text of the document for full text searching. Neither of these processes are possible without the conversion of the Word and Powerpoint files into Adobe PDF.

Configuration and Setup

Install Microsoft Office

You will need to install a recent version of Microsoft Office on the machine which is running the SobekCM Builder/Bulk Loader. Installation should include, at a minimum, Word and Powerpoint. After installation, you must reboot the machine so all the correct registry values appear in the next step.

Grant Permissions

You will need to grant special permissions to the service account under which the SobekCM Buidler/Bulk Loader is running. This is necessary so that user can launch office and process the conversions, without trully being logged onto the machine.

To grant the special permissions, from the Start Menu, select Administrative Tools, and then Component Services. Expand the tree on the left navigation side to see the DCOM config. ( Component Services --> Computers --> My Computer --> DCOM config ). You should now see the Microsoft office products you installed in the list, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Expanded DCOM config tree showing Office products.

If you installed a 32-bit version of Office on a 64-bit server, you may not see the products in your list. In this case, you will need to use the 32-bit Microsoft Management Console (MMC), and then all the following steps will be identical. To launch this, from the command line type, enter:

        C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64>mmc comexp.msc /32
    

View the properties on Microsoft Powerpoint by right clicking on it on the tree view and selecting Properties. Select the Security tab and you will see the standard permissions provided.

Figure 2: Default security screen on Microsoft Powerpoint DCOM.

Select Customize under the Launch and Activation Permissions and then press the Edit button to set those permissions. Once the subsequent screen, enter the service account(s) under which the SobekCM Builder/Bulk Loader will execute. For permissions, select all applicable permissions, thus granting the service account permission to remotely launch and active both locally and remotely.

Figure 3: Launch and Activation Permissions correctly set.

Select Customize, this time under the Access Permissions and then press the Edit button again. On the next screen, enter the service account(s) and check the Remove Access checkbox.

Figure 4: Access Permissions correctly set.

Repeat this process for Microsoft Word.

SobekCM System-Wide Settings

Launch the web application, logon, and go to the System Admin options. From there, select System-Wide Settings. There should be a Convert Office Files to PDF setting, which is initally set to FALSE. Set this to TRUE and your builder will attempt to convert any uploaded Powerpoint and Word files to PDF.