Convert PDF to Office

To convert a PDF document to Office format, send a multipart request to the /api/build API endpoint, including both the source document and the instructions JSON. In response, you’ll receive a ZIP archive containing the Office document.

Rendering a document requires you to provide the desired output format via a format option. Supported Office formats are DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX.

Only one format — DOCX, XLSX, or PPTX — can be chosen for the output document.

Ensure Document Engine is up and running.
Send a multipart POST request with instructions to Document Engine’s /api/build endpoint.

For more information, refer to the API reference to learn about the /api/build endpoint and all the actions you can perform on PDFs with Document Engine.

For an overview of multipart requests, refer to the brief tour of multipart requests blog post.

Converting a PDF document from a local file to Office format

Send a multipart request to the /api/build endpoint, attaching an input file and the instructions JSON. Below is an example for converting a PDF document to Word (DOCX):

curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/build \
  -H "Authorization: Token token=<API token>" \
  -F document=@/path/to/example-document.pdf \
  -F instructions='{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document"
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "office",
    "format": "docx",
    "pages": {
      "range": "1-5"
    }
  }
}' \
  -o result.zip

POST /api/build HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=customboundary
Authorization: Token token=<API token>

--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="document"; filename="example-document.pdf"
Content-Type: application/pdf

<PDF data>
--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="instructions"
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": "document"
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "office",
    "format": "docx",
    "pages": {
      "range": "1-5"
    }
  }
}
--customboundary--

Converting a PDF document from a URL to Office format

Send a multipart request to the /api/build endpoint, attaching a URL pointing to an input file and the instructions JSON. Below is an example for converting a PDF document to Excel (XLSX):

curl -X POST http://localhost:5000/api/build \
  -H "Authorization: Token token=<API token>" \
  -F instructions='{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": {
        "url": "https://www.nutrient.io/downloads/examples/paper.pdf"
      }
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "office",
    "format": "xlsx",
    "pages": {
      "start": 1,
      "end": 1
    }
  }
}' \
  -o output-image.png

POST /api/build HTTP/1.1
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=customboundary
Authorization: Token token=<API token>

--customboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="instructions"
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "parts": [
    {
      "file": {
        "url": "https://www.nutrient.io/downloads/examples/paper.pdf"
      }
    }
  ],
  "output": {
    "type": "office",
    "format": "xlsx",
    "pages": {
      "start": 1,
      "end": 1
    }
  }
}
--customboundary--