Controlling Which File Converters Are Running

Document Conversion Service comes with many converters for handling the most commonly used file formats. The initial installation settings are to try and run each converter.

When only one or two file formats are to be converted, there is no need to run the converters that are not being used. This can free up memory and processing power for the converters that are being used.

There are two ways to control which converters are running, and a combination of both methods can be used as needed:

Disabling Unused Converters in the Document Conversion Service Configuration File

Each converter can be manually enabled or disabled in the configuration file for Document Conversion Service.

NOTE: If you modify the configuration file while Document Conversion Service is running, you will need to restart the service to have the new settings applied.

Click Start – All Programs – Document Conversion Service 3.0 – Edit DCS Configuration File to open the configuration file for editing.

In the configuration file, scroll down to the section labelled <AppFactories>. Inside this section, there is an <AppFactory> section for each converter and each converter has a collection of settings. To disable the converter, change the Enabled setting to false.

The Enabled setting can be one of the following:

  • auto – the Document Conversion Service will try to run the converter; if it cannot be run, it is treated as if disabled.
  • true – the converter must always be running; this causes Document Conversion Service to fail to start if this converter cannot be run.
  • false – the converter is disabled and will not be loaded.

The section of the configuration file shown below shows the Microsoft Word (*.doc, *.docx) converter disabled and the Adobe Reader (*.pdf) converter enabled.

<AppFactories>
  <Factories>
     <AppFactory Name="Microsoft Word"
                Type="PEERNET.PNDocConv.Applications.PNWordApplicationFactory"
                Assembly="PNWordApplicationFactory">
      <Settings>
        <add Name="Enabled" Value="false"/>
        <add Name="MaxInstances" Value="5"/>
        <add Name="RecycleThreshold" Value="1000"/>
      </Settings>
    </AppFactory>
    <AppFactory Name="Adobe Acrobat Reader"
           Type="PEERNET.PNDocConv.Applications.PNAcrobatReaderApplicationFactory"
           Assembly="PNAcrobatReaderApplicationFactory">
      <Settings>
        <add Name="Enabled" Value="auto"/>
        <add Name="MaxInstances" Value="2"/>
      </Settings>
    </AppFactory>
     ...     
  </Factories>
  <Settings>
    <!-- Global factory settings -->
    <add Name="MaxInstances" Value="5"/>
    <add Name="RecycleThreshold" Value="100"/>
  </Settings>
</AppFactories>

Install Only those Third-Party Applications for the File Types Being Converted

For any file converter that uses a third-party application, Document Conversion Service auto-detects if the application is installed and only runs the converter if it finds the required application. By not installing and licensing these applications, by default, these converters will not run.

This method applies to any converter that uses a third-party application. Some of the converters do not require a third-party application and these would need to be disabled in the configuration file as explained above. See the online help section What Files Can I Convert? for a table outlining which of the converters require a third-party application.

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