Convert Word document to PDF in AWS Elastic Beanstalk

21 Jul 20268 minutes to read

Syncfusion^® Essential^® DocIO is a .NET Core Word library used to create, read, edit, and convert Word documents programmatically without Microsoft Word or interop dependencies. Using this library, you can convert a Word document to PDF in AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

Prerequisites

• An active AWS account with permissions to create and deploy Elastic Beanstalk applications and IAM roles.
• Visual Studio with the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio installed.
• .NET 8.0 or later.
• A valid Syncfusion^® license key. Refer to this link to generate and register your license key.

Steps to convert Word document to PDF in AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Step 1: Create a new ASP.NET Core Web App (Model-View-Controller) project targeting .NET 8.0 or later.

Step 2: Install the following NuGet packages in your application from NuGet.org.

• Syncfusion.DocIORenderer.Net.Core
• SkiaSharp.NativeAssets.Linux.NoDependencies v3.119.1
• Syncfusion.Licensing (required for v16.2.0.x and later)

NOTE

Starting with v16.2.0.x, if you reference Syncfusion^® assemblies from trial setup or from the NuGet feed, you also have to add a Syncfusion.Licensing NuGet package reference and include a license key in your projects. Please refer to this link to know about registering a Syncfusion^® license key in your application to use our components.

Step 3: Include the following namespaces in the HomeController.cs file.

C#

using Syncfusion.DocIO;
using Syncfusion.DocIO.DLS;
using Syncfusion.DocIORenderer;
using Syncfusion.Pdf;

Step 4: A default action method named Index is present in HomeController.cs. Right-click the Index method and select Go To View to navigate to the associated view page Index.cshtml.

Step 5: Add a new button in the Index.cshtml as shown below.

C#

@{
    Html.BeginForm("ConvertWordtoPDF", "Home", FormMethod.Get);
    {
        <div>
            <input type="submit" value="Convert Word to PDF" style="width:150px;height:27px" />
        </div>
    }
    Html.EndForm();
}

Step 6: Include the below code snippet in the HomeController.cs file to convert a Word document to PDF and download it.

C#

public IActionResult ConvertWordtoPDF()
{
    try
    {
        using (FileStream fileStreamPath = new FileStream(Path.GetFullPath("wwwroot/Data/Input.docx"), FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite))
        {
            //Loads the template document.
            using (WordDocument document = new WordDocument(fileStreamPath, FormatType.Docx))
            {
                //Hooks the font substitution event.
                document.FontSettings.SubstituteFont += FontSettings_SubstituteFont;
                using (DocIORenderer render = new DocIORenderer())
                {
                    // Converts Word document into PDF document. 
                    using (PdfDocument pdf = render.ConvertToPDF(document))
                    {
                        MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream();
                        //Saves the PDF file.
                        pdf.Save(memoryStream);
                        //Unhooks the font substitution event after converting to PDF.
                        document.FontSettings.SubstituteFont -= FontSettings_SubstituteFont;
                        memoryStream.Position = 0;
                        //Download PDF document in the browser
                        return File(memoryStream, "application/pdf", "Sample.pdf");
                    }                               
                }                           
            }                      
        }                 
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        ViewBag.Message = ex.ToString();
    }
    return View("Index");
}

private static void FontSettings_SubstituteFont(object sender, SubstituteFontEventArgs args)
{
    if (args.OrignalFontName == "Calibri" && args.FontStyle == FontStyle.Regular)
    {
        args.AlternateFontStream = new FileStream(Path.GetFullPath("wwwroot/Fonts/calibri.ttf"), FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite);
    }
}

Steps to publish as AWS Elastic Beanstalk

NOTE

This walkthrough uses the Publish to AWS Elastic Beanstalk (Legacy) option in the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio. AWS is deprecating the legacy publish flow in newer Toolkit versions; if you do not see the legacy option, use the AWS Elastic Beanstalk publish profile or the EB CLI. See the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio documentation for the current recommended approach.

Step 1: Right-click the project and select Publish to AWS Elastic Beanstalk (Legacy) option.

Step 2: Select the Deployment Target as Create a new application environment and click Next.

Step 3: Choose the Environment Name from the dropdown list. The URL is automatically assigned; if it is available, click Next. Otherwise, change the URL until an available one is found.

Step 4: Select the instance type t3a.micro from the dropdown list and click Next.

NOTE

t3a.micro is suitable for the bundled sample. For production workloads or large Word documents, choose a larger instance (for example, t3a.small or higher) to avoid memory pressure during PDF conversion.

Step 5: Review the Permissions screen and click Next to continue.

Step 6: Review the Application Options screen and click Next to continue.

Step 7: On the Review screen, verify the configuration summary and click Deploy to deploy the sample to AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

Step 8: Wait for the environment status to change from Updating to Environment is healthy, then click the Environment URL displayed at the top of the dashboard.

NOTE

If the status remains Updating or transitions to Severe/Degraded, open the Logs link on the environment dashboard to view the deployment and application logs. The first deployment may take several minutes.

Step 9: After opening the provided URL, click the Convert Word to PDF button to download the PDF document.

When the conversion is complete, the PDF document is downloaded by the browser as shown below.

Related links

You can download a complete working sample from GitHub.

Looking for the full .NET Word Library overview, features, pricing, and documentation? Visit the .NET Word Library page.