Definition. Offline document conversion means the file is read, converted, or rendered on the machine where it already is, without being uploaded to a third-party service. Most conversion services work the other way — upload, wait, download. OfficeAPI takes the offline approach on 6 operating systems.
Which two deployment shapes does OfficeAPI support?
On the device. OfficeAPI runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, and HarmonyOS, so a desktop or mobile application can convert and preview documents locally. A user on a plane, a clinician on a locked-down network, or a field worker with intermittent connectivity all get the same result.
In your cloud. The same engine runs on servers you operate. Link it into your service as a dynamic library or start it as a process; either way the documents stay inside your infrastructure.
| On the device | In your cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Where files are processed | User's machine | Your servers |
| Platforms | All 6 | Linux and Windows servers |
| Integration | Dynamic library (5 named languages) or process | Dynamic library or process |
| Network to OfficeAPI | None | None |
What does offline change?
- Data boundary. There is no hosted upload step, so your existing storage, permissions, and audit model remain the only ones that matter.
- Availability. Conversion and preview do not depend on an external service being reachable.
- Deployment. OfficeAPI has zero dependencies. You do not install an office suite or a rendering service next to it.
- Coverage. All 42 conversion pairs and 32 preview extensions are available offline.
How do you choose where to run it?
- If the document already lives on the device and the user needs the result immediately, run on the device.
- If documents are stored centrally or the work is part of a server-side pipeline, run in your cloud.
- If you need both, use both. It is one engine, so you do not maintain two integrations.
Frequently asked questions
Does OfficeAPI have a hosted API as an alternative?
No. OfficeAPI runs where you deploy it; there is no OfficeAPI-hosted service.
Can it run in a network without internet access?
Yes. The engine does not need network access to convert or preview.
Is the cloud shape less private than the device shape?
Both keep the file inside a boundary you control. The difference is whose machine does the work — the user's device or your servers.