Recently, Stirling PDF, a self-hosted PDF solution, has caught global interest. This open-source application addresses the demand for robust PDF functionalities with the locally hosted deployment. In this guide, we'll simply introduce Stirling PDF and tell you how to deploy Stirling PDF with Docker to integrate PDF features.
What Is Stirling PDF?
Stirling PDF is a powerful, locally hosted, web-based, Docker-powered PDF manipulation platform. Originally powered by ChatGPT, it has since evolved to provide a comprehensive set of features. These span from fundamental operations such as merging and splitting PDFs to more sophisticated capabilities, including compression, OCR, and conversions.
What PDF Functions Stirling PDF Offer?
Stirling PDF’s official website shows the comprehensive PDF functions it supports. And the Read.me of Stirling PDF on GitHub lists all the features it provides, you can get further information from it.
In this post, we will focus on how to integrate PDF conversion by deploying Stirling PDF. Here are the conversion-related features Stirling PDF could provide.
- Convert PDFs to and from images.
- Convert any common file to PDF (using LibreOffice).
- Convert PDF to Word/Powerpoint/Others (using LibreOffice).
- Convert HTML to PDF.
- URL to PDF.
- Markdown to PDF.
Explore ComPDFKit PDF library on GitHub, enjoying multiple advanced PDF features on iOS, Android, Windows, and the Web, including converting PDF to/from Office files, JSON, and more.
Plan for Practice
Local Environment
This practice is a personal test environment. The operating system version is Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS and the Docker version is 20.10.25.
| Operating System Version | Docker Version |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS | 20.10.25 |
Introduction to This Practice
1. The deployment environment of this practice is a personal testing environment; please be careful if you are in a production environment.
2. In the Docker environment, deploy multifunctional tools Stirling-PDF.
Check Local Environment
• Check Service Status of Docker
Check if the Docker service is running properly to make sure that it works well.
• Check the Version of Docker
• Download the Mirror Image of Stirling-PDF
Download the mirror image Stirling-PDF at docker hub.
Deploy Stirling-PDF
• Create Stirling-PDF Container
Quickly create a Stirling-PDF container using docker-cli. And we set the port to 7896, which means that the access address will be ip:7896.
• Check the Status of Stirling-PDF Container
Check the status of the Stirling PDF container and make sure that it works properly.
• Check the Logs of Stirling-PDF Container
• Access the Home Page of Stirling-PDF
Visit http://your own server IP address:port/ to access the home page of Stirling PDF.
The Effect of Stirling PDF Conversion
We convert a text-only file to and from PDF format to display the effect of Stirling PDF conversion. And you can get a free license of ComPDFKit to conduct a thorough comparison.
• Convert Word to PDF
Step 1: Click on the Convert module in the menu bar and select the "Convert file to PDF" option.
Step 2: Select a Word document and click Convert to PDF.
Step 3: After successful conversion, the converted file will be automatically downloaded locally.
Step 4: Open it to see the effect.
- Original Word Document
- Converted File in PDF Format
• Convert PDF to Word
Then, we decided to upload the PDF file which has just been converted to see how it performs.
Step 1: Click on the Convert module in the menu bar and select the "PDF to Word" option.
Step 2: Select the PDF file, choose the output file format we need, and click Convert.
Step 3: After successful conversion, the converted file will be automatically downloaded locally.
Step 4: Open it to see the effect.
- Converted File in Word Format
Obviously, converting from Word to PDF yields superior results compared to converting from PDF to Word. If you need to convert other formats and test the effect, try to follow the above steps to deploy Stirling PDF on your server.
Conclusion
Stirling PDF is absolutely a wonderful open-source tool for PDF conversion, offering a reliable solution for various tasks. However, it has limited platform support and features so far. If you have a need for comprehensive and advanced PDF features, it recommends you give ComPDFKit Processor a shot.
ComPDFKit Processor, also a self-hosted deployment, boasts a continuously updated iteration, ensuring users have access to the latest advancements and improvements. We not only cater to web applications but also extend support to Linux, Windows, Mac, and more platforms. This wider range of compatibility makes ComPDFKit a versatile choice for users with diverse needs. Moreover, ComPDFKit Processor is backed by professional and timely technical support, providing users with the assurance of assistance whenever they encounter challenges or require guidance.
Don't hesitate! Contact us to get a free trial to start your experiment. Or try our online tools to convert files in your browser!
