We are happy to announce that Integromat is now integrated with the CloudConvert API v2. With Integromat, you can link CloudConvert to hundreds of other services to build any custom integration.

Thanks to the handy Integromat scenario builder you can drag and drop your desired apps together to create powerful workflows, without writing any code. 

Some possible example scenarios are:

• Automatically convert files from Google Drive in CloudConvert and upload the output to Google Drive.
• Create an Archive in CloudConvert with files imported from URLs stored in Google Sheets.
• Send a notification to Google Chrome about a new job in CloudConvert.

The integration is available as public Beta. If you have feedback don't hesitate to get in touch with the support.

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We have partnered with PDF Tools from Switzerland to rework the Compress PDF feature. We are now able to significantly reduce the file size while maintaining target quality. Therefore, we provides various optimization profiles to create PDF documents for specific target needs: web, printing, archiving, scanned documents and a profile for maximal size reduction. You can read more about these profiles here.

As usual, the optimize PDF feature is also available via API v1 and API v2.

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For over a year now, we have been actively working on the CloudConvert API v2. Today, we finally release the preview of API v2 for public testing.

How is v2 different from v1?

Under the hood, v2 is a complete rewrite. We did some architectural changes which allow us to scale more efficient and to be more flexible for future extensions.

Jobs & Tasks

API v2 introduces Jobs. Each Job consists of at least one Task. For example: The first task of a job could be importing the file from a S3 bucket. The second task could be converting this file to a different format and the final task of the job could be exporting the file again to a S3 bucket. A single job can process multiple files and it is possible to do multiple operations with the same set of files. This often requested feature will help to increase the flexibility of using our API.

Engines & Engine Versions

For some tasks, there are multiple engines available. For example, it is possible to convert DOCX files with the Office engine or the LibreOffice engine. The available options differ based on the used engine. Also, you can set an engine version to use. For example, you can set a fixed LibreOffice version to use which makes sure that this version is used, even if we update the default version of LibreOffice. There is an API for each task type available that shows the available engines, versions and their options.

Custom Commands

With API v2 you can execute arbitrary FFMPEG, Imagemagick and Graphicsmagick commands. It is now also supported to use commands with multiple input files.

Authentication

You can now create multiple API keys with different scopes. This allows fine granular access control. We have implemented an OAuth 2.0 server and it is possible to perform requests in behalf of clients, without asking for API keys.

Sandbox API

The Sandbox API is a playground for development purposes and integration tests. It allows unlimited requests at no charge but with a fixed set of whitelisted input files only (via MD5 checksum).

There is much more that has changed. Check out the docs of API v2!

Whats next?

The API v2 is now available as "preview". This means the API v2 is not feature complete and there are still bugs. Please do not use v2 in production yet - we might need to temporary take it down or change endpoints without prior notice. However, we encourage you to try out API v2 and we would like to get your feedback! Is there something about API v1 you would like to get changed in v2? Now is the right time to tell us!

In the coming weeks we will update the official SDKs for v2 compatibility. The release of API v2 is planed later this year.

With the release of API v2 we will continue support of API v1 for at least two more years.

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The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the new legal framework of data protection across the EU. Starting 25th May 2018 it will be enforceable. This post clarifies how CloudConvert complies with the GDPR and what our customers can do to be compliant.

In the terms of the GDPR, CloudConvert takes two different roles: CloudConvert is classed as data controller, if it provides services to end customers and directly collects or processes personal data. CloudConvert is classed as processor, if it processes data on behalf of a data controller (typically a customer of CloudConvert).

CloudConvert as data controller

This is typically the case when CloudConvert collects your name, email address and address for managing accounts and for billing. Also, it applies when you use the CloudConvert service as end customer and upload files, which contain personal data. CloudConvert has already updated its privacy policy to explain in more detail which data we collect and share. In the coming weeks, there will be some more updates of our privacy policy.

In short, we do collect:

• Your IP address and times of access
• Name, email address and photo if you create an account
• Billing address and payment information if you buy a package or if you subscribe

We do share:

• Your billing address and payment information with our payment provider Stripe
• Your IP address, time of access, browser agent, and referrer with Google Analytics

CloudConvert commits to:

• Not to mine or collect any data from your uploaded files
• No sharing or copying of your uploaded files
• Irreversible deletion of your uploaded files within 24 hours (or immediately, if you manually use the delete button)

For details, please read our updated privacy policy.

CloudConvert as processor

If you are an organisation and use CloudConvert to process your customers files, we are typically acting as processor. This is the case if you collect personal data and send them to us for conversion, for example via our API.

As a processor, CloudConvert commits to:

• Processing provided personal data solely in accordance with your instructions. CloudConvert will never process or share your data for any other purposes.
• Keeping your data inside the EU.
• Applying strict security standards to provide a high level of security.
• Implementing technical and organizational measures in accordance to Art. 32 GDPR.
• Reporting any data breach to you without “undue delay”.
• Solely using subcontractors that comply with the GDPR and have signed appropriate contractual agreements.
• Helping you meet your own regulatory obligations, by providing you with adequate documentation of our services.

In accordance to Art. 28 GDPR it is possible to sign a data processing agreement with us. This binds us legally to the proper processing of data in accordance to the GDPR. Therefore, contact us.

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The CloudConvert website / HTML to PDF, JPG and PNG converter is often used to generate PDF files or thumbnails.  Currently, we are using a proven, WebKit-based engine. However, there are use cases that require an even more modern rendering. We are currently experimenting  with automating the Chrome browser for this matter.

There is a new option available to enable Chrome for converting HTML files or websites. This option is named "use_chrome" when using our API.

Please note that currently not all of the pre-existing options are available when using Chrome instead of the current engine. The possible options are:

When converting to PDF:

• Page orientation
• Custom page size (defaults to A4)
• Page margins
• Zoom factor

When converting to JPG/PNG:

• Screen width (defaults to 1024)
• Screen height (defaults to fir the content height)
• Zoom factor
• Resize to specific size

We are looking forward to get your feedback about this new feature. In particular we are interested if there are any formatting issues or if there are required options missing.

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AWS Lambda is an event-driven compute service which runs your code (Lambda functions) in response to events, such as changes to data in an Amazon S3 bucket. The CloudConvert API can be used to automatically convert all files, added to a specific S3 bucket. Typical use cases are converting all office documents to PDF, creating thumbnails or encoding videos.

We have created a GitHub repository with an example Lambda function. To get it running, follow these instructions:

• Download / Fork the repository
• Run npm install
• Adjust convert.js according to your needs:
• Set CLUDCONVERT_API_KEY to your personal API key.
• Set AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY for downloading and uploading from/to your S3 bucket.
• Adjust the conversion paramaters, such as outputformat according to your need. All possible options can be identified using the API Console.
• Create a ZIP file which contains convert.js and the node_modules folder.
• In the AWS Console create a new Lambda function. Select Blank Function blueprint.
• Select S3 trigger and your bucket. Set Event Type to PUT. Adjust Prefix and Suffix to trigger for specific files only.

• Choose a name for your Lambda function and use Node.js 4.3  as Runtime. Upload your previously created ZIP file as Lambda function. The Handler name needs to be convert.handler. The lambda function does not need any specific permissions: you can create a new empty role.

• A timeout value of 10 seconds should be sufficient. Please note that the lambda function only triggers the actual conversion and terminates as soon as the conversion was started. Therefore the timeout does not affect the time needed for the actual conversion.
• Done! You can test your Lambda function by adding a new file to your S3 bucket.

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