Conversion Service licensing

Learn how to activate and configure license keys for the Conversion Service.

This page includes details about one of the Pdftools products. For a general overview of different licenses of Pdftools products, see Licenses of Pdftools products.

Request trial or full license

It's necessary to have a license key to try or fully use the Conversion Service. To get the Conversion Service installer and evaluation or full license key:

1. Reach out to the sales team through the Contact page and mark the Conversion Service as the product of your interest for a trial license.

Find the Conversion Service license key

To find and copy a license key:

1. Log in to My PDF Tools Portal.
2. Click Licenses & Kits.
3. Click Conversion Service.
4. In the License section, click the LICENSE button to reveal the license key, and then click COPY.

Add or remove a license key

If you are running the Conversion Service on Windows systems, add or remove a license key in your Conversion Service license by the following steps:

1. In the Conversion Service Configurator, click the License tab.
2. Paste the license key into the Key field and click Add.

Review the following links for information about the Conversion Service license key management in Docker:

• For stand-alone Docker containers, review Manage license keys documentation.
• For Docker Compose containers, review Configure containers using Docker Compose documentation.

The Conversion Service uses the Licensing Gateway Service (LGS) to validate the license keys. The LGS is preinstalled with the Conversion Service and requires an internet connection to validate the license keys. Read the Licensing Gateway Service section for more information.

Licensing credit count

The Conversion Service charges license credits for every successfully converted document page. These credits also apply to attached and embedded documents. Processing a PDF/A page costs one extra credit.

Workflow	Credits per page
Conversion	1
Archive PDF/A-2	2
Archive PDF/A-3	2
Archive PDF/A-1	2
Dossier	1/2*
Invoice	2

Dossier credits

The number of credits calculated for the Dossier Workflow depends on the selected Preprocessing Workflow. Two credits per page are charged if you choose the Archive Workflow for preprocessing. If no preprocessing or the Conversion Workflow is used for preprocessing, one credit is charged.

Remaining credit count

Contact the Pdftools sales team through the Contact page to get information about the remaining credit count.

Licensing Gateway Service

In the background, the Conversion Service uses the Licensing Gateway Service (LGS) to activate and use a license key or to report the number of used credits to Pdftools. The LGS connects to the Pdftools Licensing Service to validate the installed license key and transmit the number of processed pages. Since version 4.7 of the Conversion Service, the LGS is installed locally with the Conversion Service on Microsoft Windows systems.

To configure the firewall service correctly, note that the LGS connects through port 443 (SSL) to the Pdftools Licensing Service hosted at https://licensing.pdf-tools.com/.

Privacy

Pdftools does not receive information about documents and data processed by the Conversion Service other than the hostname and the number of processed pages. At Pdftools, we highly value our customers' privacy.

Internet access

The LGS requires an internet connection. The Conversion Service uses LGS to add or remove a license key, or to report the number of used credits to Pdftools.

If you lose the internet connection, the license key remains active for:

• Seven days - Professional and Business plan
• 30 days - Enterprise plan

You are prompted with a configuration error if the gateway refuses to consume credits due to an invalid license or lack of internet connection. Details about the error are in the Conversion Service log. For more information, see the Troubleshooting section.

Fully offline access

Contact the Pdftools Customer Success team to discuss fully offline access to the Conversion Service. This option is available for the Enterprise plan users.

Manage multiple Conversion Service installations

All your Conversion Service instances can use the same license key activated in one LGS. You can use the same LGS as the one that is preinstalled by default with the Conversion Service, or you can install the LGS separately without the Conversion Service. The system that sends the usage data must have an internet connection. In a nutshell, to have multiple systems running the Conversion Service using a single license key:

• Change the LGS address to the address of a system that sends the usage data.
• The system that sends usage data needs to maintain an internet connection.
  • This system needs to have the LGS installed.
    You can install the LGS:
    • Automatically with the Conversion Service.
    • Separately without the Conversion Service.

For example, there are computers A, B, and C in the local network. Computers B and C send usage data to computer A. A then sends data to Pdftools. To create this setup:

• Computer A needs to have the LGS installed and configured.
• Computers B and C need to have the local network address of A added in the Conversion Service Configurator.

Multiple license keys

It is possible but not required to activate different instances with multiple license keys. Multiple license keys can be issued under specific circumstances. When Windows and Docker-based Conversion Service is running simultaneously, or if you use an older licensing model based on a number of cores. For more details, see the Legacy core-based license key section.

For specific steps, configure the LGS as described in the following Prerequisites and Change the Licensing Gateway Service address in the Conversion Service sections.

Prerequisites

Ensure you have an LGS set up and that your license key is activated. If you choose to install the LGS separately without the Conversion Service, make sure that this system has an internet connection to communicate with the Pdftools Licensing Service. For detailed instructions on how to install and interact with the LGS, review Install the LGS.

Change the Licensing Gateway Service address in the Conversion Service

For each Conversion Service instance, add the address of the system that hosts the Licensing Gateway Service (LGS), which also maintains the internet connection with Pdftools.

note

If you activated a license key before, you must remove it first. To remove the license key:

1. In the Conversion Service Configurator, go to the License tab.
2. Copy the license key from the Key field.
3. Click Remove, and then OK.

Configure the LGS address by the following steps:

1. In the Conversion Service Configurator, go to the License tab.

   

2. In Configuration, change the License Gateway Address field to the specific computer address in your network that has LGS installed.

3. Click Save or Save & Restart.

4. Paste the license key to the Key field, and then click Add.

Legacy core-based license key

License keys issued before September 2023 use a core-based license. With a core-based license, you can manage the license keys with the legacy License Manager application. There are different options depending on the version of the Conversion Service:

• Conversion Service version 4.6 or earlier: Use the legacy License Manager to activate and deactivate core-based license keys.
• Conversion Service version 4.7 or higher: You can use both the License tab in the Conversion Service Configurator for the usage-based licensing model or the legacy Licensing Manager to activate and deactivate core-based license keys.
• Conversion Service version 5.2 or higher: You can use only the License tab in the Conversion Service Configurator for the usage-based licensing model to activate, update, or deactivate core-based license keys.

Offline usage for legacy core-based licenses

The following actions require internet access:

• License key activation
• License key update
• License key deactivation

See the next sections for more information about offline license key activation, update, and deactivation for the legacy core-based licenses.

Offline license key activation

To activate a license key without internet access:

1. In the Conversion Service Configurator, select the License tab.
2. Paste your license key in the Key field, and then click Add.
3. If you are offline, a window appears with a prompt: You're offline. Follow the steps to activate a license key offline:
4. Follow the steps as documented within the Conversion Service Configurator.

Offline license key update

To update a license key without internet access:

1. In the Conversion Service Configurator, select the License tab.
2. Click Update.
3. If you are offline, a window appears with a prompt: You're offline. Follow the steps to activate a license key offline:
4. Follow the steps as documented within the Conversion Service Configurator.

Offline license key deactivation

To deactivate a license key without internet access:

1. In the Conversion Service Configurator, select the License tab.
2. Click Remove.
3. If you are offline, a window appears with a prompt: You're offline. Follow the steps to activate a license key offline:
4. Follow the steps as documented within the Conversion Service Configurator.

Troubleshooting

You may encounter problems when adding or using a license. See the following sections for the most common errors.

Configuration errors

During configuration, you can encounter warnings and errors inside the Conversion Service Configurator. These errors and warnings can also prompt you with a resolution of your issue.

Unable to add license key / License key could not be removed

To add and remove a page-based license key, the License Gateway requires an internet connection.

Activation Failed / License key could not be deactivated

Most core-based licenses must be activated before they can be used and deactivated before they can be removed. The activation and deactivation process requires an internet connection. If your system is running offline, review the Offline usage documentation.

License validation or consumption errors

Some of the warnings and errors that can be encountered during regular use of the service.

License consumption failed (InvalidConfiguration)

There was an error in the consumption of the license credits. There are several possible reasons for such an error. Use the Conversion Service Configurator to view the current license status and if there are any errors.

Service not available due to a license issue

The validation of the current license failed. Please use the Conversion Service Configurator to view the current license status.