System and method for converting an electronically stored document

An automated method of converting an electronically stored document, the method comprising:

• receiving from a client a uniform resource locator (URL) which includes a reference to an original document created by a document-authoring application;
• receiving a request to convert the original document;
• retrieving the original document;
• determining a storage format of the original document;
• identifying a first module configured to convert a document from the storage format, wherein the first module comprises an application programming interface (API) of the document authoring application;
• invoking the first module through the API of the document-authoring application to convert the original document into a set of files;
• wherein using the API of the document-authoring application to invoke the first module allows the presentation format to be preserved while converting the original document into the set of files;
• from the set of files, producing a converted document, wherein said converted document preserves the presentation format of the original document, and wherein the converted document is browser neutral;
• storing said converted document;
• returning a reference to said converted document in response to the request;
• and
• sending to the client a browser-readable file based on said converted document.

A document conversion system comprising:

• an application server configured to:
• receive from a client a uniform resource locator (URL) which includes a reference to a first document created by a document-authoring application;
• and
• receive a request to convert the first document having a first storage format and a first presentation format into a second document having a second storage format and the first presentation format;
• a document converter, comprising:
• a first conversion module configured to convert the first storage format while preserving the first presentation format, wherein the first module comprises an application programming interface (API) of the document authoring application;
• and
• a conversion engine configured to initiate conversion of the first document, by the first conversion module, from the first storage format into the second storage format, wherein the second storage format is browser neutral;
• a database configured to store the second document;
• and
• wherein the application server is further configured to send to the client a browser-readable file based on the second storage format, and
• wherein using the API of the document-authoring application to initiate conversion allows the first presentation format to be preserved while converting the storage format of the first document from the first storage format to the second storage format.

A document converter, comprising:

• a server configured to:
• receive from a client a uniform resource locator (URL) which includes a reference to a first document created by a document-authoring application;
• and
• receive a request to convert the first document having a first storage format and a first presentation format;
• a first module configured to convert the first document into a set of files having a second storage format, while maintaining the first presentation format, wherein the second storage format is browser neutral and wherein the first module comprises an application programming interface (API) of the document authoring application;
• wherein the first module can be invoked through the API of the document-authoring application;
• a conversion engine configured to produce, from the set of files, a final document in a final storage format;
• and
• an interface to a database, wherein the database is configured to store the final document;
• wherein the server is further configured to send to the client a browser-readable file based on the second storage format, and
• wherein using the API of the document-authoring application to invoke the first module allows the first presentation format to be preserved while converting the first document into the set of files having the second storage format.