Deployment options for WebViewer

There are three main options for deploying WebViewer.

Client only

Using the client only mode allows you to view, edit, and manipulate PDF and Office documents directly in the client without a conversion step on a server. WebViewer takes advantage of the latest browser technologies (like WebAssembly) to render and manipulate documents completely on the client side.

Since no work is being done on a server, this allows you to easily scale up the number of concurrent users without paying for more servers. The trade off is that performance is dependent on a user's local machine and a limited set of filetypes can be viewed.

Recommended for	Not recommended for
Scaling WebViewer to multiple users without additional servers Viewing most common document formats	Rendering more large and/or complex documents Supporting lower-powered browsers/devices

This option is recommended if you are looking to process documents directly in a modern browser and/or rendering PDF, PNG, JPG, or Office documents.

Please check out our usage guide to get started!

Full API

The full API is also available on the client side and includes all of the native API functions. This API can be used to process documents outside of the viewer as seen in these samples.

To enable this API when using the viewer pass in the fullAPI option to the WebViewer constructor. For example:

WebViewer({
  licenseKey: 'YOUR_LICENSE_KEY',
  initialDoc: 'YOUR_FILE.pdf',
  fullAPI: true
}, viewerElement);

The reason this option needs to be specified is because the scripts required to be downloaded for the full API are ~2-3 times larger than what is required for the viewer only. If you only want to view PDF documents and won't take advantage of the other Apryse functions then you shouldn't pass the fullAPI option.

See more information about the full API for WebViewer.

WebViewer Server (Docker container)

WebViewer Server is an optional, easy drop-in backend for WebViewer that offers responsive viewing and compatibility across all client platforms (including mobile), along with scaling performance that approaches purely client-side solutions. It works hand-in-hand with WebViewer on the client, initially serving images then transitioning to client-side rendering. You can quickly get it set up and running in seconds with our Docker Compose script.

See the WebViewer Server guide for more information.

Recommended for	Not recommended for
Adding quick, easy support for various browsers/devices Rendering large and/or complex files Viewing a wider variety of file formats	Deploying with limited hardware resources Managing additional servers/networks

This option is recommended if you are targeting Internet Explorer or mobile devices, or if you need to support more file formats than client only supports.

Custom server

You can also choose to configure your own server and not use our packaged backend. This offers flexibility and control, allowing you to preprocess documents prior to loading them in WebViewer. You create a server that converts your documents into a web optimized XPS file, called XOD, and provide them to WebViewer. By converting a wide range of document formats to XOD, WebViewer is able to deliver consistent results in viewing different document types.

See custom server guide for more information.

Recommended for	Not recommended for
Customizing document processing flows Introducing additional formats with third party libraries	Managing additional custom code Working with limited file format knowledge

This approach offers similar benefits to WebViewer Server in terms of performance and file format support, with more flexibility in terms of document processing on the server side.

Comparison

Browsers

Note that although client only mode runs in Internet Explorer and mobile devices it is generally only recommended for modern browsers and more powerful devices.

WebViewer supports the last 3 major versions of each browser, in line with industry standard. This keeps compatibility predictable without requiring ongoing maintenance of this page.

Browser	Client only	WebViewer Server	Custom server
Chrome	✓	✓	✓
Firefox	✓	✓	✓
Safari	✓	✓	✓
Edge	✓	✓	✓
Android Chrome	✓	✓	✓

What "last 3 major versions" means: As browsers release new versions, support automatically shifts forward. This matches the policy used by most major platforms and frameworks — no manual updates to this page are required.

Changed in WebViewer version 12.0: We previously listed specific minimum version numbers per browser. That table has been replaced with the last-3-versions policy above. If you were relying on an older browser version, please review your compatibility requirements.

File formats

PDF

Format	Client only	WebViewer Server	Custom Server
PDF (1.x to 2.0)	✓	✓	✓
PDF/A 1,2,3	✓	✓	✓
XFDF	✓	✓	✓
FDF	✓	✓	✓

Office

Requires Office Conversion Add-on

Format	Client only	WebViewer Server	Custom Server
DOC, DOCX, DOCM	✓	✓	✓
DOT, DOTX, DOTM	✓	✓	✓
XLS, XLSX, XLSM	✓	✓	✓
XLSB		✓	✓
XLT	✓	✓	✓
XLTX		✓	✓
XLTM		✓	✓
PPT, PPTX, PPTM	✓	✓	✓
POT	✓	✓	✓
POTX, POTM		✓	✓
PPS	✓	✓	✓
PPSX, PPSM		✓	✓
VSD		✓
VSDX		✓
PUB		✓	Windows + Office*

* Custom Server PUB are only supported via Office Interop (MS Office instance needs to be installed)

CAD

Requires CAD Conversion Add-on

Format	Client only	WebViewer Server	Custom Server
DWG		✓	✓
DWF		✓	✓
DXF		✓	✓
DGN		✓	✓
RVT		✓*	✓*

* RVT is only supported on Windows

Images

Format	Client only	WebViewer Server	Custom Server
JPG	✓	✓	✓
PNG	✓	✓	✓
JFIF	✓	✓	✓
TIF	✓*	✓	✓

* See here for how to view tiff files on the client side

Format	Client only	WebViewer Server	Custom Server
SVG		✓	✓
BMP		✓	✓
WMF		✓
EMF		✓	✓
GIF		✓	✓
JP2, JPC		✓	✓

Requires Basic Conversion Add-on.

Format	Client only	WebViewer Server	Custom Server
AAI		✓*	✓*
ARW		✓*	✓*
CR2		✓*	✓*
CRW		✓*	✓*
CUR, ICO		✓*	✓*
DCM (DICOM)		✓*	✓*
DCR		✓*	✓*
DDS		✓*	✓*
HEIC, HEIF		✓*	✓*
MRW		✓*	✓*
NEF		✓*	✓*
ORF		✓*	✓*
PICT		✓*	✓*
PFM		✓*	✓*
PSB, PSD		✓*	✓*
RAF		✓*	✓*

* Using the Apryse Advanced imaging module

Other

All formats listed in the table require Basic Conversion add-on with the exception of MSG and EML; MSG and EML require Office Conversion.

Format	Client only	WebViewer Server	Custom Server
RTF		✓^^	✓
ODT			Windows Only
ODS			Windows Only
ODP			Windows Only
HTML		✓	✓
MSG		✓^^	✓^
EML		✓^^	✓^
TXT		✓	✓
CSV		✓	✓
XPS			✓
XOD*			✓
XAML			Using .NET

* XOD is available on all platforms but viewing encrypted XOD is only supported for Web

^ Most MSG and EML conversions require the HTML2PDF module to be installed. No HTML2PDF license is required for the conversions.

^^ For clients with Office Conversion licensed, we recommend setting TRN_USE_OFFICE_CONVERSION to true for improved results using Apryse proprietary developed technology

Features

	Client only	WebViewer Server	Custom server
Viewing	✓	✓	✓
Search	✓	✓	✓
UI Customization	✓	✓	✓
Annotate	✓	✓	✓
Forms	✓	✓	✓
e-Signature	✓	✓	✓
Rasterization and Printing	✓	✓	✓
Content Extraction	✓		✓
Document Creation	✓		✓
Page Manipulation	✓		✓
Document Compare	✓	✓	✓
PDF Layers (OCGs)	✓		✓
Color Separation	✓		✓
Digital Signatures	✓		✓
Low-level Document Editing	✓		✓
Bookmarks	✓	✓	✓
Content Replacer	✓		✓
Security	✓	✓	✓
Office to PDF Conversion	✓	✓	✓
CAD Conversion		✓	✓
Redaction	✓	✓	✓
PDF/A Generation	✓		✓
Optimizer	✓		✓
Flattener	✓		✓