Can I convert Office files to XOD/PDF using Microsoft Word Viewer?

[Aaron]

Q:

I'm using a very old version of Windows.  I know that recent versions of Windows include a version of WordPad.exe which the Convert Add-On can use to convert Word files to XOD/PDF (https://groups.google.com/d/msg/pdfnet-sdk/vs2TznaDQhw/jlK3ZUIqD7UJ), but this version of Windows I'm using doesn't have a WordPad capable of this.

I'd like to use Microsoft Word Viewer to perform the conversion instead.  Is that possible?

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A:

Our customers have, in the past, used Microsoft Word Viewer for document conversion (http://goo.gl/7RVy49).  This was possible because Microsoft Word Viewer supported a "/p" switch to allow command-line printing (http://goo.gl/LdqmX9).  

Looking at the versions available from the link you provided, it appears that this version of Microsoft Word Viewer does not support the "/p" switch for command-line printing.  Thus it is unclear how to associate Microsoft Word Viewer with the "print" verb (which is required when converting using the printer driver instead of Office Interop).

Other customers have used OpenOffice as well.  (As long as the program supports command-line printing that can be added as the file type's "print" verb, you can use that program to convert files to XOD/PDF.)  However, our own investigation has shown that converting through Microsoft Office, using Office Interop, is the best option in terms of fidelity and reliability.

Advisable options for your scenario would include run conversion on a machine with a recent version of WordPad; another advisable option would be installing Microsoft Office on your current machine and driving conversion through Office Interop.