Convert Microsoft Office files to PDF with Nutrient Document Web Services API on Zapier

What is Zapier?

Zapier is an automation platform that connects your favorite apps and services with no code required. You can build “Zaps” to automate repetitive tasks by setting up triggers and actions between apps like Google Drive, Slack, Gmail, and more.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use Zapier to automatically convert Microsoft Office files to PDFs using the Nutrient API.

What is the Nutrient API?

Nutrient Document Web Services API is a powerful platform for document automation. With your free account, you get 100 credits, which you can use to perform various document operations. Each tool (e.g. conversion, signing, flattening) consumes a different amount of credits depending on complexity.

Nutrient offers more than 30 tools with the ability to:

• Convert images and documents to PDF

• Merge, split, or reorder pages

• Add digital signatures, watermarks, or annotations

• Run OCR, redact, flatten, and more

All you need is an API key from a free account to get started. You can chain these tools together in Zapier to build powerful, automated PDF workflows.

What you’ll need

• A Zapier account (a pro plan is necessary for multi-step Zaps)

• A Google Drive account

• A supported Office document (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, DOC, PPT, XLS, RTF, or ODT) uploaded to a Google Drive folder

• A Nutrient Document Web Services API key — sign up here

Step 1 — Trigger a new file in a Google Drive folder

1. Select Google Drive as the trigger app.

2. Choose the New File in Folder trigger event.

3. Connect your Google Drive account.

4. Configure the trigger:

• In the Drive field, select your Google Drive.

• In the Folder field, select or create a folder (e.g. office-to-pdf).

• Ensure that the option for Include Deleted Files? is set to Only return non-deleted files.

5. Test the trigger by selecting a sample DOCX or PPTX file from the folder to confirm it’s being pulled into the Zap correctly. You can use our sample file for testing this step.

Step 2 — Convert Office file to PDF (Nutrient API)

1. Select Nutrient Document Web Services API as the action app.

2. Choose the Convert Microsoft Office File to PDF action.

3. Connect your Nutrient API account with your API key.

You can find your API key in the Nutrient dashboard.

4. Fill out the action fields:

• Microsoft Office File URL — Use the file from step 1 (Google Drive trigger).

• Output File Name — Optional (e.g. converted_presentation.pdf).

5. Test the step to confirm the Office file is successfully converted to PDF.

Step 3 — Upload the PDF to Google Drive

1. Add a new step by selecting Google Drive as the app and Upload File as the action event. Connect your Google Drive account if needed.

2. Select your drive and the folder where the converted PDF should be saved. In the File field, use the output from the Nutrient API step. Optionally, set a custom file name or extension to keep things consistent and organized.

3. Test the Zap to confirm that the converted PDF is uploaded to your target folder.

Conclusion

With this Zap, you’ve automated the process of converting Microsoft Office documents into standardized PDF files using the Nutrient API. This flow is great for document delivery, archiving, or simplifying file formats across your workflows. You can build on this flow by chaining it with other tools like flattening, signing, or merging PDFs.