ForHosting KIT · Documents & PDF

Convert Excel to PDF

A spreadsheet is built for editing, not for reading on one screen — columns run off the page, sheets go unprinted, formulas mean nothing to someone outside the file. This endpoint takes an XLSX and lays it out as a proper paginated PDF, the way it would look coming out of a printer.

● StablePer request + per page$0.052

Run — $0.052 + $0.003/page How it works & API

Use it from WebAPIEmailApp soonTelegram soon

Run it online

Run this on our servers with your account. Free tools run in your browser; this one bills your KIT balance per the price above.

The problem with sharing a live workbook

Excel files are wide, multi-sheet, and formula-driven, which is perfect for the person building the model and terrible for the person who just needs to read the numbers. Column widths that make sense on a 32-inch monitor spill across three printed pages. Send a raw XLSX to a client or auditor and you're also handing over your formulas, your named ranges, sometimes stray data on hidden sheets you forgot were there.

Who this is for

Finance teams closing monthly statements, sales operations sending quote sheets to customers, auditors who need a fixed snapshot of a ledger at a point in time, anyone whose spreadsheet's real audience is a person reading a printed or archived page rather than another spreadsheet user. Wherever Excel is the source of truth but PDF is what actually gets read, this fills that gap.

What the conversion does

Post the XLSX, get a task_id back immediately, and the job renders each sheet with print areas, column widths and page breaks respected, so numbers land in readable pages instead of one unbroken ribbon. Multi-sheet workbooks come through as a multi-page PDF in sheet order, ready to file or forward.

Where it sits in an automated flow

Because it's asynchronous and billed per page only on success, it suits scheduled jobs well: a nightly export pulls figures into an XLSX template, this endpoint turns it into the PDF that lands in an inbox or a document store by morning, with the webhook confirming delivery rather than a script polling for it.

A note on the formats involved

XLSX is the Office Open XML spreadsheet format Microsoft introduced in 2007, an open, zipped XML container that replaced the older binary .xls. PDF has stayed a stable, printable target for three decades precisely because it captures layout rather than data — which is why turning a working spreadsheet into a PDF is a one-way trip toward something meant to be read, not recalculated.

What you can do with it

Monthly financial statements

A finance team closes the books in a workbook, then converts the final version to PDF for the archive and for the board packet.

Client-facing quotes

Sales builds a pricing sheet in Excel and converts it to PDF before sending, so the customer sees numbers, not formulas.

Audit snapshots

An auditor needs a dated, unchangeable record of a ledger; converting it to PDF fixes that moment in time.

Printed inventory reports

A warehouse system exports stock counts to XLSX nightly and converts them to a paginated PDF for the morning printout.

FAQ

Is the Excel to PDF API live yet?

It's in deployment and will be available shortly; the endpoint and pricing described here are final.

What does it cost?

$0.052 per request plus $0.003 per page, published and predictable regardless of how large the workbook is.

Does it handle multiple sheets?

Yes, a multi-sheet workbook converts into a multi-page PDF, with each sheet's print area and page breaks respected.

Will wide columns get cut off?

The conversion follows the print area and page setup defined in the sheet, so set your print area in Excel first for predictable pagination.

Is there a free way to test it?

There's no free tier — free tiers get abused and slow everyone down. Access runs on a prepaid ForHosting KIT balance: top up from $10.00 (it never expires) and each request is charged at its published price, so a call with no balance returns HTTP 402. No subscription, no tokens, no invented credits, and a failed task is never charged.

How do I receive the PDF?

Via signed webhook when the task finishes, or from a signed link valid for 24 hours.

Do failed conversions get billed?

Never. A task gets up to three automatic retries and is only charged on success; otherwise you get a clear error.

Can I convert a batch of spreadsheets?

Yes, each request handles one file and returns its own task_id, so batches are simply parallel requests collected by webhook.

For developers — API access

Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.

API endpoint

POSThttps://api.kit.forhosting.com/doc/excel-to-pdf

Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, and soon from our app, email and Telegram.

Call it from your stack

curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/doc/excel-to-pdf \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d &#39;{"input":"…"}'

const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/doc/excel-to-pdf", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "input": "…"
  })
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();

import os, requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/doc/excel-to-pdf",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ[&#39;KIT_KEY']}"},
    json={
    "input": "…"
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]

<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/doc/excel-to-pdf", false, stream_context_create([
  "http" => [
    "method"  => "POST",
    "header"  => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
    "content" => &#39;{"input":"…"}',
  ],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);

body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"input":"…"}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/doc/excel-to-pdf", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

Example request

{
  "input": "…"
}

Example response

{
  "task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
  "type": "doc.excel_to_pdf",
  "status": "queued",
  "_links": {
    "result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
  }
}

The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.

Pricing

Per request$0.052

Per page$0.003

Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.

Limits

`max_mb`	25
`max_pages`	200

Errors

HTTP	Code	Meaning
`401`	`unauthorized`	Missing or invalid API key.
`402`	`insufficient_balance`	Your balance doesn't cover the task price.
`404`	`unknown_type`	That task type doesn't exist.
`429`	`rate_limited`	Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling.
`413`	`input_too_large`	The file exceeds the size limit.

Read the full KIT documentation →