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GroupDocs.Conversion is an on-premise library: it runs inside your own process, on your own infrastructure. GroupDocs never receives the documents you convert.

By default, converting a document does not request the resources it references. The library’s own code contacts a server only in the situations listed below, and each of them is either off by default or something your code asks for explicitly.

• The content of the documents you convert and of the files they produce.
• File names and paths.
• Usage data. The library’s code reports usage only when you use a metered license, and then only quantities, never document content.

Off by default. A document can reference content it does not carry: a remote image or stylesheet in an HTML page or an e-mail, a linked picture in a Word document, a taxonomy schema in an XBRL filing. GroupDocs.Conversion does not load such resources unless you allow them: SkipExternalResources is true in every load options class that supports it, and UNC paths are never loaded.

You can allow specific resources by absolute URI prefix with WhitelistedResources, all of them with SkipExternalResources = false, or decide for each resource in your own code with ExternalResourceHandler, which can also supply a resource’s content so that no request is made. See Skip loading of external resources for the rules, the supported formats and examples.

Opt-in. When you call License.SetLicense with a path to a license file that does not exist, and the GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH environment variable holds an http:// or https:// URL, the license file is downloaded from that URL, with a five-second timeout. If the variable is not set, or the license file exists, no request is made. Setting a license from a local file or from a stream never accesses the network. See Licensing.

Opt-in. With a metered license (Metered.SetMeteredKey), the library reports usage quantities — the amount of data processed and the credits consumed — together with your subscription identifiers to the GroupDocs billing service. The report carries no document content, file names or paths. Metered licensing needs network access, so it does not suit air-gapped systems: use a license file or a license stream there instead.

GroupDocs.Conversion itself makes no request in the following cases, but code you provide may:

• Loading a document from a URL. The library has no URL-based constructor: the load from URL example downloads the file in your code and passes the stream to Converter.
• Connectors. Video, audio, OCR and HEIC conversions run through connectors you implement and register, such as IVideoConnector or IOcrConnector. Whatever they access is up to your implementation. See Convert video and Convert image with OCR.

The product’s test suite converts probe documents whose external references point at a local test listener — HTML, e-mail, office documents, SVG, XML, XBRL, 3D models, PDF, archives and more — and fails if any conversion under default options sends a request to it. It also checks that references a document only mentions, such as hyperlinks and form actions, are never requested even when external resources are allowed, and that every load options class denies external resources as soon as it is constructed.

The measurement has limits: it observes requests to the references planted in the probe documents, and when one entry of an archive fails to convert, the conversion stops, so the entries after it are not measured.

These statements apply to version 26.10 and later.

To run GroupDocs.Conversion without any network access:

1. Keep the default SkipExternalResources = true, or allow only file: prefixes in WhitelistedResources.
2. Set the license from a local file or a stream, and do not set GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH to a URL.
3. Do not use a metered license.
4. Make sure your own connectors and loading code do not access the network.

To enforce this independently of the library, block outbound traffic for the process at the network or container level.

If you observe an outbound request from a process that uses GroupDocs.Conversion:

1. Capture the traffic and note the requested URL.
2. Search the documents being converted for that URL. If a document references it, check the load options of that conversion: SkipExternalResources set to false, or a WhitelistedResources entry that matches it.
3. Check whether the request goes to a licensing endpoint: a metered license, or GROUPDOCS_LIC_PATH.
4. Check your connectors and your own loading code.
5. Block egress for the process and repeat the conversion to confirm the source.

If the request comes from GroupDocs.Conversion itself under default options, please report it on the free support forum.

• Skip loading of external resources
• Licensing
• System requirements
• GroupDocs security and customer data