System and method for converting an electronically stored document

1. A computer implemented method of converting a document, the method comprising:

receiving from a client a uniform resource locator (URL) which includes a reference to a first document created by a document-authoring application;

receiving the first document;

determining a first storage format of the first document;

determining a first presentation format of the first document, wherein the first presentation format is unique to the document-authoring application;

identifying a conversion module configured to produce, from the first document, a second document formatted according to a second storage format and the first presentation format, wherein the second storage format is browser neutral and wherein the conversion module comprises an application programming interface (API) of the document authoring application;

invoking the conversion module through the API of the document-authoring application to produce the second document from the first document; and

sending to the client a browser-readable file based on the second document;

wherein using the API of the document-authoring application to invoke the conversion module allows the first presentation format to be preserved while converting the first document to the second document formatted according to the second storage format.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the first storage format of the first document is Microsoft PowerPoint;

the first presentation format of the first document is Microsoft PowerPoint; and

the second storage format of the second document is Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first presentation format is one of: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first storage format is one of: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second storage format is Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second storage format is one of: Graphic Interchange Format (GIF), Joint Photographic Experts Group File Interchange Format (JPEG) and Portable Network Graphics (PNG).

7. An automated method of converting an electronically stored document, the method comprising:

receiving from a client a uniform resource locator (URL) which includes a reference to an original document created by a document-authoring application;

receiving a request to convert the original document;

retrieving the original document;

determining a storage format of the original document;

identifying a first module configured to convert a document from the storage format, wherein the first module comprises an application programming interface (API) of the document authoring application;

invoking the first module through the API of the document-authoring application to convert the original document into a set of files;

wherein using the API of the document-authoring application to invoke the first module allows the presentation format to be preserved while converting the original document into the set of files;

from the set of files, producing a converted document, wherein said converted document preserves the presentation format of the original document, and wherein the converted document is browser neutral;

storing said converted document;

returning a reference to said converted document in response to the request; and

sending to the client a browser-readable file based on said converted document.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the application format type is one of: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the set of files comprises one or more files formatted according to Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML).

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the set of files comprises one or more files formatted according to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the set of files comprises one or more files formatted according to one or more of: Joint Photographic Experts Group File Interchange Format (JPEG), Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) and Portable Network Graphics (PNG).

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein said converted document is formatted according to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

13. A document conversion system comprising:

an application server configured to:

receive from a client a uniform resource locator (URL) which includes a reference to a first document created by a document-authoring application; and

receive a request to convert the first document having a first storage format and a first presentation format into a second document having a second storage format and the first presentation format;

a document converter, comprising:

a first conversion module configured to convert the first storage format while preserving the first presentation format, wherein the first module comprises an application programming interface (API) of the document authoring application; and

a conversion engine configured to initiate conversion of the first document, by the first conversion module, from the first storage format into the second storage format, wherein the second storage format is browser neutral;

a database configured to store the second document; and

wherein the application server is further configured to send to the client a browser-readable file based on the second storage format, and

wherein using the API of the document-authoring application to initiate conversion allows the first presentation format to be preserved while converting the storage format of the first document from the first storage format to the second storage format.

14. The document conversion system of claim 13 , wherein the first storage format is the storage format of one of: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio.

15. The document conversion system of claim 13 , wherein the first presentation format is the presentation format of one of: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio.

16. The document conversion system of claim 13 , wherein the second storage format is the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) storage format.

17. The document conversion system of claim 13 , wherein said conversion engine is configured to automatically determine the first presentation format.

18. The document conversion system of claim 13 , wherein said conversion engine is configured to automatically determine the first storage format.

19. A document converter, comprising:

a server configured to:

receive from a client a uniform resource locator (URL) which includes a reference to a first document created by a document-authoring application; and

receive a request to convert the first document having a first storage format and a first presentation format;

a first module configured to convert the first document into a set of files having a second storage format, while maintaining the first presentation format, wherein the second storage format is browser neutral and wherein the first module comprises an application programming interface (API) of the document authoring application;

wherein the first module can be invoked through the API of the document-authoring application;

a conversion engine configured to produce, from the set of files, a final document in a final storage format; and

an interface to a database, wherein the database is configured to store the final document;

wherein the server is further configured to send to the client a browser-readable file based on the second storage format, and

wherein using the API of the document-authoring application to invoke the first module allows the first presentation format to be preserved while converting the first document into the set of files having the second storage format.

20. The document converter of claim 19 , wherein the first module comprises a subset of the functionality of one of: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project and Microsoft Visio.

21. The document converter of claim 19 , wherein said conversion engine is configured to automatically determine said first presentation format.