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For End Users

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Hyacinthe edited this page Jun 12, 2026 · 3 revisions

For End Users

No Python, no terminal, no setup beyond running an installer or extracting a zip.

Note: FFmpeg is required for audio/video conversions. If you attempt one without it, the app will show you the download command.

Main window — dark mode, file list, conversion options

System Requirements

Component Requirement
OS Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit)
RAM 4 GB minimum / 8 GB recommended
Disk ~300 MB free
Display 1280 × 720 or higher
Dependencies None (fully self-contained)

Download & Install

Option A: Installer (recommended)

Download the latest FileConverterPro_Setup_v1.0.6.exe from the Releases page and run it.

The installer:

  • Supports both English and French during setup
  • Runs without administrator rights
  • Targets 64-bit Windows only (Windows 10 / 11)
  • Optionally creates a Desktop shortcut
  • Optionally associates .fcproj project files with the app
  • Offers to add a Windows Defender exclusion for the install folder (recommended) Once installed, launch from the Start Menu or Desktop shortcut.

Option B: Portable (no install)

Download the portable .zip from the Releases page, extract it anywhere, and run File Converter Pro.exe directly.

All settings, history, and achievements are stored in the same folder. Move the folder, everything moves with it.

⚠️ The portable version does not create automatic file associations for .fcproj files. You can still open project files via File → Open Project inside the app, or via Open with → File Converter Pro.

Option C: One-line PowerShell install

Installer:

$f="$env:TEMP\fcp.exe"; Invoke-WebRequest "https://github.com/Hyacinthe-primus/File_Converter_Pro/releases/latest/download/FileConverterPro_Setup_v1.0.6.exe" -OutFile $f; Start-Process $f "/SILENT" -Wait; Remove-Item $f

Portable:

$z="$env:TEMP\fcp.zip"; $d="$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\FileConverterPro"; Invoke-WebRequest "https://github.com/Hyacinthe-primus/File_Converter_Pro/releases/latest/download/File_Converter_Pro_v1.0.6.zip" -OutFile $z; Expand-Archive $z -DestinationPath $d -Force; Remove-Item $z; Start-Process explorer.exe $d

Run as a regular user, no admin needed. The installer installs silently and cleans up. The portable version extracts to your Downloads folder and opens it automatically.

Optional Tools

File Converter Pro works out of the box with zero dependencies. Every conversion has a built-in fallback. Installing any of these makes the app detect and use them automatically. No configuration needed.

Tool What it unlocks Where to get it
Microsoft Office Pixel-perfect DOCX/XLSX/PPTX → PDF via COM. Required for legacy .ppt. Microsoft 365 or standalone Office
LibreOffice High-quality PPTX/XLSX → PDF when Office isn't installed. Download
Pandoc Better TXT / RTF / EPUB → PDF quality; RTF → DOCX with proper formatting. Download
MiKTeX Enables Pandoc's LaTeX pipeline for best typographic output. Install alongside Pandoc. Download
wkhtmltopdf Best HTML → PDF rendering (full CSS, fonts, local images). Download

Quality tiers at a glance:

PPTX → PDF:   PowerPoint COM  ›  LibreOffice CLI  ›  python-pptx + ReportLab
XLSX → PDF:   Excel COM       ›  LibreOffice CLI  ›  ReportLab native
TXT  → PDF:   ReportLab       ›  pypandoc  (needs Pandoc + MiKTeX for LaTeX output)
HTML → PDF:   wkhtmltopdf     ›  WeasyPrint        ›  ReportLab
RTF  → DOCX:  Word COM        ›  pypandoc          ›  striprtf + python-docx

🛡️ Windows Defender & Antivirus

It is strongly recommended to add the File Converter Pro folder to your Windows Defender exclusion list. The installer offers to do this automatically.

Why? The app bundles:

  • A ffmpeg binary (commonly flagged by heuristic scanners)
  • A PyInstaller-compiled executable (another common false-positive trigger) The app makes no outbound network calls during conversions. Any flag is a false positive.

Portable version, add exclusion manually:

Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath "C:\Your\Folder\File Converter Pro"

If you get "application control policy blocked this file":

Unhandled error

Run this in a PowerShell terminal as Administrator, replacing the path with yours:

Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Your\path\to\File Converter Pro" -Recurse | Unblock-File

This removes the Zone.Identifier mark Windows adds to downloaded files, which can prevent DLLs from loading. Note: adding a Defender exclusion alone does not fix this. They are separate mechanisms.

⚡ Terminal Flash on Launch

When you first launch File Converter Pro.exe, a black terminal window may flash briefly before disappearing.

This is completely normal. It is caused by FFmpeg initializing. It runs no hidden scripts and makes no network calls. The GUI appears immediately after.

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