Automated conversion of nine different file formats into PDFs.
Ability to merge, split, fill, sign, and stamp PDFs using a single integrated toolkit.
Improved scalability as Legado’s platform continues rapid expansion.
Introduction
Legado is recognized as one of the United Kingdom’s leading data and communications platforms, offering digital products that help clients build rapport, strengthen customer confidence, and make data‑driven decisions. Over the past three years, Legado has experienced year‑on‑year revenue growth exceeding 100%, highlighting its rapid expansion and increasing operational demands.
Problem Summary
As Legado continued scaling rapidly, the company faced growing challenges related to document organization and management. Head Engineer Alex Shiell identified the need to generate images from uploaded documents, convert images and various Office file formats into PDFs, and merge multiple documents into a single PDF. These tasks were essential for maintaining a streamlined workflow but proved difficult to accomplish without a robust, centralized tool — prompting the search for a more capable document‑processing solution.
“Syncfusion provides the libraries we need to convert files to PDF and manipulate the PDF content.”
– Alex Shiell, Head Engineer, Legado.
BEFORE SYNCFUSION
Challenges
- Needed the ability to generate an image of any document uploaded to their system.
- Required reliable conversion of images and Office file formats into PDFs.
- Needed to stitch or merge multiple images and documents into a single PDF file.
- Difficulty locating a tool that could handle all these tasks efficiently.
AFTER SYNCFUSION
Solutions
- Implemented Syncfusion's Essential Studio® Document SDK to automate file‑to‑PDF conversion.
- Used the PDF Library to perform splitting, merging, form filling, digital signing, and stamping.
- Enabled reliable back‑end PDF manipulation within Legado’s system.
Implementation
Alex and his team integrated the Essential Studio Document SDK into Legado’s backend infrastructure to automate document workflows end‑to‑end. The implementation involved configuring the SDK to convert nine different file formats into PDFs, allowing the system to seamlessly transform user‑uploaded documents — whether images, Office files, or other supported formats — into standardized PDF outputs. The team then leveraged the SDK’s PDF Library to enable advanced manipulations such as merging multiple documents into a single file, splitting PDFs, filling form fields, applying digital signatures for security, and stamping documents when needed. By embedding these capabilities directly in the backend, Legado created a streamlined and consistent document‑processing pipeline that eliminated previously manual steps and supported the company’s rapid growth trajectory.
Results
The Essential Studio Document SDK provided Legado with all the functionality needed to solve complex document‑processing challenges. By adopting Syncfusion’s tools, the engineering team gained a unified solution for converting and manipulating files, resulting in more efficient backend operations and a more reliable experience for Legado’s users.
Future Plan
Legado is positioned to continue using Syncfusion’s Document SDK as they scale and may expand their use of advanced PDF features to further streamline document automation across their platform.
Conclusion
Syncfusion’s Essential Studio Document SDK delivered the comprehensive PDF‑processing capabilities Legado needed to support its rapidly growing operations. With powerful tools for file conversion and PDF manipulation, Legado successfully optimized its document workflows, improved efficiency, and reinforced its position as a leading data and communications platform.
