Conversion speed is slow

The below is a list of common causes for slow PDF conversion speeds:

External resources

External resources, such as inline images in emails, need to be downloaded in order to render and extract an email or a document from a Notes database. These resources can be hosted anywhere on the Internet, and some of them are no longer available. This can significantly increase the time it takes to export. In order to speed things up, it is possible to disable HTTP stream:

How to disable HTTP stream

Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP)

Symantec Endpoint Protection client feature "Notes Auto Protect" can cause serious performance degradation. This is due to extraction and scanning of SWING Seascape Java Archive files (JAR's). Java files are part of SWING Seascape core deployment and they do not pose security risk.

However, these files are archives containing thousands of Java classes which overload's antivirus scanner as it is extracting all files from the archive and scans them for viruses. This issue can be resolved by disabling JAR files scanning in SEP:

How to enable SWING Seascape with Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP)

Startup time

When a conversion job starts for the first time, the Java Virtual Machine needs to be initialized which can take some time. However once initialized, all subsequent conversions should take much less time (because the system is up and running).

Network issues

Network issues my cause slower conversion speeds in case users are converting documents from remote databases that are accessed via LAN or Internet connection. These documents need to be downloaded in order for the conversion job to be initiated, and if the connection speed is not good or there is a high network traffic then this may account for some extra processing time. If you're experiencing network related issues, you may consider replicating your database locally or installing Seascape on the server and running it there.

Document design

@DbLookup formulas and document embedded views cost a lot of time as database has to be searched for each document that is being converted with those design elements. Bigger databases take more time to finish the search. To improve the conversion speed, consider using Alternate Forms.

If conversion is running on Domino Server which serves multiple purposes, conversion might be interrupted frequently by Domino Server's agent manager. Please check your Domino Servers log for processes that might interrupt conversion process.

Lotus Notes 6.5 and 7

SWING Seascape uses the cross Java Virtual Machine (JVM) communication in Lotus Notes 6.5 and 7 (because the Lotus 6.5 Java 1.3.1. and Lotus 1.7 Java 1.4 do not provide the required framework for SWING Seascape to work properly).

The cross JVM communication is going over TCP/IP protocol and in this case it is required to initialize the Notes 6.5 and Notes 7 JVM and the local system JVM.

The time needed to communicate between two virtual machines may account for some extra processing time.

Operating system issues

If the user's operating system is congested or infected with malicious software, the conversion speeds may be slower.

Hardware

Outdated hardware can also cause slow conversion speeds.\