Stirling-Tools
[Bug]: Desktop asks for login at start-ip
Installation Method
Local Installation
The Problem
When launching the macOS desktop version 2.0.1 (supposedly able to work independently from any server connection) I only get the option to choose between Stirling Cloud or Self-Hosted server. Dropping a PDF file onto the app icon or window does nothing.
Version of Stirling-PDF
2.0.1
Last Working Version of Stirling-PDF
No response
Page Where the Problem Occurred
No response
Docker Configuration
Relevant Log Output
Additional Information
No response
Browsers Affected
No response
No Duplicate of the Issue
- [x] I have verified that there are no existing issues raised related to my problem.
Hi @canoben! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the Stirling-PDF team.
The desktop app (macOS v2.0.1) currently requires you to choose between Stirling Cloud or a Self-Hosted server at startup—there’s no way to bypass this screen or use direct local file operations like drag-and-drop to open PDFs. This is a known limitation and not a misconfiguration; the app is designed as a locally hosted web application, so you need to run it and use the browser interface to upload/download PDFs for processing. Direct file handling from the desktop (like dropping a PDF onto the app icon or window) isn’t supported in this version. Maintainers are aware of the issue and investigating improvements, but there’s no fix or true desktop mode yet. For now, you’ll need to connect to a server and use the web interface for PDF operations. More details are discussed here and here.
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From installation docs:
Stirling PDF for Mac is available as a native desktop application or can run as a server using the JAR file.
V2.0 brings a native Mac desktop experience with all PDF tools available offline!
which is kind of confusing. I also assumed this means I can use the desktop app to just open a pdf. But then there is no way to get around the login page.
So we are investigating how to do this best atm
But currently you can either login via selfhosted or login via stirling.com
Stirling.com option still uses all the local stuff and is a local application post login We are going to enhance it soon to allow complex features a desktop installation can't do and connect it to stirling.com to do that where 90% of operations work offline but if you wanted to do some advanced conversion type it would link to online... But for ease we added the login stuff early so that we can prepare to add this feature later
So no you can login via stirling.com and use it completely locally after that
Thanks for the explanation @Frooodle, that all makes a lot of sense. But the documentation is just a bit misleading and unclear here, resulting in different expectations, so maybe this is just the easiest fix until you have the long term solution figured out.
Not only the Mac, but also the Windows Version is asking for the login, without a possibility to skip that screen. So far not usable at all.
Oliver
I wouldn't describe it as unusable simply because you have to make an account, but I understand your statement and feedback We will see what we can do
No problem. The Dokumentation is just misleading, as it says basically: run the installer, and you are ready to go.
Oliver
I hit the same issue and figured it is a limitation for macos version in v2.0.1, so I went ahead and sign-in via cloud, as I don't want to run local server. After signing in, I'm able to drag and drop pdfs to the Stirling desktop app, but when I want to crop a file, the "Crop" button is grayed out and say "backend offline". This renders the crop function unusable. Is this a known issue as well @Frooodle ? Anyone else experiencing the same issue?
@waddyvic The backend starts later than the frontend, in most testing this is only 3-20 seconds which normalls is before a user gets chance to select a file or input so it is hidden. We did have a bug in 2.0.1 where if it took longer than 20-30 seconds we gave up which was not correct
I cant remember if this was fixed in the 2.0.2 that just came out now or planne dofr 2.0.3
Came here wondering the same. It would be more correct to say Stirling in its current form is a server with a desktop client, and not a desktop app. Which is quite different from Adobe Acrobat.
So we are investigating how to do this best atm
But currently you can either login via selfhosted or login via stirling.com
Stirling.com option still uses all the local stuff and is a local application post login We are going to enhance it soon to allow complex features a desktop installation can't do and connect it to stirling.com to do that where 90% of operations work offline but if you wanted to do some advanced conversion type it would link to online... But for ease we added the login stuff early so that we can prepare to add this feature later
So no you can login via stirling.com and use it completely locally after that
As a past describes it best We are a local application Just wanting to perform advanced things on server if and when a user wants it We are looking how best to do this I also think we have some wording issues on that screen to resolve to better explain this
Thanks for the explanation @Frooodle, that all makes a lot of sense. But the documentation is just a bit misleading and unclear here, resulting in different expectations, so maybe this is just the easiest fix until you have the long term solution figured out.
I agree as a first time user the installation instructions are misleading.
Yeah, I'm sorry, I really like what you are doing, but this is misleading.
I was so confused why it wants a login or a server, till today the docs still claim that you can just use it https://docs.stirlingpdf.com/Installation/Windows%20Installation/
I know that there was a self-hosted version for windows that you could just run locally and would open up on localhost, this would have been a way to just use that as the backend.
As a company who some of our devices run 100% offline, we rollback into an older version for avoid this login screen. We prefer financing great FOSS project like Stirling PDF than being forced to connect our systems into your website.
When adding the Self-Hosted server URL, it is not possible to specify the server port number. Is this a system limitation, or has that functionality simply not been considered? In my environment, it would be very necessary to use a custom port number.
