How to Convert Microsoft Word Documents to PDF with Python

Python is a versatile programming language that can be used for a variety of tasks, including converting Microsoft Word documents to PDF. In this article, we will show you how to do this using the python-docx and ReportLab libraries.

Step 1: Install the Required Libraries

Before we can convert Word documents to PDF, we need to install the python-docx and ReportLab libraries. You can install them using pip:

pip install python-docx reportlab

Step 2: Write the Python Script

Next, we need to write a Python script that will read a Word document, extract its contents, and write them to a PDF file. Here’s an example script to get you started:

import docx
from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas

# Read the Word document
doc = docx.Document('input.docx')

# Create a PDF file
pdf = canvas.Canvas('output.pdf')

# Write the contents of the Word document to the PDF
for para in doc.paragraphs:
    pdf.drawString(100, 700, para.text)
    
pdf.save()

Step 3: Run the Script

Save the script in a file, for example, convert_docx_to_pdf.py, and run it using the following command:

python convert_docx_to_pdf.py

Conclusion

That’s it! You have successfully converted a Microsoft Word document to a PDF file using Python. You can further customize the script to suit your needs or automate the conversion process using tools like cron or Task Scheduler.