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Anyone know how to convert word files (.doc) to PDF using the command line in Windows?

We were using the service of OpenOffice, but in documents that have many tables and images, it ends up ruining much formatting.

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  • hate to ask, but why cli specifically? scripting?
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Feb 23, 2012 at 11:40
  • what exactly you want to know
    – Xosler
    Feb 23, 2012 at 12:12
  • Well, i can invoke printing off CLI, but it'll open windows for it, apparently
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Feb 23, 2012 at 12:22

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
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"winword.exe" "C:\My Files\doc1.doc" /mFilePrintDefault

Provided you have quiet PDF printer as default.

Also, try LibreOffice offspring from OpenOffice.org. It is based on go-ooo which had no problems with OLE metrics in Office.

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  • I can do something like: winword.exe 'c :/ file.doc' '/ printer' 'c :/ arquivo_de_saida.pdf'?
    – Xosler
    Feb 23, 2012 at 11:13
  • currently use the service openoffice / LibreOffice, but the conversion spoils the original formatting of the file, and if we can not lose any formatting. Part of the files are. Docx with many tables, headers and footers, we must keep the original formatting
    – Xosler
    Feb 23, 2012 at 11:23
  • I am just wondering if "docx files" still have Word 6.0 compatibility attributes? Libre/OpenOffice parser does not have means to deal with them because "standard" from microsoft does not describe exact metrics.
    – ZaB
    Feb 23, 2012 at 16:48
  • In W7 I get:'winword.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command. Will see what directory it is in.
    – KAE
    Jun 22, 2016 at 18:30
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  1. if you have Microsoft Word installed, you can use DocTo:

    https://github.com/tobya/DocTo

    batch operation is supported, all files in directory can be converted from doc to pdf:

    docto -f "C:\Dir with Spaces\FilesToConvert\" -O "C:\DirToOutput" -T wdFormatPDF  -OX .pdf

  2. another option is to use the following powershell script: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/office/Script-to-convert-Word-f702844d

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  • 1
    The link for the second option is broken.
    – Randy Cragun
    Mar 15, 2021 at 22:45
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If you have Microsoft Word installed, you can use the docx2pdf command line utility to batch convert docx to pdf on windows or macos. https://github.com/AlJohri/docx2pdf

Install:

pip install docx2pdf

Run:

docx2pdf myfolder/

Disclaimer: I wrote this tool after struggling to find a cross-platform solution for batch converting docx to pdf with zero formatting issues since it directly uses Microsoft Word.

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3

I found this site, and by testing OfficeToPDF, it is apparently working well. Example:

OfficeToPDF "c​​:\help.doc" "c:\output\help.pdf"
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  • 4
    Under the hood, it use MS Office to convert the files (see requirement part). Don't pay for this and use open source solution : OfficeToPDF (it does exactly the same)
    – tigrou
    May 22, 2017 at 14:11
  • Wondeful! The binaries (.exe) are there: github.com/cognidox/OfficeToPDF/releases
    – Basj
    Apr 4, 2018 at 13:01
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We use the BCL easyPDF SDK for that purpose in our application. It provides much more control over how the conversion looks (e.g. how to handle Track Changes annotations).

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  • wouldn't that mean actually having to write the application from scratch?
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Feb 23, 2012 at 11:40
  • In theory, although the OP mentioned this being used as part of a custom Java app. For our use it was convenient to have the conversion happen on the commandline so I wrapped more or less the sample code provided on the website in a tiny executable.
    – Kit Grose
    Feb 23, 2012 at 12:14
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I know the question is old, but the best solution to convert any kind of file to PDF is to use the PDFCreator. It is free, and has a command line EXE file you can use to convert any file to PDF. The application to read the file type has to be installed on the PC of course (you need office installed to convert an office document and Autocad to convert a CAD file). PDFCreator can run in the background and output files to a specified folder with no user interaction required. Sadly you cannot specify in the command line where to output the PDF. PDFCreator always output to the same folder specified in the settings. But knowing this, you can pick up the converted file in that folder and move/rename to wherever you want.

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  • In my attempts to use it, I was able to set the output directory, but it does not run quietly. It opens and closes an MS Word banner, but it STOPS on the PDFCreator GUI and you must then operate that manually to continue. One can however buy a license for their PDFCreator Server for just under $1K.
    – Thom Ives
    Oct 6, 2019 at 1:30
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Download the free PDFTOOFFICE FROM http://officetopdf.codeplex.com/releases/view/118190

  :: PURPOSE: convert word_file to pdf_file 
  :: DEFINE VARS 
  set WORD_FILE="C:\var\anc\issues\BDCTBA-12\docs\BDC-ISG\BDC-ISG.docx"
  set PDF_FILE="C:\var\anc\issues\BDCTBA-12\docs\BDC-ISG\BDC-ISG.pdf"

  :: REMOVE FIRST THE FILE 
  DEL /Q "%PDF_FILE%

  :: CONVERT THE WORD FILE TO A PDF FILE
  :: REMEMBER TO CTRL + S , while writing ... 
  :: NOTE IF THE FILE IS OPENED IN WORD YOU WOULD HAVE TO USE READ ONLY COPY
  :: ACTION !!!
  "OFFICETOPDF.EXE" "%WORD_FILE%" "%PDF_FILE%"

  :: REQUIREMENTS
  :: DOWNLOAD OFFICETOPDF FROM [http://officetopdf.codeplex.com/releases/view/118190][2]

  :: OTHER GOODIES - call from cygwin 
  :: PATH=/cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32:$PATH
  :: cmd /c convert-BDC-ISG.docx-to-BDC-ISG.cmd
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    fyi, this project uses Word Interop. So Word is required to be installed.
    – jltrem
    Jul 22, 2014 at 2:37

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