doc to pdf using python

Question

I have a huge number of.doc files to convert to.pdf. And MSWord 2010 is the only program I can use to complete my supervisor's request. I am aware that using Python COM automation, I ought to be able to automate this. The only issue is that I have no idea how or where to begin. I looked online for tutorials, but I couldn't find any (I could have, but I'm not sure what I was looking for).

Answer 1

A simple example using comtypes, converting a single file, input and output filenames given as command line arguments:

import sys
import os
import comtypes.client

wdFormatPDF = 17

in_file = os.path.abspath(sys.argv[1])
out_file = os.path.abspath(sys.argv[2])

word = comtypes.client.CreateObject('Word.Application')
doc = word.Documents.Open(in_file)
doc.SaveAs(out_file, FileFormat=wdFormatPDF)
doc.Close()
word.Quit()

You could also use pywin32, which would be the same except for:

import win32com.client

Then:

word = win32com.client.Dispatch('Word.Application')