A powershell automating Word to generate Pdf

Doc2Pdf

A powershell automating Word to generate Pdf

.gitignore

*.docx
*.docx
*.pdf

doc2pdf.bat

@echo off
setlocal

set input=%1
if "%input%"=="" set input=*.docx

for %%a in (%input%) do powershell -f doc2pdf.ps1 "%%a" "%%~dpna.pdf"
)
endlocal

doc2pdf.ps1

# cf.: 
# - http://blog.coolorange.com/2012/04/20/export-word-to-pdf-using-powershell/
# - https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/office/Script-to-convert-Word-f702844d
# http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2013/03/24/weekend-scripter-convert-word-documents-to-pdf-files-with-powershell.aspx

param([string]$DocInput, [string]$PdfOutput = '.\output.pdf')

Add-type -AssemblyName Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word

# 
# - optimize for screen/print: wdExportOptimizeForOnScreen / wdExportOptimizeForPrint
# - content only/include markups & comments: wdExportDocumentContent / wdExportDocumentWithMarkup
# - create bookmarks: wdExportCreateHeadingBookmarks / wdExportCreateWordBookmarks

function WordToPdf([string]$wdSourceFile, [string]$wdExportFile) {
  $wdExportFormat = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdExportFormat]::wdExportFormatPDF
  $wdOpenAfterExport = $false
  $wdExportOptimizeFor = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdExportOptimizeFor]::wdExportOptimizeForOnScreen
  $wdExportRange = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdExportRange]::wdExportAllDocument
  $wdStartPage = 0
  $wdEndPage = 0
  $wdExportItem = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdExportItem]::wdExportDocumentContent
  $wdIncludeDocProps = $true
  $wdKeepIRM = $true
  $wdCreateBookmarks = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdExportCreateBookmarks]::wdExportCreateHeadingBookmarks
  $wdDocStructureTags = $true
  $wdBitmapMissingFonts = $true
  $wdUseISO19005_1 = $false

  $wdApplication = $null;
  $wdDocument = $null;
  
  # How to: Programmatically Close Documents (without changes)
  # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/af6z0wa2.aspx
  $doNotSaveChanges = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdSaveOptions]::wdDoNotSaveChanges

  try
  {
         $wdApplication = New-Object -ComObject "Word.Application"
         $wdDocument = $wdApplication.Documents.Open($wdSourceFile)
         $wdDocument.ExportAsFixedFormat(
         $wdExportFile,
         $wdExportFormat,
         $wdOpenAfterExport,
         $wdExportOptimizeFor,
         $wdExportRange,
         $wdStartPage,
         $wdEndPage,
         $wdExportItem,
         $wdIncludeDocProps,
         $wdKeepIRM,
         $wdCreateBookmarks,
         $wdDocStructureTags,
         $wdBitmapMissingFonts,
         $wdUseISO19005_1
         )
  }
  catch
  {
         $wshShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
         $wshShell.Popup($_.Exception.ToString(), 0, "Error", 0)
         $wshShell = $null
  }
  finally
  {
         if ($wdDocument)
         {
                $wdDocument.Close([ref]$doNotSaveChanges)
                $wdDocument = $null
         }
         if ($wdApplication)
         {
                $wdApplication.Quit()
                $wdApplication = $null
         }
         [GC]::Collect()
         [GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
  }
}

$FullInput = (Get-Item ${DocInput}).FullName
# http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3038337/powershell-resolve-path-that-might-not-exist
$FullOutput = $ExecutionContext.SessionState.Path.GetUnresolvedProviderPathFromPSPath(${PdfOutput})

Write-Host "Converting ${FullInput} to ${FullOutput}..."
WordToPdf ${FullInput} ${FullOutput} 

Usage: On the command line prompt, type

powershell -f doc2pdf.ps1 <your word file.docx>

You need to have Microsoft Word installed, though.

Sometimes you want to use Create bookmarks using headings.

You can do this by

$wdCreateBookmarks = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdExportCreateBookmarks]::wdExportCreateHeadingBookmarks

See WdExportCreateBookmarks Enumeration (MSDN, Office 2010)

Note that the default is to export only document content leaving out comments, i.e.

$wdExportItem = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdExportItem]::wdExportDocumentContent

If you want to include markup, comments, etc. use

$wdExportItem = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdExportItem]::wdExportDocumentWithMarkup

See:

• _Document.ExportAsFixedFormat method (MSDN, Office 2010)
• WdExportItem enumeration

Default is 'optimized for screen'. For 'print' use

$wdExportOptimizeFor = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.WdExportOptimizeFor]::wdExportOptimizeForPrint

See:

• WdExportOptimizeFor enumeration

Good ps script. A question: It works if I run the .bat or .ps1 directly on the Windows Server 2019 with Office 2016 installed but it does not complete (winword is executed) if I try to run it from another machine (Ubuntu) in ssh. I've installed on Windows the app OpenSSH SSH server and I'm able to run remotely a simple .bat that copies a file. I've enable PowerShell loggin but no errors are logged, just the start of the script. Any idea? Thanks a lot.

Great Script. I am running it fine locally, even if I start cmd as a service account. However, if I am using an automation solution (RPA) which is running as the service account (service installed in windows) it will simply get stuck. I can't capture stderr either so I don't know how to troubleshoot it. Any pointers on how I could troubleshoot this? Would be very happy making it work after 2 weeks of pulling my hair out 👍

Hi @dcazacu21,

Service Account will probably run headless. I am not sure that this kind of Excel automation will work in this context.

Hi mkoertgen, thank you very much for your reply! We actually made the script running by making sure in C:\windows\system32\config\systemprofile we have a folder called Desktop.

I think this is because most likely the script is being ran as system account? (correct me if I'm wrong).

It seems the script is running fine now, so thank you very much for this one, it's great!

I am now in talks with support for the RPA solution we use as it seems it is issuing commands now as system, instead of our service account. Don't know why but I hope the will tell me.

Thank you again for your work! very good script

Hi mkoerthen, I have another question related to this script. Is there such a granularity where we can export documents with markups, but not include comments and formatting?

Or is there a possibility to include a macro in your script which would hide comments and formatting?

Thanks in advance!
Dan

Hi @mkoertgen,

Is there a option to have all bookmarks collapsed in the resulting PDF?

Thanks,
Xianhua