# PDF-writer and MS word document **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [October 30, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-and-ms-word-document/74094 "2006-10-30T05:49:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex-osu3)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-and-ms-word-document/74094/1 "2006-10-30T05:49:55Z")
Hi guys, I just wonder if anyone out there ever uses PDF::Writer to create a PDF file from a MS word document file. I can only create a PDF file if the file is in plain text format. Thanks, Li ---
**Author:** ![alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex-osu3)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 7:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-and-ms-word-document/74094/2 "2006-10-30T07:21:37Z")
Li Chen wrote: > Hi guys, > > I just wonder if anyone out there ever uses PDF::Writer to create a PDF > file from a MS word document file. I can only create a PDF file if the > file is in plain text format. > > Thanks, > > Li You might want have to write some sort of a macro or script file which opens up word, dumps the document to text so you can do your conversion. An easier approach would be to use a PDF print driver ---
**Author:** ![alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex-osu3)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-and-ms-word-document/74094/3 "2006-10-30T15:09:58Z")
CatLady [] wrote: > You might want have to write some sort of a macro or script file which > opens up word, dumps the document to text so you can do your conversion. > > An easier approach would be to use a PDF print driver. Do you know which is most popular and compatible with in Ruby? Thanks, Li ---
**Author:** ![alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex-osu3)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-and-ms-word-document/74094/4 "2006-11-07T10:44:39Z")
CatLady [] wrote: > You might want have to write some sort of a macro or script file which > opens up word, dumps the document to text so you can do your conversion. > > An easier approach would be to use a PDF print driver There are some filters available on most open-source platforms that will do a _fair_ job of this. [OpenOffice.org](http://OpenOffice.org) will also do a _fair_ to _acceptable_ job of this. For the most part, though, making high-quality PDFs of a Word document requires either buying software for a Windows platform or using the Adobe service that converts documents on the web. Creating high-quality PDFs from _original_ documents is much easier in the open source world. TeX and all its trappings, DVI, PostScript, Scribus, Inkscape, etc. offer excellent PDF output. The tricky part is getting the information from the Word document. ---
**Author:** ![alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex-osu3)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 10:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-and-ms-word-document/74094/5 "2006-11-07T10:45:11Z")
If you are on Mac, simply print to the Adobe PDF printer. If you are on Windows, download something like PDF995 which creates a PDF printer for you. If you are on Linux, I don’t think you have the printer option. OpenOffice should be able to export a PDF, and you could figure a way to finagle an API there somewhere most likely. PDF::Writer is difficult because (to my knowledge) there is no way to extract data from a Word file programmatically, with the exception of perhaps using the application “antiword” to extract the text and then using PDF::Writer to write that back. Not your best option (because formatting and such is lost), but it is an option. –Jeremy ---
**Author:** ![alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex-osu3)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 10:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/pdf-writer-and-ms-word-document/74094/6 "2006-11-07T10:45:54Z")
On 10/30/06, Li Chen [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > CatLady [] wrote: > > > You might want have to write some sort of a macro or script file which > > opens up word, dumps the document to text so you can do your conversion. > > > > An easier approach would be to use a PDF print driver. > > Do you know which is most popular and compatible with in Ruby? You’re not looking for something to run from Ruby. You’re looking for a program that understands the (proprietary) Microsoft Word format and can write the (semi-open) PDF format. The absolute best way to do this is to open the document in Word and print it through Acrobat. Lesser ways include opening the document in OpenOffice and exporting it as a PDF. Alternatively, you can try something like PDFCamp (works on Windows): [Word To Acrobat - a best Word To Acrobat utility](http://www.verypdf.com/pdfcamp/pdf-writer/word-to-acrobat.html) You might be able to use [http://www.pdfonline.com/](http://www.pdfonline.com/) to convert, but I’m not sure they’d want you doing a third-party conversion in your own application. Or maybe [http://www.primopdf.com/](http://www.primopdf.com/) if you want to consider that. Or [Word doc to pdf converter can convert batch of pdf files easily](http://www.convertzone.com/doc2pdf/help.htm). Or try FastPDF: [http://www.fastpdf.com/](http://www.fastpdf.com/). PDF::Writer will never have this capability directly, and even if someone were to create a Word document parser, it is unlikely that formatting would be preserved exactly. It might be more likely to see a PostScript parser, but even that is unlikely. -austin