PyODConverter (for Python OpenDocument Converter) is a Python script that automates office document conversions from the command line using LibreOffice or OpenOffice.org.

The script was written as a simpler alternative to JODConverter for command line usage.

PyODConverter requires LibreOffice/OpenOffice.org to be running as a service and listening on port (by default) 2002; this can be achieved e.g. by starting it from the command line as

$ soffice "-accept=socket,port=2002;urp;"

The script expects exactly 2 parameters: an input and an output file names. The document formats are inferred from the file extensions.

Since it uses the Python/UNO bridge, the script requires the UNO modules to be already present in your Python installation. Most of the time this means you need to use the Python version installed with OpenOffice.org, e.g. on Windows

> "C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 3.1\program\python" DocumentConverter.py test.odt test.pdf

or on Linux

$ /opt/openoffice.org3.1/program/python DocumentConverter.py test.odt test.pdf

If you want to write your own scripts in Python, PyODConverter can also act as a Python module, exporting a DocumentConverter class with a very simple API.

v1.2 - 2012-03-10

• Changed default port to 2002
• Moved to GitHub

v1.1 - 2009-11-14

• Fixed HTML import issues by adding FAMILY_WEB
• Support for specifying input formats and options
• Support for passing filter options to output formats
• Added CSV and TXT as input and output formats
• Support for overriding Page Style properties, especially useful for specifying how spreadsheets should fit into pages when exporting to PDF

v1.0.0 - 2008-05-05

• Let OOo determine the input document type, rather than using the file extension. This means all OOo-supported input types should now be accepted without any additional configuration.