Converting a Word Document to PDF and opening in a program?

[thartley]

I was browsing available workflows and I was not able to find anything that would allow me to convert a word document to PDF and then open it in an alternate program. If anyone would be able to provide tips I would really appreciate it. 

 

[deanishe]

Hi @thartley, welcome to the forum.

 

Alfred can help you find a file or open it in a specific app, but it can't help you convert files to different formats. Do you have Microsoft Word installed?

[thartley]

Hi @deanishe, thanks for the quick response. I do have Microsoft word installed.

I found a workflow below (version 1.6) that seems to work with macOS big sur. Now I am just having trouble with opening the file after. For some reason the built in open file function is not working. 

 

Edited May 5, 2021 by thartley

[deanishe]

This workflow exports Word file(s) to PDFs and opens the PDFs in another application.

 

Word’s built-in PDF function actually uploads the Word doc to Microsoft to be converted online. My workflow can do that (see USE_ONLINE_SERVICE in the configuration), but by default it uses macOS’s built-in ability to save a PDF file from the Print dialog.

 

Scripting the Print dialog is clunky and slow, but doesn't have the obvious privacy concerns of uploading your Word docs to Microsoft. It should also be faster for very large documents.

 

There's also a setting to tell the workflow which application to open the PDFs in after export. By default, it's set to "Preview".

[thartley]

Just downloaded it and checked it out. Thank you so much for putting in the time to work on this. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I am not able to get the export to work using the online service. I toggled the variable --> true. It opened up word just fine but no export occurs. 

[deanishe]

40 minutes ago, thartley said:

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I am not able to get the export to work using the online service.

 

What happens when you choose "Save As…" with File Format = PDF? Make sure "best for electronic distribution and accessibility" is selected.

[thartley]

Deanishe, the online service configuration is much cleaner. I hadn't made sure that the "best for electronic distribution and accessibility" was selected but it now works perfect. Thank you!

[vitor]

5 hours ago, pmhip said:

all same laptops (Asus F550C) with Windows 8

 

This is a forum for Alfred, which is a macOS-only app.

 

5 hours ago, pmhip said:

when I receive a PDF file and I want to open it for reading all text, images and layout appear completely distorted and just unreadable.

 

That will be an issue with the PDF itself, or with the app you’re using to preview it.

[Shahrukh]

I can't use this workflow on Monterey 12.5.1. Any fixes?

 

[vitor]

@Shahrukh There are a couple Workflows mentioned in this thread. Which one are you using?

[Shahrukh]

On 5/5/2021 at 10:06 PM, deanishe said:

This workflow exports Word file(s) to PDFs and opens the PDFs in another application.

 

Word’s built-in PDF function actually uploads the Word doc to Microsoft to be converted online. My workflow can do that (see USE_ONLINE_SERVICE in the configuration), but by default it uses macOS’s built-in ability to save a PDF file from the Print dialog.

 

Scripting the Print dialog is clunky and slow, but doesn't have the obvious privacy concerns of uploading your Word docs to Microsoft. It should also be faster for very large documents.

 

There's also a setting to tell the workflow which application to open the PDFs in after export. By default, it's set to "Preview".

@vitor this one

[vitor]

What is the exact issue? I don’t have Word so I can’t test it.

 

Please follow the guide to an effective bug report so this can be properly looked at.