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rtflite.convert

LibreOfficeConverter

Convert RTF documents to other formats using LibreOffice.

Convert RTF files to various formats including PDF, DOCX, HTML, and others using LibreOffice in headless mode.

Requirements
  • LibreOffice 7.3 or later must be installed.
  • Automatically finds LibreOffice in standard installation paths.
  • For custom installations, provide executable_path parameter.
Note

The converter runs LibreOffice in headless mode, so no GUI is required. This makes it suitable for server environments and automated workflows.

__init__(executable_path=None)

Initialize converter with optional executable path.

Parameters:

Name Type Description Default
executable_path str | None

Path to LibreOffice executable. If None, searches standard installation locations for each platform.

 None

Raises:

Type Description
FileNotFoundError

If LibreOffice executable cannot be found.
ValueError

If LibreOffice version is below minimum requirement.

convert(input_files, output_dir, format='pdf', overwrite=False)

Convert RTF file(s) to specified format using LibreOffice.

Performs the actual conversion of RTF files to the target format using LibreOffice in headless mode. Supports single file or batch conversion.

Parameters:

Name Type Description Default
input_files str | Path | Sequence[str | Path]

Path to input RTF file or list of paths. Can be string or Path object. For batch conversion, provide a list/tuple.

 required
output_dir str | Path

Directory where converted files will be saved. Created if it doesn't exist. Can be string or Path object.

 required
format str

Target format for conversion. Supported formats: - 'pdf': Portable Document Format (default) - 'docx': Microsoft Word (Office Open XML) - 'doc': Microsoft Word 97-2003 - 'html': HTML Document - 'odt': OpenDocument Text - 'txt': Plain Text

 'pdf'
overwrite bool

If True, overwrites existing files in output directory. If False, raises error if output file already exists.

 False

Returns:

Type Description
Path | Sequence[Path]

Path | Sequence[Path]: For single file input, returns Path to the converted file. For multiple files, returns list of Paths.

Raises:

Type Description
FileExistsError

If output file exists and overwrite=False.
RuntimeError

If LibreOffice conversion fails.

Examples:

Single file conversion: 

converter = LibreOfficeConverter()
pdf_path = converter.convert(
    "report.rtf",
    output_dir="pdfs/",
    format="pdf"
)
print(f"Created: {pdf_path}")

Batch conversion with overwrite: 

rtf_files = ["report1.rtf", "report2.rtf", "report3.rtf"]
pdf_paths = converter.convert(
    input_files=rtf_files,
    output_dir="output/pdfs/",
    format="pdf",
    overwrite=True
)
for path in pdf_paths:
    print(f"Converted: {path}")