File can be converted to PDF using GUI but not with cmd

Yuuya · August 28, 2025, 10:30am

WSL2 Ubuntu 24.04

LibreOffice 24.2.7.2 ee3885777aa7032db5a9b65deec9457448a91162

There are some Word files, if I open them with LibreOffice GUI, click “Export Directly as PDF”, and specify output directory, the conversion works just fine.

If I try to do the exactly thing with cmd, aka.

import subprocess

cmd = [
    'soffice',
    '--headless',
    '--convert-to', 
    'pdf',
    '--outdir', str(file.parent),
    str(file)
]
process = subprocess.run(cmd)

This will suck at the conversion, where ~.lock file and .tmp file both visible but latter not accessible (Permission denied).

FYI, I installed LibreOffice through cmd and manually installed GUI myself. I added GUI just to test if the file itself is corrupt/broken and ideally I don’t want to use GUI by all means. I guess reinstalling LibreOffice with GUI in the first place is the best approach but since I need to make sure this conversion works for my non-graphical servers, I am more inclined to solve it through code/cmd.

Any idea why is this happening? Any help will be appreciated.

karolus · August 28, 2025, 11:35am

assuming your »file« is actually a valid »pathlib.Path«? It works for me … it doesnt matter if the file in question is already opened by whatever instance of Libreoffice

## no need for »--headless« !
run(['soffice', '--convert-to',  'pdf',
     '--outdir', f'{fp.parent}', f'{fp}'])

mikekaganski · August 28, 2025, 11:40am

Could you clarify what does that mean? Given that you mentioned WSL2, could cmd mean Windows’ cmd.exe? is “GUI” different from the LibreOffice installed “through cmd”?

fpy · August 28, 2025, 11:22am

first, try from command line :
soffice --convert-to pdf your.docx

your.pdf should be produced in the same directory as your.docx

mikekaganski · August 28, 2025, 11:36am

Please avoid posting nonsense. The commend puts the result to the current directory, not where you imagine that. --outdir controls that.

fpy · August 28, 2025, 11:43am

COMMEND Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

and to get your (non)sense right, please note “your” doesn’t contain any “/”
yeah, current = “same” for this first diagnostic.

get your common sense back.