Open PDF Creator

Cross-platform virtual PDF printer and PDF combiner. Similar to PDFCreator, but open source and available for both Windows and Linux.

Features

• Virtual PDF Printer: Appears as a printer in your system (Windows installer, Linux Snap)
• PDF Combiner: Drag and drop multiple PDFs to combine them
• Multiple Output Formats: Export as PDF, PNG, JPEG, or TIFF
• Page Management: Rotate pages, select page ranges, reorder documents
• Quality Settings: Configurable DPI and compression settings
• System Tray: Minimize to system tray for quick access

Installation

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/OpenAEC-Foundation/open-pdf-creator.git
cd open-pdf-creator

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Linux/macOS
# or: venv\Scripts\activate  # Windows

# Install dependencies
pip install -e .

# Run the application
open-pdf-creator
# or: python -m open_pdf_creator

System Requirements

• Python 3.11 or higher
• Poppler (for PDF to image conversion)

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt install poppler-utils

macOS

brew install poppler

Windows

Download Poppler from poppler releases and add to PATH.

Usage

GUI Application

1. Add Files: Click "Add Files" or drag and drop PDF files into the window
2. Arrange: Drag files to reorder them
3. Rotate: Use the rotate buttons on each file or right-click for options
4. Export: Click "Export PDF" to save combined PDF, or "Export Images" for image output

Command Line

# Open with files
open-pdf-creator file1.pdf file2.pdf

# The application will open with the specified files loaded

Development

Setup Development Environment

# Install with development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Run linter
ruff check src/

# Run type checker
mypy src/

Project Structure

open-pdf-creator/
├── src/open_pdf_creator/
│   ├── core/           # Core functionality
│   │   ├── settings.py     # Settings management
│   │   ├── pdf_processor.py # PDF operations
│   │   └── image_converter.py # Image export
│   ├── gui/            # GUI components
│   │   ├── main_window.py   # Main window
│   │   ├── combiner_widget.py # PDF combiner
│   │   ├── save_dialog.py   # Export dialog
│   │   └── settings_dialog.py # Settings dialog
│   ├── printer/        # Printer drivers (planned)
│   │   ├── windows/    # Windows port monitor
│   │   └── linux/      # CUPS backend
│   └── service/        # Background services (planned)
├── tests/              # Test files
└── installer/          # Installer scripts
    ├── windows/        # Inno Setup
    └── linux/snap/     # Snap packaging

Roadmap

• Core PDF processing
• GUI application with drag & drop
• PDF combiner
• Image export (PNG, JPEG, TIFF)
• Settings management
• Linux CUPS printer backend
• Snap packaging
• Windows virtual printer driver
• Windows installer (Inno Setup)
• Auto-save print jobs
• Print job batching

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Credits

Developed by OpenAEC Foundation