I have a folder of .doc files I would like to convert to .txt format. How can I do that using LibreOffice's command line mode in Windows 7? The files are located in C:\Temp\Test.
Here is how I handled this task using Windows PowerShell
Note: before using LibreOffice from the command line you need to close all existing instances of Libreoffice. This means closing all GUI sessions of LibreOffice as well as inspecting TaskManager for soffice.exe or a LibreOffice process running the background.
One Item:
PS &("C:\Program Files (x86)\LibreOffice 4\program\soffice.exe") -headless -convert-to txt:Text -outdir C:\Temp C:\Temp\test\sample.doc
This created a file sample.txt in C:\Temp from the document sample.doc
Multiple Items:
foreach ($file in Get-ChildItem C:\Temp\test)
{
&("C:\Program Files (x86)\LibreOffice 4\program\soffice.exe") -headless -convert-to txt:Text -outdir C:\Temp C:\Temp\test\$file | Out-Null
}
This created a .txt file for every file in the folder C:\Temp\test
Again: Use task manager to ensure that a previous version of soffice.exe is not running. This means closing existing GUI versions of LibreOffice.
Explanation:
Here is the documentation regarding Starting LibreOffice Software With Parameters. This will explain the soffice.exe command executed above.
Headless mode starts the LibreOffice software without a GUI. What I refer to in the question as 'command line mode'.
-convert-to is an important parameter in this example. When using -convert-to you need to know what the output_filter_name is (Text in the example above). A reference for those names can be found here. The output_filter_name will be the name of the files in that list that have the suffix .xcu
For example, if I wanted to convert my .doc files to .pdf I would use the parameter -convert-to pdf:writer_pdf_Export (untested)
Here is a reference I used when answering this question.
For some reason .exe processes need to pipe to Out-Null to avoid overlapping one another. Go figure.
The solution above was close, but required some alteration on LibreOffice 4.2 / Linux:
soffice --headless --convert-to txt:Text /path_to/file_to_convert.odt
(I did it with odt, the example I followed used doc: http://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/14130/how-do-i-install-filters-for-the-soffice-command/)
An additional and important thing to add to #kevinaskevin 's answer is - the workaround is:
From the devs via IRC:
LO's "user installation" (i.e., ~/config/libreoffice) isn't designed to be accessed simultaneously by multiple processes; so when one soffice.bin is already running for a specific user installation, additional soffice.bin just forward their cmd line args to the first one and terminate immediately again (i.e., they shouldn't "fail" in the sense of exiting with a non-zero exit value)
if you want an independent headless LO, you can start it with an own user installation, -env:UserInstallation=<file URL to dir>
Related
So I have been working on a simple batch file, that thanks to #Magoo, I was able to solve the first question I had about it.
Now my next question,
Is there a way to automate an answer input.
Since I'm running Windows 7 (this is the current course I am on, in my quest to become a knowledgeable IT guy), I cannot use PowerShell to extract an image, and to my best knowledge, PowerISO is the only program I have found where I can use command lines in a batch file to extract the .iso file that I want, and place it on the drive/directory that I want. However, I came across the need to input an answer 'NoAll' before I could finish the extraction. I'm wondering if there is a way to automate that answer, if needed. It will only be used once, as the NoAll implies.
All the code is correct and the batch file works properly barring this one little hiccup.
Here's my batch file.
echo
cd "C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools"
call copype amd64 "C:\winpe-amd64"
copy "C:\winpe-amd64\winpe.wim" "C:\winpe-amd64\iso\sources\boot.wim"
copy "C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\amd64\imagex.exe" "C:\winpe-amd64\iso" & cd "C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\amd64"
oscdimg.exe -n -bC:\winpe-amd64\etfsboot.com c:\winpe-amd64\iso c:\winpe-amd64\winpe-amd64.iso
cd 'C:\program files\powerISO"
piso extract "C:\winpe-amd64\winpe-amd64.iso" / -od f:
as the extract begins to run, I get a prompt for input, and this is where I would like to be able to automate the 'NoAll' answer.
Thanks in advance!
Since all you need to do it input text, you can simply echo what you want to type and then pipe it to the other command.
echo NoAll|piso extract "C:\winpe-amd64\winpe-amd64.iso" / -od f:
You can use the input file and input redirector '<' to automate most of input. For example, create a text file 'NoAll.txt' with the content "NoAll" (without quotes, and add a newline at the end for 'Enter' key). On the command that needs NoAll, execute it as follow:
piso extract "C:\winpe-amd64\winpe-amd64.iso" / -od f: < NoAll.txt
I was trying to make a batch file that compresses a specific folder (using winrar) to a specific location (not the same as the folder location), password (that I can choose myself) protects it AND does all of that without a cmd screen popping up.
I have very little knowledge of programming and managed to get some things working, but not all at the same time and in the same batch file.
Also to rar that file do I need Winrar to be installed on the computer or can I reffer to the rar.exe (copied from the Program Files Windows folder to a different location)?
AFAIK it's not possible to run a a bat file without a visible CMD window without using any additional tools. Here's a link to a post how to run a hidden console: https://superuser.com/questions/62525/run-a-batch-file-in-a-completely-hidden-way
It is possible to use just the rar.exe but I would use 7zip instead. The performance is way better, it's also portable and you have many options in the command line. So your project would contain the bat file itself, the vb script file and the 7z.exe (or rar.exe). If you want, you can even create a single .exe file out of these three by creating a SFX file: http://www.7zsfx.info/en/
Hope I could help you.
I have many .odt files in my Windows system. I would like to convert these files to PDF. I tried that in command line
soffice.bin --headless -convert-to pdf:"writer_pdf_Export" c:\MyOdtFile.odt
But, It does not work. This method can only open file, does not convert!
How can I do this?
With LibreOffice, the following command should work:
soffice.exe --headless -convert-to pdf --outdir <output directory> <file1.odt> <file2.odt>
When converting to pdf, -convert-to pdf is sufficient. The --outdir parameter is optional; if you don't use it, the PDF will be created in the current working directory. Using soffice.bin didn't work for me (missing sal3.dll), but soffice.exe works (LibreOffice 4.2.4.2, Win 7). If soffice.exe isn't in your path, you would have to set the PATH explicitly or add the complete path to the command above:
' "C:\Program Files (x86)\LibreOffice 4\program\soffice.exe" --headless -convert-to pdf --outdir C:\temp test1.odt`
Make sure that LO isn't running when issuing the convert command - otherwise the conversion will fail without an error message.
To add to #tohuwawohu's answer... he wrote:
Make sure that LO isn't running when issuing the convert command - otherwise the conversion will fail without an error message.
This can be eliminated by adding another parameter to the command line:
-env:UserInstallation=file:///tmp/LibreOffice_Conversion_${USER}"
This creates a new environment for ${USER}'s headless instance of LibreOffice, should he have already a not-headless, GUI one running.
This way, the headless instance will not conflict with the already running instance.
I would like to open a PDF in Photoshop from the command line. My current issue right now is that the default application for opening PDFs is Adobe Acrobat. I'm wondering if there is any parameter I can pass to specify which program to use when opening a file.
In other words, I want to emulate the option of "Open-with" when you right-click a file to open it with the non-default application, but from the command line.
I do not want to change the default application for PDFs to be Photoshop.
Any ideas?
All you need to is provide the filename as a command line argument:
photoshop <path to file>
(<path to file> needs to be quoted if it contains spaces)
For example:
photoshop "C:\Users\csterling\Documents\some document.pdf"
If the directory containing photoshop.exe isn't in your Path environment variable, you'll need to provide the full path:
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop\photoshop" "C:\Users\csterling\Documents\some document.pdf"
This isn't a feature of the command prompt, it's a feature of the executable, i.e. photoshop.exe has to be programmed to accept a file to open as a command line argument. Fortunately, it is, as are the majority of Windows applications that operate on files.
In case you want this to work with relative path in PowerShell, here is the script:
function photo
{
$the_filename=resolve-path $args[0]
photoshop $the_filename
}
Then you can just type:
cd C:\Users\csterling\Documents
photo mypic.jpg
You can do it by using the start command:
start <program-name> <file-path>
In your case, you would have to do something like this:
start photoshop D:\open.pdf
Unfortunately, the current version of Photoshop doesn't support this operation out of the box. You can open the program: start "path_to_photoshop.exe", but there is no way to pass it a file to open. If you really want to do it, you will need to get something like this: https://www.eulanda.eu/en/access-photoshop-api-via-powershell-script. Sorry, I wish I had a better answer, especially since I wanted to be able to do this for a program I was working on.
Was reading about ADS(Alternate data streams) in windows, so came across this thing.
Working on Windows XP to test the following.
I created a file with name - sample.txt with the content - "hello there"
Created another file with name - second.txt with content - "I am hidden"
At command prompt did the following:-
type second.txt > sample.txt:newfile.txt
It executes successfully
Now, if i type this:-
notepad sample.txt:newfile.txt
Notepad opens newfile.txt with the content - "I am hidden"
Till here, its normal
Now, I tried to hide an exe file,lets say - notepad.exe behind a txt sample like this:--
(i have copied notepad.exe in the same folder)
type notepad.exe > sample.txt:newexe.exe
Above command runs successfully.
Question is, now how can i run that exe file which is now behind text file. My guess is I need some form of interpreter (like notepad.exe in the first example) to make my exe run. Does exe files require some sort of interpreter to run(like text files need some editor)??
I know, exe files can be run directly, but here in this case thats not working. Even tried:--
start second.txt:newexe.exe
but it doesnt work. Help will be greatly appreciated, as I dont know much about windows internals.
Sensibly, Windows will not allow this and will throw an Access Denied if you try to execute it, similarly there is no easy way to copy a binary stream.
With administrative privs you can mklink blah.exe sample.txt:newexe.exe which would create a symlink to the executable ADS, executable via blah.exe.
Under Windows XP you must give the full qualified name of the ADS to start (in this case I have 'hidden' depends.exe in dbgview.exe):