The Word to PDF is one of the widely practiced document conversions and this is the reason MS Word provides a built-in feature to save Word documents as PDF. Since PDF is a preferred format for sharing the documents or keeping them online, the need for Word to PDF conversion occurs in various scenarios. On the other hand, Android-powered smartphones have made humans’ life easier by putting a multitude of functionality within the phones via apps. Keeping an eye on these trends, in this article, I’ll show you how to convert Word documents to PDF within an Android app. For demonstration, we’ll build a simple Word to PDF Converter app for Android within a few steps having the following features.
- Convert a Word document to PDF
- Save PDF in phone’s storage
- View PDF within the app
Word to PDF Converter Library for Android
For converting MS Word documents into PDF format, we’ll use Aspose.Words for Android via Java that lets you convert DOC/DOCX documents to PDF files seamlessly using a couple of lines of code. You can either download the API or install it using the Maven configuration.
Steps to Convert Word to PDF in Android
The following are the steps to create a simple Word to PDF Converter app in Android using Aspose.Words for Android via Java:
- Create a new project in Android Studio (or Eclipse) and select the “Empty Activity” template.
- Configure your project.
- Open the build.gradle file.
- Add the following repositories section in build.gradle.
repositories {
mavenCentral()
maven { url "https://repository.aspose.com/repo/" }
}
- Add the following entries in the dependencies section of build.gradle.
implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.1.0'
implementation 'com.android.support:multidex:2.0.0'
implementation 'com.github.barteksc:android-pdf-viewer:2.8.2'
compile (group: 'com.aspose', name: 'aspose-words', version: '20.6', classifier: 'android.via.java')
- Enable multidex by adding the following entry under the defaultConfig section in build.gradle.
// enable multiDex
multiDexEnabled true
- The complete build.gradle file will look like the following:
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| apply plugin: 'com.android.application' | |
| android { | |
| compileSdkVersion 30 | |
| buildToolsVersion "30.0.1" | |
| defaultConfig { | |
| applicationId "com.example.wordtopdf" | |
| minSdkVersion 16 | |
| targetSdkVersion 30 | |
| versionCode 1 | |
| versionName "1.0" | |
| // enable multiDex | |
| multiDexEnabled true | |
| testInstrumentationRunner "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner" | |
| } | |
| buildTypes { | |
| release { | |
| minifyEnabled false | |
| proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro' | |
| } | |
| } | |
| } | |
| repositories { | |
| mavenCentral() | |
| maven { url "https://repository.aspose.com/repo/" } | |
| } | |
| dependencies { | |
| implementation fileTree(dir: "libs", include: ["*.jar"]) | |
| implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.1.0' | |
| implementation 'androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout:1.1.3' | |
| implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.1.0' | |
| implementation 'com.android.support:multidex:2.0.0' | |
| implementation 'com.github.barteksc:android-pdf-viewer:2.8.2' | |
| compile (group: 'com.aspose', name: 'aspose-words', version: '20.6', classifier: 'android.via.java') | |
| testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12' | |
| androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.ext:junit:1.1.1' | |
| androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.2.0' | |
| } |
- Open activity_main.xml file.
- Paste the following script for the layout of the main activity.
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| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> | |
| <androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" | |
| xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" | |
| xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" | |
| android:layout_width="match_parent" | |
| android:layout_height="match_parent" | |
| tools:context=".MainActivity"> | |
| <com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.PDFView | |
| android:id="@+id/pdfView" | |
| android:layout_width="match_parent" | |
| android:layout_height="match_parent" | |
| tools:layout_editor_absoluteX="-26dp" | |
| tools:layout_editor_absoluteY="-16dp" /> | |
| <TextView | |
| android:id="@+id/textView" | |
| android:layout_width="wrap_content" | |
| android:layout_height="wrap_content" | |
| android:background="#D3FFFFFF" | |
| android:textColor="#A3A2A2" | |
| app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent" | |
| app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5" | |
| app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent" | |
| tools:ignore="MissingConstraints" | |
| tools:layout_editor_absoluteY="39dp" /> | |
| <com.google.android.material.floatingactionbutton.FloatingActionButton | |
| android:id="@+id/fab" | |
| android:layout_width="wrap_content" | |
| android:layout_height="408dp" | |
| android:layout_gravity="bottom|right" | |
| android:layout_marginEnd="36dp" | |
| android:layout_marginRight="36dp" | |
| android:layout_marginBottom="140dp" | |
| app:backgroundTint="#00BCD4" | |
| app:layout_anchorGravity="bottom|right|end" | |
| app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent" | |
| app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent" | |
| app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/pdfView" | |
| app:srcCompat="@android:drawable/stat_sys_upload" | |
| tools:ignore="MissingConstraints" /> | |
| </androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout> |
- Open MainActivity.java file.
- Paste the following Java code in MainActivity.java.
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| package com.example.wordtopdf; | |
| import androidx.annotation.RequiresApi; | |
| import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity; | |
| import android.annotation.TargetApi; | |
| import android.app.Activity; | |
| import android.content.Intent; | |
| import android.net.Uri; | |
| import android.os.Build; | |
| import android.os.Bundle; | |
| import java.io.File; | |
| import java.io.FileNotFoundException; | |
| import java.io.IOException; | |
| import java.io.InputStream; | |
| import com.aspose.words.Document; | |
| import com.aspose.words.License; | |
| import com.github.barteksc.pdfviewer.PDFView; | |
| import com.google.android.material.floatingactionbutton.FloatingActionButton; | |
| import android.os.Environment; | |
| import android.view.View; | |
| import android.widget.TextView; | |
| import android.widget.Toast; | |
| @TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.FROYO) | |
| public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity { | |
| private static final int PICK_PDF_FILE = 2; | |
| private final String storageDir = Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS) + File.separator; | |
| private final String outputPDF = storageDir + "Converted_PDF.pdf"; | |
| private TextView textView = null; | |
| private Uri document = null; | |
| @Override | |
| protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { | |
| super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); | |
| setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); | |
| // apply the license if you have the Aspose.Words license... | |
| applyLicense(); | |
| // get treeview and set its text | |
| textView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView); | |
| textView.setText("Select a Word DOCX file..."); | |
| // define click listener of floating button | |
| FloatingActionButton myFab = (FloatingActionButton) findViewById(R.id.fab); | |
| myFab.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { | |
| @Override | |
| public void onClick(View view) { | |
| try { | |
| // open Word file from file picker and convert to PDF | |
| openaAndConvertFile(null); | |
| } catch (Exception e) { | |
| e.printStackTrace(); | |
| } | |
| } | |
| }); | |
| } | |
| private void openaAndConvertFile(Uri pickerInitialUri) { | |
| // create a new intent to open document | |
| Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT); | |
| intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE); | |
| // mime types for MS Word documents | |
| String[] mimetypes = {"application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document", "application/msword"}; | |
| intent.setType("*/*"); | |
| intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_MIME_TYPES, mimetypes); | |
| // start activiy | |
| startActivityForResult(intent, PICK_PDF_FILE); | |
| } | |
| @RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT) | |
| @Override | |
| public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, | |
| Intent intent) { | |
| super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, intent); | |
| if (resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) { | |
| if (intent != null) { | |
| document = intent.getData(); | |
| // open the selected document into an Input stream | |
| try (InputStream inputStream = | |
| getContentResolver().openInputStream(document);) { | |
| Document doc = new Document(inputStream); | |
| // save DOCX as PDF | |
| doc.save(outputPDF); | |
| // show PDF file location in toast as well as treeview (optional) | |
| Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "File saved in: " + outputPDF, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); | |
| textView.setText("PDF saved at: " + outputPDF); | |
| // view converted PDF | |
| viewPDFFile(); | |
| } catch (FileNotFoundException e) { | |
| e.printStackTrace(); | |
| Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "File not found: " + e.getMessage(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); | |
| } catch (IOException e) { | |
| e.printStackTrace(); | |
| Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, e.getMessage(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); | |
| } catch (Exception e) { | |
| e.printStackTrace(); | |
| Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, e.getMessage(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); | |
| } | |
| } | |
| } | |
| } | |
| public void viewPDFFile() { | |
| // load PDF into the PDFView | |
| PDFView pdfView = (PDFView) findViewById(R.id.pdfView); | |
| pdfView.fromFile(new File(outputPDF)).load(); | |
| } | |
| public void applyLicense() | |
| { | |
| // set license | |
| License lic= new License(); | |
| InputStream inputStream = getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.license); | |
| try { | |
| lic.setLicense(inputStream); | |
| } catch (Exception e) { | |
| e.printStackTrace(); | |
| } | |
| } | |
| } |
- Build the app and run it within your Android smartphone or a virtual device.
- Allow this app to access the storage by going to Settings->Apps->Permissions->Permission manager->Storage.
Word to PDF Convetrer - Source Code
Download the complete source code of Word to PDF Converter app from GitHub.
Conclusion
In this article, you have learned how to convert Word to PDF within Android apps. You can integrate similar functionality within your own app or enhance this converter up to your desired level. You may learn more about Aspose.Words for Android via Java from the documentation.