PDF generation (-p flag) fails silently on Windows even with LibreOffice installed

[Adarshkumar0509]

Describe the bug
PDF generation using the -p flag fails silently on Windows even when LibreOffice is installed. The converter detects LibreOffice at C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.exe but then flags it as "potentially dangerous" due to the space in the path, blocking PDF conversion entirely. The error message incorrectly tells users to "install LibreOffice" even though it is already installed.

To Reproduce

1. Install LibreOffice on Windows
2. Clone the repository
3. Run: python scripts/convert.py -lt guide -l en -v 2.2 -p
4. Observe WARNING messages and no PDF is generated

Expected behavior
A PDF file should be generated in the output folder when the -p flag is used with LibreOffice installed.

Screenshots

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Windows 11 (Version 25H2, Build 26200.7922)
• Browser: N/A
• Python: 3.13.9
• Version: v2.2-EN
• LibreOffice: installed at C:\Program Files\LibreOffice

Smartphone:

• N/A

Additional context
The root cause appears to be in _validate_command_args which flags the space in "C:\Program Files" as a potentially dangerous character, blocking the PDF conversion on Windows. The exact warnings are:

WARNING | _validate_command_args | Potentially dangerous character found in argument: C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.exe
WARNING | _handle_conversion_failure | Error. Cannot be converted to pdf on operating system: Windows. Please install LibreOffice for cross-platform PDF support.

No PDF file is created — confirmed by: dir output*.pdf → File Not Found

Are you going to work on fixing this?

• Yes
• No

[Adarshkumar0509]

@sydseter, I was setting up the project on my Windows 11 machine and
got excited to try the PDF generation feature. But no matter what I tried,
it just wouldn't generate a PDF even though LibreOffice was sitting right
there installed. After some digging I realized the issue the space in
"C:\Program Files" is being flagged as dangerous and killing the whole
conversion. Thought this was worth raising since it would affect any
Windows user trying to use this feature. Happy to fix it if you can
guide me! 🙂

[Adarshkumar0509]

@sydseter could you please assign this issue to me? I am ready to start working on the fix.

[sydseter]

I need to have alook at this myself. If I am able to reproduce it, I’ll assign you.

[akarshulk]

@sydseter @Adarshkumar0509 can i work on this is my first contribution

[ANNI160]

Hi! This issue is already addressed in my PR #2745 (github.com//pull/2745). The fix refactors _get_libreoffice_bin() to directly use soffice.exe on Windows, and updates _validate_command_args() to skip the executable path and -env: arguments from dangerous character checks — which resolves the space in C:\Program Files being flagged. All 17 CI checks are passing. Could this issue be closed once PR #2745 is merged?

[Adarshkumar0509]

@ANNI160 thank you so much for contributing whenever @sydseter have time he will look into this, and yeah obviously if you pr resolve this then definitely it will get closed. actually i have also raised a pr #2746 for that issue specially.