to_pdf: allow to choose the quality

[fzumstein]

this is currently hardcoded to PrintQuality.

[Acer1968]

Hi Felix.
I am sorry, I am newbie in python and github, so I don´t know if I can ask you here for help.
My problem is that the PDF file created via .to_pdf() method is too big (more then 10 times) in comparation with printing via NitroPDF, for example.
I add two files for your comparing, so you can see that.
The printing via NitroPDF´s CLI are not quite easy (for me - I tried call NitroPDF via os.system(command) or via subprocess.run() method), but some issues are there (for example, NitroPDF ignore print_area or when I setup print-area via xlwings, NitroPDF is not running and Excel give error with duplicate area :-O ).
So I return to your .to_pdf() method, but the size of file is quite big :-(
Do you have some advice?

Petr V.

P.S: I appologise for my English.
op30_nitro.pdf
op30_xlwings.pdf

[fzumstein]

Hi Petr, could you upload the Excel file from which you're printing?

I am surprised by the size even with the current high quality. As the issue says, I'll add the option to chose the low-quality option which will definitely shrink size. To use another PDF print driver, we'd have to use the print method, see: #504

[Acer1968]

Hi Felix.
Thx for your reply. Yes, I can send the excel file. And yes, I am sending the PDF file Sheet1.pdf as result from:

xlwings.Book(r"D:/somepathtofile/docasny.xlsx").sheets[0].to_pdf()

So you see that the file size is 410kB and from NitroPDF only 33kB...

And the advice from #504 is not working for me too, because this error appears:
xlwings.Sheet("Invoice").xl_sheet.PrintOut()
'Sheet' object has no attribute 'xl_sheet'

I bought your book Python for Excel and nothing about PDF or .to_pdf() method is there :-(

Maybe you will find why is the file so big ... Thank you.

Petr V.
Sheet1_nitro.pdf
Sheet1.pdf
docasny.xlsx

[fzumstein]

Here are my findings:

• Opening your file causes a name conflict with Print_Area
• Exporting it from Excel to PDF with high quality or running mybook.to_pdf() both results in a file around 110KB
• Exporting it from Excel to PDF with low quality results in around 95KB, so not a huge difference in this case. As mentioned, this option isn't available yet via to_pdf, but this issue is about adding this option. While these file sizes are still bigger than the one produced by nitro, it's still 4x smaller than your version.
• xlwings.Sheet('Sheet').print ? #504 is super old, so you'd need to scroll to the bottom for the correct syntax. These days you need to to:

import xlwings as xw
book = xw.Book(...)
book.sheets['Invoice'].api.PrintOut()

[Acer1968]

Hi Felix.
Thank you for your investigation, it pointed to me the next direction ...

I will be patiently waiting you add a choose of quality, good luck.

Now I don´t want to abuse your willingness.

Petr V.

P.S. your book is written very clearly, my English is not advanced (as you noticed), but I understand all. Great job.