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PDF Text Extractor — Windows build

This folder contains everything needed to produce a Windows PDFTextExtractor.exe from the same pdf_text_extractor.py source as the macOS build.

For end users

You don't need anything in this folder. Just grab PDFTextExtractor.exe from the latest Release, double-click to run, and click "Run anyway" the first time SmartScreen complains (unsigned app — one-time bypass).

Requires Windows 10 (1809) or newer, x64.

For developers — building locally

One command (Windows)

cd windows
build_app.bat

The script:

  • Picks Python 3.10, 3.11, or 3.12 (via the py launcher or python on PATH)
  • Creates an isolated build venv at windows\.venv\
  • Installs PyInstaller, PyQt6, and PyMuPDF
  • Runs PyInstaller against PDFTextExtractor_win.spec
  • Outputs windows\dist\PDFTextExtractor.exe (~80 MB, single file)

First run takes ~2 minutes (downloads ~150 MB of build deps). Subsequent rebuilds reuse the cached venv and finish in ~30 seconds.

Requirements

  • Windows 10/11 x64
  • Python 3.10, 3.11, or 3.12 — install from python.org and check "Add python.exe to PATH" during install
  • ~500 MB free disk for the build venv

Building via GitHub Actions instead

The repo includes .github/workflows/build-windows.yml. Push a tag like v2.1.0 and CI will build the .exe on a Windows runner and attach it to the matching GitHub Release automatically — no Windows machine required.

Files

windows/
├── PDFTextExtractor_win.spec   ← PyInstaller config (single-file .exe, GUI mode)
├── version_info.txt            ← Windows VERSIONINFO resource for the .exe
├── build_app.bat               ← One-command builder
├── AppIcon.ico                 ← Multi-resolution Windows icon
└── dist/
    └── PDFTextExtractor.exe    ← Build output (gitignored)

Notes

  • Single-file mode — On launch the bundled .exe extracts itself to %TEMP%\_MEI* and runs from there. First launch is ~3 seconds slower than a folder build, but you ship one tidy file.
  • No code signing — Clients see a SmartScreen warning the first time. To make that go away, sign the .exe with a code-signing certificate (~$200–400/year for an OV cert). Hook it in by adding the signing step at the end of build_app.bat or as a workflow step in CI.
  • Antivirus false positives — PyInstaller's bootloader is sometimes flagged by overzealous AV vendors. The fix is the same as code signing — a signed binary almost never trips heuristics. UPX compression is disabled in the spec because it amplifies these false positives.
  • The same pdf_text_extractor.py runs on both macOS and Windows. It already branches font choices on sys.platform, so the UI uses Segoe UI / Consolas on Windows automatically.