PrintReactor

Note: This app is in very early development. Expect bugs, missing features, and rapid changes. Feedback and contributions are welcome!

A modern, cross-platform document printing solution with format conversion, inspired by the lack of open source alternatives to PrintConductor.

Why PrintReactor?

I created PrintReactor because I could not find any open source alternative to PrintConductor. This project aims to fill that gap and provide a free, community-driven, and extensible solution for batch printing and document conversion.

✨ Features

Document Conversion

• Office Documents: DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, DOC, XLS, PPT
• LibreOffice Formats: ODT, ODS, ODP
• Spreadsheets: CSV, XLSM, XLSB
• Presentations: PPS, PPSX, PPTM
• Images: JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF
• Text Files: TXT, CFG, CONF, LOG, MD
• Web: HTML (planned)
• PDFs: Direct printing without conversion

Printing Capabilities

• Multi-Method Fallback System: Automatically switches between RAW, PowerShell, and Shell Print methods for maximum printer compatibility
• Legacy Printer Support: Works with older printers that don't support modern XPS/RAW modes
• Batch Queue Management: Print multiple files in sequence
• Modern UI: Dark/light theme support with Svelte 5
• Cross-Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux support

📸 Screenshots

📋 DEV Requirements

Windows

• OS: Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
• Go: 1.24.1 or later (for building from source)
• LibreOffice: 7.0+ (recommended for office document conversion)
  • Download: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/
  • Alternative: Microsoft Office (limited support)
• Node.js: 18+ and pnpm (for frontend development)

macOS (Not sure, I did not test on mac yet.)

[TODO]

Linux

• OS: Ubuntu 20.04+, Fedora 35+, or equivalent
• Go: 1.24.1 or later
• LibreOffice: 7.0+ (required for office document conversion)
• Dependencies: gtk3, webkit2gtk
• Node.js: 18+ and pnpm

💾 Installation

Pre-built Binaries

Download from Releases

Build from Source

See BUILDING.md for detailed build instructions for all platforms.

Quick start:

# Install Wails CLI
go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/cheikhhachem/PrintReactor.git
cd PrintReactor
cd frontend && pnpm install && cd ..
wails build # Or use wails dev for live changes

🚀 Usage

1. Launch PrintReactor
2. Add files via drag-and-drop or file picker
3. Select printer from the dropdown
4. Click Print to start the queue

Office File Conversion

• Windows: LibreOffice (recommended) or Microsoft Office
• macOS/Linux: LibreOffice (required)

🔧 Troubleshooting

Conversion Issues

Problem: Office documents fail to convert or dont get added to the queue

• Solution:
  1. Install LibreOffice: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/
  2. Ensure LibreOffice is in PATH or installed in default location
  3. On Windows: Check C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.exe

Problem: Conversion is slow

• Solution: LibreOffice and specially Microsoft Office first-launch initialization can be slow. Subsequent conversions will be faster.

General Issues

Problem: Application won't start

• Solution:
  1. Check Windows Event Viewer for errors
  2. Ensure .NET Framework 4.8+ is installed
  3. Try running as administrator

Need More Help?

• Check GitHub Issues
• Create a new issue with logs from %TEMP%\PrintReactor\ (Not implemented yet , but it will be in the near future.)

🏗️ Architecture

• Backend: Go 1.24.1 with Wails v2 framework
• Frontend: Svelte 5 + TypeScript + Vite + TailwindCSS 4
• Printing: Multi-method fallback system (PowerShell → RAW → Shell Print)
• Conversion: LibreOffice headless mode with smart polling
• Temp Management: Cross-platform temp directory with delayed cleanup

For detailed architecture documentation, see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

🗺️ Roadmap

Core Features (Completed)

• ✅ Multi-format document conversion
• ✅ Fallback printing system
• ✅ Basic queue management
• ✅ Temp file lifecycle management

Planned Features

• HTML to PDF: Web page printing support
• Logs: Proper logs and logging system that will allow us to track and find issues more easely
• Enhanced UI: Drag-and-drop reordering in queue
• Printer Settings: Custom DPI, orientation, paper size per job
• PDF Generation: Save converted documents as PDF without printing
• Print Profiles: Save/load printer/local configurations
• Notification System: Desktop notifications for job completion
• Scheduled Printing: Time-based print job execution

Not Planed yet, but mabe in consideration

• Multi-Language Support: i18n with more translations
• Print History: View and reprint previous jobs
• Plugin System: Extensible architecture for custom converters
• Cloud Integration: Print from cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox)
• Print Server Mode: Network-based print queue sharing

Community Requests

Have a feature idea? Open an issue with the enhancement label!

🤝 Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

We welcome contributions of all kinds:

• 🐛 Bug reports and fixes
• ✨ New features and enhancements
• 📖 Documentation improvements
• 🌍 Translations
• 🧪 Test coverage

📄 License

GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 - See LICENSE

This means:

• ✅ Free to use, modify, and distribute
• ✅ Can use in commercial projects
• ⚠️ Must disclose source code when distributing
• ⚠️ Network use is considered distribution (AGPL requirement)

👤 Author

Cheikh Hachem

• Website: hachem.pro
• Email: hachem@hachem.pro
• GitHub: @cheikhhachem

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Wails - Fantastic Go + Web framework
• LibreOffice - Document conversion engine
• godoes/printers - Windows printer library
• Svelte - Reactive UI framework
• All contributors and testers

📊 Project Status

• Development Status: Early Beta
• Stability: Experimental
• Production Ready: Not yet recommended
• Active Development: Yes