In many work scenarios, you may need to handle multiple image files efficiently. Instead of opening each image individually, it's more productive to combine them into a single PDF document for easy previewing. Traditional tools like Adobe can be slow when processing large numbers of images, often displaying error messagse about quantity limits. Let's implement a Python solution for this requirement.

Implementation

1. Library Imports

First, we need to install and import the necessary libraries using pip:

pip install pillow
pip install tkinter

Then import the required modules:

from tkinter import Tk, Label, Button, Radiobutton, IntVar, messagebox
from tkinter import filedialog
from PIL import Image
import os

2. Core Conversion Logic

The following functions hendle the image-to-PDF conversion process:

def select_directory(self):
    """Open a dialog to select a folder containing images"""
    self.image_directory = filedialog.askdirectory()
    if not self.image_directory:
        messagebox.showinfo("Information", "No directory selected. Please choose a folder.")
    else:
        messagebox.showinfo("Information", f"Selected directory: {self.image_directory}")

def transform_images_to_pdf(self):
    """Convert images to PDF format based on user selection"""
    if not hasattr(self, 'image_directory') or not self.image_directory:
        messagebox.showinfo("Error", "Please select an image directory first.")
        return

    output_directory = os.path.join(self.image_directory, "pdf_output")
    if not os.path.exists(output_directory):
        os.makedirs(output_directory)

    image_collection = []

    for image_file in os.listdir(self.image_directory):
        if image_file.lower().endswith((".png", ".jpg", ".jpeg")):
            image_path = os.path.join(self.image_directory, image_file)
            image = Image.open(image_path).convert('RGB')

            if self.composite_pdf_option.get() == 1:
                image_collection.append(image)
            else:
                pdf_filename = os.path.splitext(image_file)[0] + '.pdf'
                pdf_path = os.path.join(output_directory, pdf_filename)
                image.save(pdf_path)
                print(f"Converted {image_file} to PDF in {output_directory}.")

    if self.composite_pdf_option.get() == 1 and image_collection:
        merged_pdf_path = os.path.join(output_directory, "combined_images.pdf")
        image_collection[0].save(merged_pdf_path, save_all=True, append_images=image_collection[1:])
        print(f"All images merged into {merged_pdf_path}")

    messagebox.showinfo("Completion", "Conversion finished. Check the output folder.")

3. User Interface

The graphical interface allows users to select options and start the conversion:

def __init__(self, root):
    self.root = root
    self.root.title("Image to PDF Converter")

    self.composite_pdf_option = IntVar()
    self.composite_pdf_option.set(0)  # Default: separate PDFs

    Label(root, text="Convert images to PDF").pack()

    Button(root, text="Select Image Directory", command=self.select_directory).pack()

    Radiobutton(root, text="Combine into single PDF", variable=self.composite_pdf_option, value=1).pack()
    Radiobutton(root, text="Create separate PDF for each image", variable=self.composite_pdf_option, value=0).pack()

    Button(root, text="Start Conversion", command=self.transform_images_to_pdf).pack()