Automator script to convert RTF to PDF

Here is a Quick Action that uses a single action (run shell script) to convert specific types of files selected in the Finder to PDF. It is written to use the file's path as the output directory, so selecting a file on the Desktop will see the PDF bearing the original filename written to the Desktop.

Here is the Quick Action:

and the code to copy and paste into the blank Run Shell Script action:

#!/bin/zsh

: <<'COMMENT'
Quick Action to convert selected files in the Finder to PDF. Default output
directory is the same as the input file.

Zsh file modifers: a - absolute path
                   h - just the path, not the file name

Tested: macOS 11.6, Zsh 5.8
Dependency: Needs LibreOffice Suite installed.
VikingOSX, 2021-09-29, Apple Support Communities, No warranties expressed or implied.
COMMENT

source $HOME/.zshrc || :

for f in "${@}";
do
	case "${f}" in
		*.(txt|rtf|doc|docx|odt))
			echo ${f} > ~/Desktop/rpt.txt
			# convert document to PDF and place it in the same folder location
			/Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --headless --convert-to pdf \
				--outdir "${f:a:h}" "${f:a}" 2> /dev/null
			;;
		*.(pdf|rtfd|webarchive))
			continue;;
	esac
done
exit 0

I named by Quick Action, To PDF. You must have the current LibreOffice Suite installed for this QA to work. Presently, LibreOffice needs macOS 10.12 (Sierra) or later.

After Snow Leopard, perhaps a little bit longer, Apple removed the HTML and RTF conversion features from cupsfilter, which is why it now fails with the following message in Big Sur 11.6, and Catalina:

Now, if you want to convert .DOC/X, or RTF to PDF from Automator (in one step) and you do not want to open the source documents in Pages and export them to PDF, you will need a third-party application to achieve this. The free LibreOffice Suite has a command-line tool that you can reference from an Automator Quick Action (run shell script) that will convert any selected, previously mentioned format to PDF. They will either be converted in the same filesystem location, or you can assign a designated folder for the resultant PDF output.

Do you want to see an Automator solution that uses the LibreOffice Suite command-line tool in an Automator Quick Action?

You are welcome.