RecommendationLetterGenerator

This script automates the generation of personalized recommendation letters based on data from an Excel file and a Word template. The letters are saved as PDF files.

Requirements

• Microsoft Word is installed
• Python Version: Python 3.8 or later
• Python Libraries:
  • pandas
  • python-docx
  • datetime (built-in with Python)
  • docx2pdf
  • openpyxl
• Input Files:
  • An Excel file named Applications-details.xlsx
  • A Word template named RecommendationLetter_Template.docx

Installation Guide

Step 1: Clone or Download the Script

Download the script and place it in your working directory along with the Applications-details.xlsx and RecommendationLetter_Template.docx files.

Step 2: Create a Virtual Environment (Optional but Recommended)

Run the following commands to create and activate a virtual environment:

On macOS/Linux:

python -m venv recommendation
source recommendation/bin/activate

Step 3: Install Required Libraries

Install the dependencies using pip:

pip install pandas python-docx docx2pdf openpyxl

Step 4: Prepare Input Files

Ensure the following files are in the same directory as the script:

• Excel File: Applications-details.xlsx
  • Contains the data for generating recommendation letters (Sheet name: Details).
• Word Template: RecommendationLetter_Template.docx
  • Contains placeholders like <Date>, <Recommendation-Committee>, etc.

Step 5: Run the Script

Execute the script using the following command:

python generate_letters.py

Resulting Word and PDF files will be inside "GeneratedLetters" folder.

References

• Some codes are generated with the help of ChatGPT