PyInstaller and python-docx module do not work together

Question

I am trying to make an executable of my program to give to my FTC team. Everything works but when I try to use my script that includes python-docx in it but it does not complete the whole thing. It works when I run it in PyCharm and from the terminal. Here is the code. I have python3.

from tkinter import *
import sys,math,random,datetime,os,time
import tkinter.messagebox
from tkinter import filedialog
from tkinter.filedialog import askopenfilename
from tkinter.messagebox import showerror
from time import gmtime, strftime
from docx import Document
from docx.shared import Inches
import xlsxwriter

export = "Excel"
job = "No Job"
current_time = strftime("%m-%d-%Y", gmtime())
root = Tk()

TextArea = Text(width=60,height=17,pady=0)
task = Entry(width=90)
task.insert(10, "Task:")
e1 = Entry()
e1.insert(10, "First Name")
e2 = Entry()
e2.insert(10, "Last Name")
TextArea.insert(END, "Reflection:")
title = ["Titan Tech ", "Caleb Fahlgren made this!", "Python is life!", "FIRST Robotics!","This program is over 200 lines of code!"]
title = (random.choice(title))
root.title(title)
root.geometry("680x600")

#Submit Button
#This definition writes to the excel file
def Submit():
    submit = tkinter.messagebox.askquestion("Submit Entry", "Are you sure you want to submit?")
    if submit == "yes":
        current_time = strftime("%m-%d-%Y %H:%M", gmtime())
        fullname = "%s %s" % (e1.get(), e2.get())
        lastname = "%s" % (e2.get())
        task1 = "%s" % (task.get())
        alltext = TextArea.get("1.0",END)
        workbook = xlsxwriter.Workbook('Titan Tech ' + (strftime("%m-%d-%Y", gmtime())) + '.xlsx')
        worksheet = workbook.add_worksheet()
        format_text = workbook.add_format()
        format_text.set_text_wrap()
        cell_format = workbook.add_format({'align': 'center','valign': 'vcenter','border': 1,'text_wrap': 1})
        middle = workbook.add_format({'align':'center'})
        worksheet.merge_range('A5:G20', "", cell_format)
        worksheet.merge_range('A4:G4', "", cell_format)
        bold = workbook.add_format({'bold': 1})
        worksheet.write('A1', 'Name:',bold)
        worksheet.write('A4', task1)
        worksheet.write_string('B1',fullname, bold)
        worksheet.merge_range('A2:B2', "", cell_format)
        worksheet.merge_range('D2:E2', "", cell_format)
        worksheet.write_string('A2',"Student Initials")
        worksheet.write_string('C2',"_______",middle)
        worksheet.write_string('D2',"Mentor Initials")
        worksheet.write_string('F2',"_______",middle)
        worksheet.write('E1', 'Date:',bold)
        worksheet.write('F1',(strftime("%m-%d-%Y", gmtime())),bold)
        worksheet.write_rich_string('A5',alltext ,cell_format)
        userconfirm = tkinter.messagebox.showinfo("Save","Your entry has been saved to an " + export + " document!")
        workbook.close()

def Reset():
    python = sys.executable
    os.execl(python, python, * sys.argv)

def keypress(event):
    if event.keysym == 'Escape':
        root.destroy()

def Quit():
    quitask = tkinter.messagebox.askquestion("Quit", "Are you sure you want to quit?")
    if quitask == "yes":
        root.destroy()


firstname = Label(root, text="First Name",font=("Helvetica", 12),fg="green")
lastname = Label(root, text="Last Name",font=("Helvetica", 12),fg="green")
time = Label(root, text=current_time, font=("Helvetica", 12),fg="black")

ScrollBar = Scrollbar(root)
ScrollBar.config(command=TextArea.yview)
TextArea.config(yscrollcommand=ScrollBar.set)
ScrollBar.pack(side=RIGHT, fill=Y)


def cf():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Sample")
    e2.insert(10, "Name 1")
def al():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Sample")
    e2.insert(10, "Name 2")
def cm():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Sample")
    e2.insert(10, "Name 3")
def np():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Sample")
    e2.insert(10, "Name 4")
def cp():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Sample")
    e2.insert(10, "Name 5")
def ns():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Sample")
    e2.insert(10, "Name 6")
def ct():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Sample")
    e2.insert(10, "Name 7")
def kt():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Sample")
    e2.insert(10, "Name 8")
def mt():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Sample")
    e2.insert(10, "Name 9")
def ek():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Sample")
    e2.insert(10, "Name 10")
def n():
    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')
    e1.insert(10, "Team")
    e2.insert(10, "Name")
def other():

    e1.delete(0, 'end')
    e2.delete(0, 'end')

def TextFile():
    current_time = strftime("%m-%d-%Y", gmtime())
    fullname = "%s %s" % (e1.get(), e2.get())
    lastname = "%s" % (e2.get())
    task1 = "%s" % (task.get())
    alltext = TextArea.get("1.0",END)
    textfile1 = tkinter.messagebox.askquestion("Text File", "Are you sure you want to export as a text file?")
    if textfile1 == "yes":
        textfile = open('Titan Tech' + (strftime("%m-%d-%Y", gmtime())) + '.txt',"w")
        textfile.write("Titan Tech  | Team # 10385   ")
        textfile.write("Name: " + fullname)
        textfile.write("        " + "Date: " + current_time)
        textfile.write('\n' + '\n' + task1)
        textfile.write('\n' + '\n' + alltext)
        textfile.close()
        tkinter.messagebox.showinfo("Save", "You have exported to text file successfully. It is in the location of this program.")

def helpmenusave():
    helpsaveconfirm = tkinter.messagebox.showinfo("Save", "This program exports the Excel, World, or text document to the location of this program!")

def userinterfacemenu():
    helpuserinterface = tkinter.messagebox.showinfo("User Interface", "The Users tab is where you can click on your name to autofill the name text boxes. The Export tab is where you choose to export to a specific format.")

def Open():
    textopen = tkinter.filedialog.askopenfile(mode='r', filetypes=[('Text Files', '*.txt'),('All Files', '*')])
    if textopen != None:
        txtopen = textopen.read()
        TextArea.delete(1.0,END)
        TextArea.insert(END,txtopen)
        tkinter.messagebox.showinfo("Open",  "Success!")
        try:
            txtopen.close()
        except AttributeError:
            print("Attribute Error")

menubar = Menu(root)
filemenu = Menu(menubar,tearoff = 0)
filemenu.add_command(label="New",command=Reset)
filemenu.add_command(label="Open",command=Open)
filemenu.add_command(label="Exit",command=Quit)
menubar.add_cascade(label="File",menu=filemenu)

#help menu
helpmenu = Menu(menubar,tearoff = 0)
helpmenu.add_command(label="None", command=n)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Sample Name 1", command=cf)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Sample Name 2", command=al)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Sample Name 3", command=cm)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Sample Name 4", command=np)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Sample Name 5",command=cp)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Sample Name 6",command=ns)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Sample Name 7",command=ct)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Sample Name 8",command=kt)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Sample Name 9",command=mt)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Sample Name 10", command=ek)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Other", command=other)
menubar.add_cascade(label="Users",menu=helpmenu)

This is where the problem is. It works in Pycharm and in terminal but when I compile it with PyInstaller it only does the wordsaveask = tkinter.messagebox.askquestion line but nothing under it. It is supposed to create the Word file but doesn't. I also don't get any error messages.

def Word():
    current_time = strftime("%m-%d-%Y", gmtime())
    lastname = "%s" % (e2.get())
    fullname = "%s %s" % (e1.get(), e2.get())
    task1 = "%s" % (task.get())
    alltext = TextArea.get("1.0",END)
    wordsaveask = tkinter.messagebox.askquestion("Save", "Are you sure you want to export to a Microsoft Word file?")
    if wordsaveask == ("yes") :
        document = Document()
        document.add_heading('FTC Titan Tech Summary', 0)
        document.add_paragraph('Titan Tech  | Team # 10385')
        document.add_paragraph('Mentor Initials ____           Student Initials _____')
        document.add_paragraph('Name: ' + fullname)
        document.add_paragraph('Date: ' + current_time)
        document.add_paragraph(task1)
        document.add_paragraph(alltext)
        document.save('Titan Tech ' + (strftime("%m-%d-%Y", gmtime())) + '.docx')
        tkinter.messagebox.showinfo('Save', 'The program has exported the information to a Microsoft Word document!')

#export 
exportmenu = Menu(menubar, tearoff = 0)
exportmenu.add_command(label="Microsoft Excel",command=Submit)
exportmenu.add_command(label="Microsoft Word",command=Word)
exportmenu.add_command(label="Text File",command=TextFile)
menubar.add_cascade(label="Export",menu=exportmenu)

helpmenu = Menu(menubar, tearoff = 0)
helpmenu.add_command(label="Save Help", command=helpmenusave)
helpmenu.add_command(label="User Interface", command=userinterfacemenu)
menubar.add_cascade(label="Help",menu=helpmenu)
root.config(menu=menubar)

Submit = Button(root, fg="white", bg="green", text="Submit", width=50, command=Submit, activebackground="yellow")
Quit = Button(root, fg="white", bg="green", text="Quit", width=50, command=Quit,activebackground="yellow")

root.bind_all('<Key>', keypress)
firstname.pack()
e1.pack()
lastname.pack()
e2.pack()
time.pack()
task.pack()
TextArea.pack(expand=YES, fill=BOTH)
Submit.pack()
Quit.pack()
mainloop()

Answer 1

Pyinstaller doesn't include docx modules(I had the same problem, i will write it for others because i couldnt find proper tutorial how to fix it)

If you have Pyinstaller installed use in cmd:

pyi-makespec your_py_file_name.py

This command creates .spec file but does not go on to build the executable.

Open .spec file in Notepad and edit it by adding:

import sys
from os import path
site_packages = next(p for p in sys.path if 'site-packages' in p)

And

datas=[(path.join(site_packages,"docx","templates"), "docx/templates")],

My example .spec file looks like this

# -*- mode: python -*-

import sys
from os import path
site_packages = next(p for p in sys.path if 'site-packages' in p)
block_cipher = None


a = Analysis(['xml_reader.py'],
             pathex=['C:\\Users\\Lenovo\\Desktop\\exe'],
             binaries=[],
             datas=[(path.join(site_packages,"docx","templates"), 
"docx/templates")],
             hiddenimports=[],
             hookspath=[],
             runtime_hooks=[],
             excludes=[],
             win_no_prefer_redirects=False,
             win_private_assemblies=False,
             cipher=block_cipher)
pyz = PYZ(a.pure, a.zipped_data,
             cipher=block_cipher)
exe = EXE(pyz,
          a.scripts,
          exclude_binaries=True,
          name='xml_reader',
          debug=False,
          strip=False,
          upx=True,
          console=True )
coll = COLLECT(exe,
               a.binaries,
               a.zipfiles,
               a.datas,
               strip=False,
               upx=True,
               name='xml_reader')

To make exe file type in cmd

pyinstaller your_py_file_name.spec

It should produce dist folder where is your executable

Answer 2

A big problem is that if there is something wrong the error gets lost:

from tkinter import *
import tkinter.messagebox

root = Tk()

def Word():
    wordsaveask = tkinter.messagebox.askquestion("Save", "do you want to save?")
    if wordsaveask == ("yes"):
        with open('Titan Tech.docx',"w") as f:
            f.write("TEST")
        tkinter.messagebox.showinfo('Saved', 'The file was made')
    else:
        tkinter.messagebox.showinfo("ok","did not save")

button = Button(root,text="test",command=Word)

button.pack()

mainloop()

This works for me when running normally but fails when inside a packaged app, and without access to the console I can't see the error messages, so here is a way to display them to the tk application:

from tkinter import *
import tkinter.messagebox

root = Tk()

def Word():
    try: #SOMETHING HERE IS GOING WRONG
        wordsaveask = tkinter.messagebox.askquestion("Save", "Are you sure you want to export to a Microsoft Word file?")
        if wordsaveask == ("yes"):
            with open('Titan Tech.docx',"w") as f:
                f.write("TEST")
            tkinter.messagebox.showinfo('Save', 'The program has exported the information to a Microsoft Word document!')
        else:
            tkinter.messagebox.showinfo("ok","did not save")
    except:
        import traceback
        tkinter.messagebox.showinfo("ERROR",traceback.format_exc())
        raise # Errors should never pass silently. - The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters

button = Button(root,text="test",command=Word)

button.pack()

mainloop()

once I run this I get this handy little popup:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/Tadhg/Documents/codes/test.app/Contents/Resources/main.py", line 10, in Word
    with open('Titan Tech.docx',"w") as f:
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'Titan Tech.docx'

This will hopefully let you debug your application to figure out what is going on, hope it helps :)