🚀 Build a File Share Safety Checker (Python + Tkinter)

#python #tutorial #beginners #opensource

Detect hidden risks before sharing files — metadata, secrets, and more.

In this tutorial, we’ll build a desktop privacy scanner using Python.
It helps you analyze files and detect:

🔐 Sensitive filenames (passwords, API keys…)
📸 Image metadata (GPS location, device info)
📄 PDF author info
📊 Hidden Excel sheets
📦 Suspicious ZIP contents
🧰 1. Install Dependencies

First, install required libraries:

pip install pillow pypdf openpyxl ttkbootstrap tkinterdnd2

🏗️ 2. Basic App Setup

We start by creating the main window using tkinter and ttkbootstrap.

import tkinter as tk
import ttkbootstrap as tb
from tkinterdnd2 import TkinterDnD

APP_NAME = "File Share Safety Checker PRO"
APP_VERSION = "3.5.0"

app = TkinterDnD.Tk()
app.title(f"{APP_NAME} v{APP_VERSION}")
app.geometry("1400x780")

tb.Style("darkly")

💡 Explanation
TkinterDnD.Tk() → enables drag & drop
ttkbootstrap → modern UI theme
geometry() → sets window size
📦 3. App State (Core Variables)

We store files, results, and UI communication here:

from queue import Queue
import threading

file_list = []
results = {}

ui_queue = Queue()
progress_var = tk.IntVar(value=0)

context_mode = tk.StringVar(value="PUBLIC")
cancel_flag = threading.Event()

💡 Why this matters
results → stores scan findings
ui_queue → thread-safe UI updates
context_mode → affects risk scoring
⚠️ 4. Risk Engine (Scoring System)

This is the brain of the app.

def add_issue(file, score, msg):
    if file not in results:
        results[file] = {"score": 0, "issues": []}
    results[file]["score"] += score
    results[file]["issues"].append(msg)

💡 What it does
Adds issues per file
Increases risk score
Final Score Calculation

def finalize_score(file):
    score = min(results[file]["score"], 100)

    if context_mode.get() == "INTERNAL":
        score = int(score * 0.7)

    if score >= 70:
        risk = "HIGH"
    elif score >= 40:
        risk = "WARNING"
    elif score > 0:
        risk = "INFO"
    else:
        risk = "OK"

    return score, risk

💡 Logic
Caps score at 100
Reduces risk if internal use
Converts score → readable level
🔍 5. File Detection Rules
🧠 5.1 Filename Scanner

import os

def check_filename(file):
    keywords = ["password","secret","salary","api","key","private","token"]
    name = os.path.basename(file).lower()

    for k in keywords:
        if k in name:
            add_issue(file, 40, f"Sensitive keyword: {k}")

💡 Detects:
risky file names like password.txt
📸 5.2 Image Metadata Scanner

from PIL import Image, ExifTags

def check_image(file):
    try:
        img = Image.open(file)
        exif = img._getexif()

        if not exif:
            return

        for tag, val in exif.items():
            tag_name = ExifTags.TAGS.get(tag, tag)

            if "GPS" in str(tag_name):
                add_issue(file, 70, "GPS location found")

            if "Model" in str(tag_name):
                add_issue(file, 10, f"Device: {val}")
    except:
        pass

💡 Detects:
📍 GPS location (high risk)
📱 Device model
📄 5.3 PDF Metadata

from pypdf import PdfReader

def check_pdf(file):
    try:
        reader = PdfReader(file)
        meta = reader.metadata

        if meta and meta.author:
            add_issue(file, 30, f"Author: {meta.author}")
    except:
        pass

📊 5.4 Excel Hidden Sheets

from openpyxl import load_workbook

def check_excel(file):
    try:
        wb = load_workbook(file)

        for s in wb.worksheets:
            if s.sheet_state != "visible":
                add_issue(file, 30, f"Hidden sheet: {s.title}")
    except:
        pass

📦 5.5 ZIP Scanner

import zipfile

def check_zip(file):
    try:
        with zipfile.ZipFile(file) as z:
            for name in z.namelist():
                if any(x in name.lower() for x in ["password","secret","key"]):
                    add_issue(file, 60, f"ZIP contains: {name}")
    except:
        pass

⚡ 6. Multithreaded Scanner

We scan files in parallel for speed.

from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor, as_completed

def scan():
    results.clear()
    ui_queue.put(("clear_results", None))

    files = list(file_list)
    total = len(files)

    def worker(file):
        check_filename(file)

        if file.lower().endswith((".jpg",".png",".jpeg")):
            check_image(file)
        elif file.endswith(".pdf"):
            check_pdf(file)
        elif file.endswith(".xlsx"):
            check_excel(file)
        elif file.endswith(".zip"):
            check_zip(file)

Run Threads

    done = 0

    with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=6) as ex:
        futures = [ex.submit(worker, f) for f in files]

        for f in as_completed(futures):
            done += 1
            ui_queue.put(("progress", int(done/total*100)))

Push Results to UI

    for f in results:
        score, risk = finalize_score(f)
        issues = "; ".join(results[f]["issues"])

        ui_queue.put(("result", (f, risk, score, issues)))

🔐 7. Sanitize Images (Remove Metadata)

from PIL import Image

def strip_metadata_copy(src, dest_folder):
    try:
        img = Image.open(src)
        data = list(img.getdata())

        clean = Image.new(img.mode, img.size)
        clean.putdata(data)

        new_path = os.path.join(dest_folder, os.path.basename(src))
        clean.save(new_path)

        return new_path
    except:
        return None

💡 What it does
Removes EXIF metadata
Keeps only raw pixels
📁 8. File Input (UI Actions)
Add Files

from tkinter import filedialog

def add_files():
    files = filedialog.askopenfilenames()
    for f in files:
        if f not in file_list:
            file_list.append(f)

Add Folder

def add_folder():
    folder = filedialog.askdirectory()

    for root, _, files in os.walk(folder):
        for f in files:
            file_list.append(os.path.join(root, f))

Drag & Drop

def drop_files(event):
    files = app.tk.splitlist(event.data)

    for f in files:
        if os.path.isfile(f):
            file_list.append(f)

📊 9. Export Results (CSV)

import csv

def export_csv():
    path = filedialog.asksaveasfilename(defaultextension=".csv")

    with open(path,"w",newline="",encoding="utf-8") as f:
        writer = csv.writer(f)
        writer.writerow(["File","Risk","Score","Issues"])

        for row in tree.get_children():
            data = tree.item(row)["values"]
            if data[1] in ("HIGH","WARNING"):
                writer.writerow(data)

🔄 10. Thread-Safe UI Updates

from queue import Empty

def process_queue():
    try:
        while True:
            cmd, data = ui_queue.get_nowait()

            if cmd == "result":
                tree.insert("", "end", values=data, tags=(data[1],))

            elif cmd == "progress":
                progress_var.set(data)

            elif cmd == "clear_results":
                tree.delete(*tree.get_children())

    except Empty:
        pass

    app.after(80, process_queue)