In today’s digital workspace, managing multiple document downloads can become chaotic — especially when handling dozens of PDF files.
To simplify this process, I developed a Tkinter-based Multi-Threaded PDF Downloader using Python.
This tool enables concurrent downloads, real-time speed monitoring, and pause/resume control — all inside a simple yet professional GUI interface.
🔗 GitHub Repository: Srijan-XI/PDF-Downloader
🚀 Introduction
The PDF Downloader project merges simplicity and performance to create a powerful, user-friendly desktop application.
It uses Python’s threading for parallel downloads, Tkinter for the GUI, and PyInstaller for cross-platform builds. Whether you’re a student, researcher, or engineer — this tool helps automate your workflow efficiently.
✨ Key Features
- ⚡ Concurrent Downloads — Download multiple PDFs at once (1–10 threads).
- 🌐 Live Network Speed Display — Monitors download speed dynamically.
- ⏯ Pause/Resume — Stop and continue downloads seamlessly.
- 🔍 Recursive File Discovery — Detects PDFs inside nested directories.
- 📊 Progress Tracking — Visual progress bars with precise logging.
- 🪟 Custom Icon Branding — Unified design for GUI and executables.
- 💻 Cross-Platform — Works smoothly on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
🗂 Project Structure
A clean and modular architecture makes this project easy to maintain and extend:
Pdf Downloader/
├── pdf_downloads.py # Core application logic
├── requirements.txt # Dependencies
├── run.bat / run.sh # Launchers for each platform
├── scripts/
│ ├── build_exe.ps1 # Windows build automation
│ ├── build_app.sh # Linux/macOS build
│ └── convert_icon.py # Converts icons to .ico
├── icon/logo_pdf.png # Application logo
├── docs/ # Documentation files
└── dist/ / build/ / venv/ # Generated directories
⚙️ Installation and Setup
🪟 Windows
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope Process
.\scripts\build_exe.ps1
.\run.bat
🐧 Linux / macOS
chmod +x scripts/build_app.sh run.sh
./scripts/build_app.sh
./run.sh
Within minutes, the application compiles and launches seamlessly.
🧰 Build from Source
You can also manually build the application from source using your terminal:
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope Process
.\scripts\build_exe.ps1
chmod +x scripts/build_app.sh
./scripts/build_app.sh
The compiled application will appear inside the /dist/ folder, fully portable and ready to use.
📦 Dependencies
The project uses lightweight and efficient libraries:
requests→ For downloading filesbeautifulsoup4→ For parsing HTML and locating linkspillow→ For image/icon processingpyinstaller→ For building standalone executables
All dependencies are installed automatically during the build process.
💻 Manual Build with PyInstaller
If you want full control, build manually:
pyinstaller --noconfirm --onefile --windowed --icon=icon\logo_pdf.ico --add-data "icon;icon" --name "pdf_downloader" pdf_downloads.py
pyinstaller --noconfirm --onefile --windowed --icon=icon/logo_pdf.ico --add-data "icon:icon" --name "pdf_downloader" pdf_downloads.py
Note: Use ; for Windows and : for Linux/macOS in --add-data.
🧩 Debugging and Logging
By default, the app runs in GUI (windowed) mode.
If you want to view console logs for debugging, remove the --windowed flag from your PyInstaller command.
🌍 Cross-Platform Performance
This project has been tested on:
🪟 Windows 10/11
🐧 Ubuntu / Fedora
🍏 macOS Sonoma / Ventura
Performance and UI remain consistent across platforms.
🤝 Contributing
Community contributions are welcome!
If you’d like to report bugs, suggest improvements, or contribute features, visit the repository:
👉 https://github.com/Srijan-XI/PDF-Downloader
Fork the repo, experiment, and share your enhancements!
📜 License & Credits
This project is open-source and available for both personal and commercial use.
Created and maintained by Srijan | Srijanxi Technologies.
Built with dedication, precision, and a belief that every tool — no matter how small — deserves thoughtful engineering.
“Built for efficiency. Engineered for reliability. Inspired by innovation.”
✅ Explore the Full Project on GitHub:
🔗 github.com/Srijan-XI/PDF-Downloader
Top comments (1)
Nice