GetGoogleBooks

A Python application to download Google Books to a given folder, and then convert the files into a PDF document that can be read with a PDF viewer. It's actually a mix of pysheng and img2pdf.

Note: This application only downloads pages that Google Books makes freely available in preview mode - it won't bypass any access restrictions that Google has in place for specific books.

Requirements

Python 2.7 or Python 3.x
Python Imaging Library (PIL) or Pillow
For Python 2.7: pip install Pillow==6.2.2
For Python 3.x: pip install Pillow

The following dependencies are included in this repository:

img2pdf (GPL licensed)
PyZenity (GPL licensed) - used by the original GUI version

License

Released under GPL v3.

Usage

Command Line Interface (Recommended)

Simply run in a terminal:

python cli.py "GOOGLE_BOOK_URL"

Replace GOOGLE_BOOK_URL with the full URL of the Google Book you want to download.

Legacy GUI Interface

The original GUI interface is still available but may require additional setup:

python download.py

This will open dialog boxes to guide you through the process.

Output

The application will:

Create a BOOKS directory in your current folder
Download all available pages as PNG images to BOOKS/[Book Title]/
Automatically combine them into a single PDF: BOOKS/[Book Title].pdf

What Gets Downloaded

Only pages visible in Google Books preview mode
Typically includes: cover, table of contents, sample chapters, and index pages
The exact content depends on what Google Books makes freely available for that specific book

Recent Improvements

This fork includes several modernization fixes:

Cross-platform CLI interface - Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux without Java dependencies
Fixed PIL/Pillow compatibility - Updated for modern Python imaging libraries
Windows command line length handling - Uses temporary batch files to avoid CMD length limits
Modern user-agent string - Updated to avoid detection/blocking
Improved error handling - Better feedback when operations fail
Python 2/3 compatibility improvements - Fixed deprecated syntax issues

Known Issues

img2pdf may have issues with some colorspaces, so colorspace is defaulted to monochrome (1-bit). This may affect covers but should render text contents properly.
The application respects Google's access restrictions and will only download what's freely available in preview mode.

Troubleshooting

"ImportError: No module named PIL"

Install Pillow: pip install Pillow (Python 3) or pip install Pillow==6.2.2 (Python 2.7)

"Command line too long" error

This has been fixed in the current version using temporary batch files

"No image found in HTML page"

Google Books may have changed their page structure or the book may have restricted access
Try a different book or check if the book is available in your region

Contributing

This is a fork of the original project. Feel free to submit issues and pull requests for improvements.

Original project: https://github.com/ekianjo/GetGoogleBooks

Foadsf/GetGoogleBooks