How do I resolve "No module named 'frontend'" error message?

Question

I have installed PymuPDF/fitz because am trying to extract images from PDF files. However, upon running the code below, I am seeing No module named 'frontend'.

    doc = fitz.open(pdf_path)
            for i in range(len(doc)):
                for img in doc.getPageImageList(i):
                    xref = img[0]
                    pix = fitz.Pixmap(doc, xref)
                    if pix.n < 5:  # this is GRAY or RGB
                        pix.writePNG("p%s-%s.png" % (i, xref))
                    else:  # CMYK: convert to RGB first
                        pix1 = fitz.Pixmap(fitz.csRGB, pix)
                        pix1.writePNG("p%s-%s.png" % (i, xref))
                        pix1 = None
                    pix = None

I have searched but there isn't single report of this kind of error. I have installed PyMuPDF, muPDF and fitz modules

Here is the error in full:

    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "/home/waqar/PycharmProjects/predator/ExtractFileImage.py", line 1, in <module>
        import fitz
      File "/home/waqar/anaconda3/envs/retinanet/lib/python3.6/site-packages/fitz/__init__.py", line 1, in <module>
        from frontend import *
    ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'frontend'

I don't think you should have installed fitz, "Modern Nipype Workflow Management". (https://github.com/kastman/fitz), i would uninstall fitz. I see these instructions for installing PymuPDF on ubuntu: https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/wiki/Ubuntu-Installation-Experience — William D. Irons, Jun 05 '19 at 21:20
I am basically trying to use fitz module, PyMuPDF and mupdf they doesn't have some filters like unsupported filter /DCTDecode pypdf2 and few others — Waqar, Jun 05 '19 at 21:36

score 120 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 15 '23 at 17:32

120

I've solved it by:

pip install PyMuPDF

This will actually allow the import of the fitz you appear to want. (There's another fitz, which is probably not what you want if you're manipulating PDF files.)

NOTE: If you get RuntimeError: Directory 'static/' does not exist after install than do:

pip uninstall fitz

for more info see: raise RuntimeError(f"Directory '{directory}' does not exist") RuntimeError: Directory 'static/' does not exist from import fitz

edited Jan 15 '23 at 17:32

Elia Weiss

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answered Oct 11 '19 at 11:17

Ronin

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fyi, case insensitive – Thatcher Thornberry Nov 10 '22 at 03:31

score 35 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 11 '20 at 07:38

35

I tried the above solution of pip install PyMuPDF. But it did not work out of the box.

So, I have used the previous version of PyMuPDF. It worked perfectly for me.

pip install PyMuPDF==1.16.14

answered Sep 11 '20 at 07:38

anil kumar

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This actually fixed the issue. Thanks a lot! – Ammar Shah Mar 03 '21 at 10:55
You're right. I faced the same issue using PyMuPDF==1.20.2 and fixed it using PyMuPDF==1.21.1. It seems multiple versions are having issues. – Esraa Abdelmaksoud Apr 07 '23 at 02:20

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 11 '20 at 20:19

9

There is a package named fitz on PyPI. Because PyMuPDF uses the same name, fitz, as its top-level text, both packages cannot co-exist in the same Python - except with the aforementioned change.

answered Jun 11 '20 at 20:19

Jorj McKie

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score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 06 '21 at 02:00

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Python3 and you have already installed PyMuPDF module.

pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -U PyMuPDF

answered Apr 06 '21 at 02:00

W. Dan

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score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 31 '21 at 04:06

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You should run pip install fitz follow by pip install PyMuPDF. If you have install PyMuPDF, uninstall it and install again.

answered Aug 31 '21 at 04:06

Đạt Quang Trần

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I used below versions: fitz==0.0.1.dev2 and PyMuPDF==1.18.15 in the same order. Seems to work for me now. – Vikram Oct 07 '21 at 12:37
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Do not install `fitz` as it will give you a weird error when trying to use pymupdf. – not2qubit Jul 19 '22 at 11:38

score 4 · Answer 6 · edited Aug 26 '19 at 22:20

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In file /home/waqar/anaconda3/envs/retinanet/lib/python3.6/site-packages/fitz/__init__.py

change

from frontend to from fitz.frontend

edited Aug 26 '19 at 22:20

Ryan Schaefer

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answered Aug 26 '19 at 20:40

Julien

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@Ryan I tried this solution but still the error persists. I also noticed that in the _init_.py file, the print function looks more like python 2.7 version . Could the error be cause of that ? – venkatttaknev Jan 13 '20 at 17:54
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@Ryan - I second the above comment. Making your change is now resulting in getting syntax error of 'print". Are they related? – Ashwin Kumar Jul 15 '21 at 07:55

score 3 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 17 '22 at 04:16

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pip install PyMuPDF
If the above command has the error of fitz.h, then upgrade the python version, I found that python3.6.* will have this problem. If you cannot upgrade the python version, lower the version of pymupdf (version 1.18.0 is OK, pip install PyMuPDF==1.18.0).

edited Jun 17 '22 at 04:16

cigien

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answered Jun 15 '22 at 03:54

Yabo Zhao

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Welcome to Stack Overflow! When linking to your own site or content (or content that you are affiliated with), you [must disclose your affiliation _in the answer_](/help/promotion) in order for it not to be considered spam. Having the same text in your username as the URL or mentioning it in your profile is not considered sufficient disclosure under Stack Exchange policy. – cigien Jun 15 '22 at 04:02

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 11 '20 at 14:41

0

Calling python on your script should solve the issue:

python script.py

If you don't use the keyword python, you might get the error.

In my case I was getting:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'fitz'

answered Oct 11 '20 at 14:41

Shayan

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score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 25 '22 at 14:12

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This combo works fine for me:

sudo apt install mupdf
sudo apt install libmupdf-dev
pip3 install PyMuPDF==1.16

answered Jan 25 '22 at 14:12

Alexandre Mazel

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score -2 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 05 '21 at 23:56

You could have used pdfplumber. If the following code returns "None", it's a scanned pdf otherwise it's searchable.

with pdfplumber.open(file_name) as pdf:
    page = pdf.pages[0]
    text = page.extract_text()
    print(text)

To extract text from scanned pdf, you can use OCRmyPDF. Easy package

How do I resolve "No module named 'frontend'" error message?

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