Turning HTML into PDFs is crucial for creating standardized documents like reports, invoices, and client materials. Puppeteer, a browser automation tool, helps you manage styles, layouts, and page breaks for professional PDF output. Here's a quick overview of what you can do with Puppeteer:
Generate PDFs: Use Puppeteer to convert HTML into polished PDFs while running JavaScript and applying custom CSS.
Control Styles: Define page sizes, margins, fonts, headers, footers, and more using print-specific CSS.
Manage Page Breaks: Use CSS rules to avoid splitting tables, headings, or images across pages.
Optimize Performance: Improve quality and reduce file size with scaling, image optimization, and efficient resource handling.
Quick Start: Install Puppeteer with npm install puppeteer, load your HTML (as a string, local file, or URL), and configure PDF settings like dimensions, margins, and background rendering. Use @media print CSS rules for better control over print styles.
Key Features:
Page customization with @page rules.
Header/footer templates for professional layouts.
Multi-page content management to avoid awkward splits in tables or text.
With Puppeteer, you can automate and customize PDF generation for consistent, high-quality results.
Save this script as generate-pdf.js. Run it by typing node generate-pdf.js in your terminal. The script will create a PDF with US Letter dimensions (8.5×11 inches) and 1-inch margins.
HTML Source Options
Puppeteer provides multiple ways to load HTML content for PDF generation:
Direct Content Loading: Use a string containing the HTML.
await page.setContent(htmlString);
Local File Access: Load an HTML file from your local system.
These adjustments ensure your PDF is easy to read and visually appealing.
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Page Break Control
Page Break CSS Properties
Managing page breaks effectively ensures your content flows smoothly across pages. Use these CSS properties to control where content divides:
/* Start new page before chapters */
.chapter {
page-break-before: always;
}
/* Keep headings together with their content */
h2, h3 {
page-break-after: avoid;
}
/* Avoid splitting tables or figures */
table, figure {
page-break-inside: avoid;
}
These rules help keep your document organized and easy to read. Once you’ve set up page breaks, focus on configuring headers and footers to align with these settings.
Header and Footer Setup
Set up headers and footers in Puppeteer to give your PDF a professional look:
Make sure to adjust the margins so the header and footer fit properly without overlapping your content.
Multi-Page Content Management
With page breaks and headers/footers in place, focus on managing content across multiple pages. Proper layout control ensures your document remains clear and professional:
/* Keep captions with their images */
figure {
display: table;
page-break-inside: avoid;
}
figcaption {
display: table-caption;
caption-side: bottom;
}
/* Avoid splitting list items or table rows */
li, .table-row {
page-break-inside: avoid;
}
/* Allow large tables to break across pages */
.table-wrapper {
page-break-inside: auto;
}
For large tables that span multiple pages, wrap them in a container allowing breaks while keeping rows intact. This ensures data remains easy to follow, even in lengthy datasets.
Tip: Enable the printBackground option in Puppeteer to render all visual elements, including background colors and images:
Improving PDF quality and performance requires attention to scaling, image handling, and resource management. These steps ensure the final document looks polished and functions efficiently.
Content Scaling Methods
Scaling content correctly ensures it remains readable and consistent in design. Puppeteer offers detailed scaling controls for rendering PDFs:
Here, values below 1 shrink content, while values above 1 enlarge it. Pairing scaling with preferCSSPageSize ensures the PDF adheres to CSS-defined dimensions:
@page {
size: 8.5in 11in;
margin: 0.5in;
}
Image Quality Management
Choosing the right image format is crucial. PNG works well for detailed visuals like charts and logos but can increase file size. JPEG is a better option for photos, while WebP often gets converted, potentially inflating the file size further.
To improve image clarity, increase the device scale factor: