HTML to PDF in Command Line

Overview

This page describes how to convert web pages and HTML documents to PDF from the command line using the Pdfcrowd API.

Getting Started

Enter a web page or upload an HTML file to get a PDF preview and integration code that you can copy and paste to your application.

Or choose from the examples below and adapt the code to your needs.

You can also interactively explore the API in our API Playground.

Installation

Install the application from PyPI

pip install pdfcrowd

We also offer other installation options.

Authentication

Authentication is needed in order to use the Pdfcrowd API. The credentials used for accessing the API are your Pdfcrowd username and the API key.

You can try out the API without registration using the following demo credentials:

Username: demo
API key: ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d

Or you can start a free trial or purchase the API license to get your personal API credentials.

Examples

Convert a web page to a PDF file

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "example.pdf"

Convert a local HTML file to a PDF file

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    "/path/to/MyLayout.html" > "MyLayout.pdf"

Convert a string containing HTML to a PDF file

echo -n "<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>" | \
html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" - > "HelloWorld.pdf"

Advanced Examples

Customize the page size and the orientation

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -page-size "Letter" \
    -orientation "landscape" \
    -no-margins \
    "http://www.example.com" > "letter_landscape.pdf"

Put the source URL in the header and the page number in the footer

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -header-height "15mm" \
    -footer-height "10mm" \
    -header-html "<a class='pdfcrowd-source-url' data-pdfcrowd-placement='href-and-content'></a>" \
    -footer-html "<center><span class='pdfcrowd-page-number'></span></center>" \
    -margin-top "0" \
    -margin-bottom "0" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "header_footer.pdf"

Create fillable PDF form

echo -n "<html><body>Enter name:<input type=text></body></html>" | \
html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -enable-pdf-forms - > "form.pdf"

Zoom the HTML document

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -scale-factor 300 \
    "http://www.example.com" > "zoom_300.pdf"

Set PDF metadata

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -author "Pdfcrowd" \
    -title "Hello World" \
    -subject "Demo" \
    -keywords "Pdfcrowd,demo" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "with_metadata.pdf"

Create a Powerpoint like presentation from an HTML document

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -page-layout "single-page" \
    -page-mode "full-screen" \
    -initial-zoom-type "fit-page" \
    -orientation "landscape" \
    -no-margins \
    "https://pdfcrowd.com/doc/api/" > "slide_show.pdf"

Convert an HTML document section

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -element-to-convert "#main" \
    "https://pdfcrowd.com/doc/api/" > "html_part.pdf"

Inject an HTML code

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -custom-javascript "el=document.createElement('h2'); el.textContent='Hello from Pdfcrowd API'; el.style.color='red'; el_before=document.getElementsByTagName('h1')[0]; el_before.parentNode.insertBefore(el, el_before.nextSibling)" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "html_inject.pdf"

Convert a responsive web page as it appears on a large device

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -viewport-width 992 \
    -rendering-mode "viewport" \
    -smart-scaling-mode "viewport-fit" \
    -no-margins \
    "https://getbootstrap.com/" > "bootstrap.pdf"

Renderer debugging - highlight HTML elements

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -custom-javascript "libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements({backgroundColor: 'rgba(255, 191, 0, 0.1)', borderColor:null})" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "highlight_background.pdf"

Renderer debugging - borders with spacing around HTML elements

html2pdf -user-name "demo" -api-key "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d" \
    -custom-javascript "libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements({borderColor: 'orange', backgroundColor: null, padding: '4px', margin: '4px'})" \
    "http://www.example.com" > "highlight_borders.pdf"

Integration Examples

The API can be easily integrated into your environment. You can have our interactive API Playground autogenerate the integration code for you:

HTML to PDF using command line

Template Rendering

The API enables rendering of HTML templates. The template syntax is based on the Jinja template rendering engine.

The most common constructs are:

Data rendering: Invoice: {{ invoice.number }}
For loop: {% for invoice in invoices %} ... {% endfor %}
If statement: {% if invoice.total > 100 %} ... {% endif %}
Data filter: {{ invoice.to.first_name|capitalize }}

The supported input data formats are JSON, XML, CSV and YAML. The data can be uploaded from a file or from a string variable.

Supported template filters: capitalize, center, default, escape, first, forceescape, format, indent, join, last, length, list, lower, replace, reverse, safe, slice, sort, string, striptags, title, trim, truncate, unique, upper, wordcount, wordwrap.

Template Rendering Examples

Create PDF from JSON data

echo -n "Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}" | \
html2pdf -user-name "{{ user_name }}" -api-key "{{ api_key }}" \
    -data-string "$(echo -e "{
            \"name\": \"World\",
            \"product\": \"Pdfcrowd API\"
        }")" - > "output.pdf"

Create PDF from XML data

echo -n "Hello {{ data.name }} from {{ data.product }}" | \
html2pdf -user-name "{{ user_name }}" -api-key "{{ api_key }}" \
    -data-string "$(echo -e "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>
        <data>
          <name>World</name>
          <product>Pdfcrowd API</product>
        </data>")" - > "output.pdf"

Create PDF from YAML data

echo -n "Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}" | \
html2pdf -user-name "{{ user_name }}" -api-key "{{ api_key }}" \
    -data-string "$(echo -e "name: World
product: Pdfcrowd API")" - > "output.pdf"

Create PDF from CSV data

echo -n "Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}" | \
html2pdf -user-name "{{ user_name }}" -api-key "{{ api_key }}" \
    -data-string "$(echo -e "name,product
World,Pdfcrowd API")" - > "output.pdf"

Troubleshooting

List of API Status Codes if an error code is returned.
You can use -debug-log to get detailed info about the conversion, such as conversion errors, time, console output.
You can use our JavaScript library to resolve rendering problems, such as missing content or blank pages.
Just use -custom-javascript with libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements method call to visualize all HTML elements. See the backgrounds example , borders example and helper JavaScript library documentation.
Take a look at the FAQ section.
Are you missing a feature? Contact us, we look forward to your suggestions.

User Manual

Refer for details to the User Manual.