HTML to PDF in PHP

This page describes how to convert web pages and HTML documents to PDF in PHP using the Pdfcrowd API. The API is easy to use and the integration takes only a couple of lines of code.

Installation

Download pdfcrowd-5.6.0-php.zip, unzip it and require pdfcrowd.php in your code.

We also offer other installation options (Composer, GitHub).

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.

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.

Examples

Convert a web page to a PDF file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "example.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert a web page to in-memory PDF

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and store the result into the "pdf" variable
    $pdf = $client->convertUrl("http://www.example.com");

    // at this point the "pdf" variable contains PDF raw data and
    // can be sent in an HTTP response, saved to a file, etc.
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert a web page and write the resulting PDF to an output stream

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // create an output stream for the conversion result
    $output_stream = fopen("example.pdf", "wb");

    // check for a file creation error
    if (!$output_stream)
        throw new \Exception(error_get_last()['message']);

    // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
    $client->convertUrlToStream("http://www.example.com", $output_stream);

    // close the output stream
    fclose($output_stream);
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert a local HTML file to a PDF file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertFileToFile("/path/to/MyLayout.html", "MyLayout.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert a local HTML file to in-memory PDF

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and store the result into the "pdf" variable
    $pdf = $client->convertFile("/path/to/MyLayout.html");

    // at this point the "pdf" variable contains PDF raw data and
    // can be sent in an HTTP response, saved to a file, etc.
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert a local HTML file and write the resulting PDF to an output stream

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // create an output stream for the conversion result
    $output_stream = fopen("MyLayout.pdf", "wb");

    // check for a file creation error
    if (!$output_stream)
        throw new \Exception(error_get_last()['message']);

    // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
    $client->convertFileToStream("/path/to/MyLayout.html", $output_stream);

    // close the output stream
    fclose($output_stream);
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert a string containing HTML to a PDF file

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertStringToFile("<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>", "HelloWorld.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert a string containing HTML to in-memory PDF

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // run the conversion and store the result into the "pdf" variable
    $pdf = $client->convertString("<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>");

    // at this point the "pdf" variable contains PDF raw data and
    // can be sent in an HTTP response, saved to a file, etc.
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert a string containing HTML and write the resulting PDF to an output stream

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // create an output stream for the conversion result
    $output_stream = fopen("HelloWorld.pdf", "wb");

    // check for a file creation error
    if (!$output_stream)
        throw new \Exception(error_get_last()['message']);

    // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
    $client->convertStringToStream("<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>", $output_stream);

    // close the output stream
    fclose($output_stream);
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Get info about the current conversion

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setDebugLog(true);

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertFileToFile("/path/to/MyLayout.html", "MyLayout.pdf");
    
    // print URL to the debug log
    echo "Debug log url: " . $client->getDebugLogUrl() . "\n";
    
    // print the number of available conversion credits in your account
    echo "Remaining credit count: " . $client->getRemainingCreditCount() . "\n";
    
    // print the number of credits consumed by the conversion
    echo "Consumed credit count: " . $client->getConsumedCreditCount() . "\n";
    
    // print the unique ID of the conversion
    echo "Job id: " . $client->getJobId() . "\n";
    
    // print the total number of pages in the output document
    echo "Page count: " . $client->getPageCount() . "\n";
    
    // print the size of the output in bytes
    echo "Output size: " . $client->getOutputSize() . "\n";
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Advanced Examples

Customize the page size and the orientation

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setPageSize("Letter");
    $client->setOrientation("landscape");
    $client->setNoMargins(true);

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "letter_landscape.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

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

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setHeaderHeight("15mm");
    $client->setFooterHeight("10mm");
    $client->setHeaderHtml("<a class='pdfcrowd-source-url' data-pdfcrowd-placement='href-and-content'></a>");
    $client->setFooterHtml("<center><span class='pdfcrowd-page-number'></span></center>");
    $client->setMarginTop("0");
    $client->setMarginBottom("0");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "header_footer.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Create fillable PDF form

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setEnablePdfForms(true);

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertStringToFile("<html><body>Enter name:<input type=text></body></html>", "form.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Zoom the HTML document

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setScaleFactor(300);

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "zoom_300.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Set PDF metadata

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setAuthor("Pdfcrowd");
    $client->setTitle("Hello World");
    $client->setSubject("Demo");
    $client->setKeywords("Pdfcrowd,demo");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "with_metadata.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Create a Powerpoint like presentation from an HTML document

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setPageLayout("single-page");
    $client->setPageMode("full-screen");
    $client->setInitialZoomType("fit-page");
    $client->setOrientation("landscape");
    $client->setNoMargins(true);

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("https://pdfcrowd.com/doc/api/", "slide_show.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Convert an HTML document section

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setElementToConvert("#main");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("https://pdfcrowd.com/doc/api/", "html_part.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Inject an HTML code

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setCustomJavascript("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)");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "html_inject.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

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

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setViewportWidth(992);
    $client->setRenderingMode("viewport");
    $client->setSmartScalingMode("viewport-fit");
    $client->setNoMargins(true);

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("https://getbootstrap.com/", "bootstrap.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Create an in-memory archive (ZIP) and convert it

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";
require "vendor/autoload.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // create ZIP archive
    $options = new ZipStream\Option\Archive();
    $in_stream = fopen("php://memory", "rw");
    $options->setOutputStream($in_stream);
    $zip = new ZipStream\ZipStream("stream.zip", $options);

    // add HTML content to the archive
    $zip->addFile("index.html", "<html>
        <head>
            <style>
             @font-face
             {
                 font-family: 'OpenSans';
                 src: url(fonts/OpenSans.ttf) format('truetype');
             }
    
             h1
             {
                 font-family: OpenSans;
             }
            </style>
        </head>
        <body>
            <h1>Hello World</h1>
            <img src='images/logo.png'>
        </body>
    </html>");

    # add required local files to the archive
    $zip->addFileFromPath("fonts/OpenSans.ttf", "/your-path-to/fonts/OpenSans.ttf");
    $zip->addFileFromPath("images/logo.png", "/your-path-to/images/logo.png");

    $zip->finish();
    fseek($in_stream, 0);

    // create an output stream for the conversion result
    $output_stream = fopen("HelloFromZip.pdf", "wb");

    // check for a file creation error
    if (!$output_stream)
        throw new \Exception(error_get_last()['message']);

    // run the conversion and write the result into the output stream
    $client->convertStreamToStream($in_stream, $output_stream);

    // close the output stream
    fclose($output_stream);
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Renderer debugging - highlight HTML elements

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setCustomJavascript("libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements({backgroundColor: 'rgba(255, 191, 0, 0.1)', borderColor:null})");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "highlight_background.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Renderer debugging - borders with spacing around HTML elements

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "ce544b6ea52a5621fb9d55f8b542d14d");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setCustomJavascript("libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements({borderColor: 'orange', backgroundColor: null, padding: '4px', margin: '4px'})");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertUrlToFile("http://www.example.com", "highlight_borders.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Integration Examples

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

You can also check out a complete example in our pdfcrowd-examples Github repository:

HTML to PDF in PHP Web Server

Common Customizations

The API lets you convert a web page, a local HTML file, or a string containing HTML. The result of the conversion can be stored to a local file, to a stream object or to a variable. See the conversion input section for more details.

The best way to start with the API is to choose one of the examples and once you get it working, you can further customize the code. You can find the most common customizations in the table below.

Page size	Change the page size with setPageSize or setPageDimensions . Pass -1 to setPageHeight to get a single page PDF containing the whole document.
Page orientation	Change the page orientation to landscape with setOrientation.
Page margins	Adjust the page margins with setPageMargins.
Headers and footers	Add headers and footers with setHeaderHtml and setFooterHtml. Set the height with setFooterHeight and setHeaderHeight. You can learn more in this tutorial.
Zoom	Scale the HTML contents with setScaleFactor.
Hide or remove elements	You can use the following classes in your HTML code to hide or remove elements from the output: `pdfcrowd-remove` - sets `display:none!important` on the element `pdfcrowd-hide` - sets `visibility:hidden!important` on the element Learn about other options.
Use @media print	You can switch to the print version of the page (if it exists) with setUsePrintMedia.
Force page break	You can force a page break with `<div style="page-break-before:always"></div>`
Avoid page break	You can avoid a page break inside an element with the following CSS `th, td, img { page-break-inside:avoid }`
Run custom JavaScript	You can use setOnLoadJavascript or setCustomJavascript to alter the HTML contents with a custom JavaScript. In addition to the standard browser APIs, the custom JavaScript code can use helper functions from our JavaScript library .
Custom CSS styling	You can alter CSS styling used during conversion with a custom JavaScript or using the `pdfcrowd-body` CSS class, which is automatically set on the HTML <body> element. You can, for example, set the H1 height to 48px by adding the following line to your CSS: `.pdfcrowd-body h1 { font-size: 48px; }`
Add PDF signature	You can create PDF containing a digital signature field. Such PDF can be digitally signed in, for example, Adobe Acrobat or Preview. Learn more in Create Digital Signature in PDF .
Fillable PDF form	You can create fillable PDF containing interactive fields and buttons. Learn more in Create Fillable PDF Form.

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

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("{{ user_name }}", "{{ api_key }}");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setDataString('{
            "name": "World",
            "product": "Pdfcrowd API"
        }');

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertStringToFile("Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}", "output.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Create PDF from XML data

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("{{ user_name }}", "{{ api_key }}");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setDataString('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
        <data>
          <name>World</name>
          <product>Pdfcrowd API</product>
        </data>');

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertStringToFile("Hello {{ data.name }} from {{ data.product }}", "output.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Create PDF from YAML data

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("{{ user_name }}", "{{ api_key }}");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setDataString("name: World
product: Pdfcrowd API");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertStringToFile("Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}", "output.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Create PDF from CSV data

<?php
require "pdfcrowd.php";

try
{
    // create the API client instance
    $client = new \Pdfcrowd\HtmlToPdfClient("{{ user_name }}", "{{ api_key }}");

    // configure the conversion
    $client->setDataString("name,product
World,Pdfcrowd API");

    // run the conversion and write the result to a file
    $client->convertStringToFile("Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}", "output.pdf");
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why)
{
    // report the error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // rethrow or handle the exception
    throw $why;
}

?>

Error Handling

try 
{
    // call the API 
}
catch(\Pdfcrowd\Error $why) 
{
    // print error
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error: {$why}\n");

    // print just error code
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error Code: {$why->getCode()}\n");

    // print just error message
    error_log("Pdfcrowd Error Message: {$why->getMessage()}\n");

    // or handle the error in your way
}

Troubleshooting

List of API Status Codes if an error code is returned.
You can use setDebugLog and getDebugLogUrl 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 setCustomJavascript 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.

API Method Reference

Refer for details to the API Method Reference.