PDF Export in Postman

Test and Integrate HTML to PDF Conversion with Postman

Overview

Test and explore the PDFCrowd API directly in Postman. Postman is a popular API development and testing platform. Import our collection to quickly convert HTML to PDF with full access to all API options.

Perfect for: Testing API parameters before integrating into your application, exploring available options, and debugging conversion issues.

Key Features

URL to PDF: Convert any publicly accessible web page to PDF
HTML to PDF: Convert raw HTML content to PDF
Pre-configured requests: Ready-to-use API requests with common options
Full customization: Control page size, margins, headers, footers, and more
Environment variables: Store your API credentials securely

How It Works

Fork or import the PDFCrowd collection in Postman
Set your PDFCrowd username and API key in environment variables
Choose a request (URL to PDF or HTML to PDF)
Configure parameters as needed
Send the request and download the generated PDF

Open in Postman

Quick Start

The following examples demonstrate how to use the PDFCrowd Postman collection to convert HTML to PDF.

Note: You'll need a PDFCrowd account with API access. For testing, you can use username demo and API key demo. Sign up to get your own API credentials.

Example 1: Convert a URL to PDF

The simplest use case - convert a web page URL to PDF. This works for any publicly accessible URL.

Request Configuration

Method:	`POST`
Endpoint:	`Export URL to PDF`
Body (form-data):	`url`: `https://example.com/invoice/123`

The response contains the PDF file data. In Postman, click "Save Response" to download the generated PDF.

Example 2: Convert HTML String to PDF

Convert HTML content directly - useful when generating PDFs from templates or dynamic content.

Request Configuration

Method:	`POST`
Endpoint:	`Export HTML String to PDF`
Body (form-data):	`text`: <html> <body> <h1>Invoice #12345</h1> <p>Amount: $99.00</p> <p>Date: January 6, 2026</p> </body> </html>

Use Postman's pre-request scripts to dynamically generate HTML content from variables or external data sources.

Example 3: Upload and Convert HTML File

Upload an HTML file for conversion - useful for batch processing or converting existing documents.

Request Configuration

Method:	`POST`
Endpoint:	`Export File to PDF`
Body (form-data):	`file`: Select file (type: File) Choose your HTML file

Example 4: Check Account Status

Verify your credentials and check your remaining API credits.

Request Configuration

Method:	`GET`
Endpoint:	`Get Account Info`

The response includes your account status and remaining credits.

Authentication

Setting Up Your PDFCrowd Credentials

The PDFCrowd Postman collection uses Basic Authentication with your PDFCrowd API credentials. The collection is pre-configured to use environment variables for easy credential management.

Required Environment Variables

username: Your PDFCrowd username - the same username you use to log in to your PDFCrowd account.
api_key: Your PDFCrowd API key (not your account password). To get your API key, choose a license plan that includes API access.

Setting Up Environment Variables

In Postman, click on "Environments" in the left sidebar
Create a new environment or select an existing one
Add two variables:
- username - set to your PDFCrowd username
- api_key - set to your PDFCrowd API key
Select the environment from the dropdown in the top-right corner

API Endpoint

The collection uses https://api.pdfcrowd.com as the base URL with API version 24.04 for easy configuration across different environments.

Security Notes

Store your API key in Postman's "Current Value" field (not synced to cloud) for security.
You can regenerate your API key anytime from your PDFCrowd account if needed.
Each API request counts against your account's usage limits.

Error Handling

When a conversion fails, the API returns an HTTP error status code along with a message explaining what went wrong.

Common Errors

401 Unauthorized: Invalid username or API key. Verify your credentials in the Postman environment variables. Make sure you're using your API key, not your account password.
403 Forbidden: Service suspended or insufficient credits. Check your PDFCrowd account for credit balance and account status.
400 Bad Request: Invalid parameters or missing required fields. Check that you've provided either a url, text, or file parameter.
430 Too Many Concurrent Requests: Too many simultaneous conversions. Your plan has a limit on concurrent requests. Wait for current conversions to complete or upgrade your plan.

For more information on status codes, see our status codes reference.

Debugging Tips

Check the response body: Error responses include detailed messages explaining the issue.
Verify authentication: Use the "Get Account Info" endpoint to confirm your credentials are working.
Test URLs manually: Before converting, test your URL in our API Playground to verify it converts correctly.
Simplify first: Start with minimal parameters and add options one at a time to identify problematic settings.

Using Postman Tests for Error Handling

You can add tests in Postman to automatically check for errors:

pm.test("Status code is 200", function () {
    pm.response.to.have.status(200);
});

pm.test("Response is PDF", function () {
    pm.response.to.have.header("Content-Type", "application/pdf");
});

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions when using PDFCrowd with Postman.

Connection Issues

Verify you're using your API key, not your account password
Check that environment variables are set correctly (username and API key)
Ensure the environment is selected in Postman before sending requests

Conversion Issues

PDF looks different than expected

Missing styles: The page may rely on styles that don't load during conversion. Try the Content Viewport Width option to adjust rendering width.
Dynamic content: JavaScript-generated content may not render. Use the Wait For Element or Javascript Delay options to allow content to load.
Login required: Pages behind authentication require cookies to be set. Use the Cookies option to pass session cookies.

Images not appearing

Ensure images use absolute URLs (not relative paths)
Check that images are publicly accessible
Some images may be lazy-loaded - use Content Viewport Height set to large

Conversion is slow

Large pages with many images take longer to process
Pages with heavy JavaScript may need time to render
Consider using simpler HTML templates for faster conversion

Output Issues

Response shows binary data

The API returns binary PDF data by default. In Postman:

Click "Save Response" to download the PDF file
Or use the "Send and Download" button instead of "Send"

File name incorrect

Set the output_filename parameter to customize the PDF filename.

Getting Help

PDFCrowd Support: Contact us for API-related questions
API Playground: Test conversions in our API Playground to verify settings
Postman Community: Postman Community Forum for Postman-related questions

Postman Reference

Refer for details to the Postman Reference.