Generating PDFs directly from HTML content can be extremely useful for creating reports, invoices, or downloadable files on the web. In this article, we’ll explore how to use HTML to PDF with JavaScript, ensuring that text and content aren’t cut off during the conversion process.
Table of Contents
Why Use HTML to PDF?
When you use HTML to PDF conversion in JavaScript, it allows you to easily transform your webpage or specific HTML elements into high-quality, downloadable PDF documents. Popular libraries like html2pdf.js make this process smooth and efficient. However, without proper configurations, you may encounter issues such as text being cut off or pages not breaking correctly.
Related: HTML2PDF: A guide to converting HTML to PDF
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Convert HTML to PDF in JavaScript
Let’s dive into how to use HTML to PDF in a simple JavaScript project and ensure the PDF output looks clean, with no text or elements being clipped.
Step 1: Add the html2pdf.js Library to Your Project
First, you’ll need to include the html2pdf.js library in your project. You can either download it or use a CDN link.
Here’s how to add it via CDN:
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/html2pdf.js/0.9.3/html2pdf.bundle.min.js"></script>External Resource: Check out the official html2pdf.js GitHub repository for more documentation.
Step 2: Create Your HTML Content
Next, create the HTML content that you want to convert to a PDF. Make sure the structure is well-formatted and consider adding any necessary styles.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>HTML to PDF Example</title>
<style>
body {
font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
}
#content {
width: 100%;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 20px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="content">
<h1>Document Title</h1>
<p>
This is an example of how to use HTML to PDF conversion. Make sure that long paragraphs and content are handled correctly to avoid any text cutoff issues.
</p>
</div>
<button onclick="generatePDF()">Download PDF</button>
</body>
</html>
For more information on formatting content in HTML, check out this HTML Basics Guide.
Step 3: Implement the JavaScript PDF Generator
Now, let’s implement the JavaScript that will handle the HTML to PDF conversion. We’ll use html2pdf.js to ensure the output is a well-formatted PDF. The code below includes essential settings to prevent text from being cut off or improperly paginated.
<script>
function generatePDF() {
const element = document.getElementById('content');
html2pdf(element, {
margin: 1, // Add margins to prevent content from touching page edges
filename: 'document.pdf', // Name of the downloaded PDF
image: { type: 'jpeg', quality: 0.98 }, // Image quality
html2canvas: { scale: 2 }, // High-quality rendering
jsPDF: { unit: 'in', format: 'letter', orientation: 'portrait' }, // PDF format
pagebreak: { mode: ['avoid-all', 'css', 'legacy'] } // Prevents cutting content
});
}
</script>
Step 4: Prevent Text and Element Cutoff
When generating PDFs from HTML, it’s crucial to prevent elements like paragraphs and images from being cut off between pages. In this case, we used the pagebreak option with the mode avoid-all to ensure content stays intact. You can further control this behavior using CSS:
h1, p {
page-break-inside: avoid;
}
div {
page-break-after: auto;
}
This CSS ensures that no headings or paragraphs will be broken across pages, making your PDF documents more readable.
Step 5: Test the PDF Output
Now that you have your JavaScript in place, click the “Download PDF” button in your browser. The PDF will be automatically generated, formatted correctly, and ready for download. By following the steps above, you’ll notice that no text or content is cut off in your PDF output.
External Resource: For more advanced use cases, you can refer to jsPDF documentation which provides additional flexibility for PDF generation.
Conclusion
In this article, we explored how to convert HTML to PDF in JavaScript using the html2pdf.js library. By carefully configuring options such as page breaks and margins, you can ensure that your PDFs are generated without any text being cut off. Whether you’re generating simple reports or complex documents, mastering how to convert HTML to PDF is a valuable skill for any web developer.
By following this guide, you now know how to use HTML to PDF in a way that ensures high-quality, readable documents, free of content cutoff issues.
Key Takeaways:
- Use
html2pdf.jsfor smooth HTML to PDF conversion. - Adjust margins and configure
pagebreakto prevent text clipping. - Ensure high-quality PDFs with options like
html2canvasscaling.
For more JavaScript tutorials, check out our Complete Guide to JavaScript Development.
