Advanced PDF Export
ShrekBytes6k downloadsExport notes as pixel-perfect PDFs with live preview, style presets, manual page breaks, tables, and full layout control.
- Overview
- Scorecard
- Updates26
Export Obsidian notes as pixel-perfect PDFs with seven style presets, manual page breaks, full layout control, and a live preview — all from a full-screen modal panel.
Desktop only — requires the Obsidian desktop app (uses Electron's print pipeline).
If this plugin saves you time, consider supporting the project ☕
Table of Contents
Features
- Live preview — markdown editor on the left, paginated page preview on the right; render with ⟳ Render PDF or
Ctrl+Enter - Auto-loads active note — opening from the right-click menu or command palette pre-fills the editor (edits are local, non-destructive)
- Seven style presets — Default, Minimal, Academic, Colorful, Modern, Newspaper, Dark; each fully customisable and resettable
- Code syntax themes — 10+ themes (GitHub Light/Dark, Dracula, Tokyo Night, Monokai, Catppuccin, and more) applied independently of your Obsidian theme
- Mermaid diagrams — renders flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and all other Mermaid diagram types
- Page breaks —
///on its own line for a manual break; optionally auto-insert before every H1 or H2 - Page size & orientation — A4, A3, A5, Letter, Legal, or a fully custom size (mm) × Portrait / Landscape
- Full layout control — margins, font family/size/line height, paragraph spacing, heading scale, colors
- Page frame — optional border drawn around the outer edge of every page (solid, dashed, dotted, double, groove, or ridge)
- Background — solid color or a background image with fit, scope (full page or content area only), and opacity controls
- Header & footer — custom text, customizable page numbers (
{{current}}/{{total}}template placeholders), alignment, font size/color, optional banner image, and first-page suppression - PDF outline (bookmarks) — heading-based bookmark tree embedded in the exported PDF; most PDF readers display it in a side panel
Screenshots
Panel Overview
Page Breaks
Type /// on its own line, or click Insert Page Break in the toolbar.
Style Presets
Installation
Community Plugins (Recommended)
Search for Advanced PDF Export in Settings → Community Plugins → Browse, then install and enable it.
Manual (GitHub Releases)
- Go to the Releases page.
- Download
main.js,manifest.json, andstyles.cssfrom the latest release. - Place them in your vault at
.obsidian/plugins/advanced-pdf-export/. - Reload Obsidian and enable the plugin under Settings → Community Plugins.
Usage
Open the panel — right-click any .md file in the file explorer, or use Ctrl/Cmd+P → Advanced PDF Export: Open Panel. The panel opens as a full-screen modal and auto-loads the target note.
Edit markdown — type or paste markdown in the left editor. Changes are not synced back to your vault.
Insert a page break — type /// on its own line, or click Insert Page Break in the topbar. Use --- for a horizontal rule.
Render the preview — click ⟳ Render PDF or press Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter.
Change style or page settings — use the Style, Size, and Orient dropdowns in the topbar. Changes re-render automatically.
Export — click ⬇ Export PDF to open a native save dialog and write the PDF to disk.
Open settings — click the ⚙ icon in the topbar, or go to Settings → Advanced PDF Export.
Settings Reference
All settings take effect after closing the settings panel.
Style Preset
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Preset | Style theme: Default, Minimal, Academic, Colorful, Modern, Newspaper, Dark |
| Reset Preset | Restores all typographic and color values for the current preset to defaults |
Page
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Page size | A4, A3, A5, Letter, Legal, or Custom |
| Custom page size | Width × Height in mm (visible only when Custom is selected) |
| Orientation | Portrait or Landscape |
Margin & Frame
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Margins | Top · Bottom · Left · Right in mm |
| Enable frame | Draws a border around the outer edge of every page |
| Frame color | Color of the page frame |
| Frame thickness | Border width in px |
| Frame margin | Gap between the page edge and the frame, equal on all sides (px) |
| Frame style | Solid, Dashed, Dotted, Double, Groove, or Ridge |
Typography
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Font family | Georgia, Times New Roman, Palatino, Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, Courier New, Custom |
| Custom font name | Any CSS font-family value (e.g. Inter, sans-serif); font must be installed on your system |
| Font size | 10 – 16 px |
| Code font size | 0.75em – 1.00em |
| Line height | Tight (1.4) → Double (2.0) |
| Paragraph spacing | None → Wide (1em) |
| Heading scale | 0.8× → 1.2× multiplier applied to all heading sizes |
Background
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Use image background | When on, a background image replaces the solid background color |
| Page background color | Solid fill color behind the page content (shown when image background is off) |
| Background image | Vault-relative path or https:// URL (shown when image background is on) |
| Fit | How the image fills the page: Cover (fill, crop edges), Contain (fit, show gaps), Fill (stretch), Tile (repeat) |
| Scope | Full page (behind header, content, and footer) or Content area only (text zone only) |
| Opacity | 5% – 100% |
Colors
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Accent color | Primary accent used for links, borders, and highlights |
| Body text color | Main document text color |
| Heading color | Color applied to all heading levels |
| Blockquote background | Fill color behind blockquote blocks |
| Blockquote border | Left border color on blockquotes |
| Table header background | Background color of table header rows |
| Code background | Background color of inline and fenced code |
| Code syntax theme | Colors fenced code blocks independently of your Obsidian theme. Options: None, GitHub Light, GitHub Dark, Atom One Light, Atom One Dark, Monokai, Dracula, Tokyo Night, Solarized Light, Catppuccin Macchiato, Catppuccin Mocha |
Header
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Show header | Toggle the header on or off |
| Show on first page | When off, the header is hidden on page 1 (useful for title pages) |
| Header text | Custom text shown on every page |
| Alignment | Left, Center, or Right |
| Font size | Header text size in px |
| Height | Explicit header band height in px (0 = auto-sized from font size) |
| Font color | Header text color |
| Border | Separator line below the header |
| Image | Vault-relative path or https:// URL — fills the header band as a background banner |
| Image left/right margin | Insets the banner from the left and right page edges (px) |
Footer
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Show footer | Toggle the footer on or off |
| Show on first page | When off, the footer and page numbers are hidden on page 1; numbering starts from page 2 |
| Footer text | Custom text shown in the footer |
| Alignment | Left, Center, or Right |
| Font size | Footer text size in px |
| Height | Explicit footer band height in px (0 = auto-sized from font size) |
| Font color | Footer text color |
| Border | Separator line above the footer |
| Image | Vault-relative path or https:// URL — fills the footer band as a background banner |
| Image left/right margin | Insets the banner from the left and right page edges (px) |
| Show page numbers | Toggle Page X / Y display |
| Page number position | Left, Center, or Right |
| Page number format | Custom template using {{current}} and {{total}} placeholders, e.g. Page {{current}} of {{total}}, {{current}}/{{total}}, or just {{current}} (default: {{current}} / {{total}}) |
| Page number start | Number assigned to the first visible page number (default 1) |
Behaviour
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Hide frontmatter | Strip the YAML frontmatter block (--- … ---) from preview and PDF |
| Include file name as title | Prepends the note's filename as an H1 at the top of the PDF |
| Underline links | Applies to both internal and external links |
| Auto page break before H1 | Inserts a page break before every # heading |
| Auto page break before H2 | Inserts a page break before every ## heading |
| H1 bottom border | Draws a line under every H1 |
| H2 bottom border | Draws a subtle line under every H2 |
| Center H1 | Centers all H1 headings |
| Striped table rows | Alternating row background on even rows |
| Include PDF outline (bookmarks) | Embeds a bookmark tree built from headings H1–H6 into the exported PDF; most PDF readers display it in a side panel for quick navigation |
License
Open source under GPL-3.0 License.
Contributions are welcome — feel free to open issues or pull requests.
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About
Export notes as pixel-perfect PDFs with a live, full-resolution page preview (A4/A3/A5/Letter/Legal) that updates instantly as you edit. Apply built-in style presets, insert /// for manual page breaks or auto-break before H1/H2, tweak layout, typography, margins, headers/footers and colors, then export silently via a native save dialog.Details
Current version
4.2.1
Last updated
3 days ago
Created
2 months ago
Updates
26 releases
Downloads
6k
Compatible with
Obsidian 1.11.1+
Platforms
Desktop only
License
GPL-3.0
Sponsor