MakesPDF

Export an Obsidian note or canvas board to a typeset, accessible PDF using the makespdf.com API.

Obsidian's built-in export prints the rendered view. This plugin sends the note's markdown to a layout service that produces a tagged PDF: real heading structure, alt text on figures, table headers, and reading order. Output is PDF/A-2A + PDF/UA-1 compliant, which is what accessibility and archival requirements generally ask for.

A note containing callouts, wikilinks, a table, a code block, and task items, exported with the default settings.

Network use and privacy

This plugin sends note content to a remote server. It cannot work offline.

• When you run an export, the note's markdown is POSTed to https://makespdf.com/api/v1/md and the resulting PDF is written back into your vault. The request identifies the plugin and its version in the X-MakesPDF-Client header.
• Embedded local images are read from your vault and inlined into that same request. Embedded notes (![[note]]) are inlined too, so their contents are sent as well.
• A canvas export POSTs the board's JSON to https://makespdf.com/api/v1/canvas, together with the contents of the files the board references: images and group backgrounds are inlined as data, PDFs are sent as file data so their pages can be embedded, and linked notes are sent as markdown. The same identification header applies.
• Feedback is sent only when you send it. Send feedback (command and settings button) and the Report problem link on an export error POST to https://makespdf.com/api/v1/feedback (on your configured API URL). A feedback request contains the message you type, the kind you picked (problem, idea or praise), the plugin name and version, and your API key if one is set, so the feedback is linked to your account. Without a key, or if the server rejects it, feedback is sent anonymously. Report problem also sends a few facts about the failed export: the HTTP status, the server's error code if it returned one, your page size setting, and the size in bytes of the export request (the note plus any embedded notes and inlined images). Feedback never includes the note's text, its path, or your vault name. The service stores your message with a daily-salted hash of your IP address and your country code, and keeps it until the makesPDF team deletes it. Your IP address is also used, unhashed, for rate limiting. Please don't paste note content into the message.
• Nothing else is transmitted. No analytics or telemetry are collected by the plugin.
• The endpoint you talk to is configurable. Point API URL at your own deployment if you do not want to use the hosted service.
• Uploaded source and rendered output are retained by the service for 7 days so you can re-download them, then deleted. See the makespdf.com privacy policy.

Account and cost

No account is required. Without an API key the plugin uses a free anonymous path, which is rate limited by IP (60/hour, 200/day) and capped at 20 pages per export.

Adding an API key from a makespdf.com account raises those limits and removes the page cap. Exports made with a key draw on that account's render credits (1 credit per 10 pages), less any free page allowance currently in effect.

Usage

• Command palette: "Export current note to PDF" for a Markdown note, or "Export current canvas to PDF" when a .canvas board is active
• Ribbon icon: the PDF export button in the left sidebar, which exports the active note or canvas

The PDF is written into your vault, next to the source file, or into the folder set in Output folder. Re-exporting overwrites the previous file.

Output paths are relative to the vault root. PDFs are created through Obsidian's vault API, so they cannot be written outside the vault: a path like ~/Downloads is not expanded and is rejected rather than creating a folder named ~ in your vault.

What gets converted

Obsidian-specific syntax is translated to GitHub Flavored Markdown before export:

Code blocks are syntax highlighted, tables keep their alignment, and footnotes, task lists, and Mermaid diagrams render natively. Emoji render in colour, and Chinese, Japanese and Korean text renders without installing a font. A lang property in the note's frontmatter (for example lang: ja) picks the right CJK glyph forms and sets the PDF's language.

The note title

The note's file name is printed as a top-level heading at the top of the PDF, the same title Obsidian shows above the body, and the PDF's own document title is set to it as well. It goes below any frontmatter and above the Properties to include table, so the page reads the way Obsidian's reading view does: title, properties, body.

If the note already opens with its own # heading, the title is still printed and the note will have both, matching what Obsidian's reading view shows.

The heading is the file name, and so is the PDF's document title — Obsidian shows the file name as the inline title regardless of any other property, and this follows suit. A title key in the note's frontmatter therefore does not override either one: the export sends the file name as an explicit option, and an explicit option wins over frontmatter. The other frontmatter option keys (pageSize, fontFamily, fontSize, margins, lang, author, subject, keywords) are unaffected.

Canvas boards (.canvas)

The export works on canvas boards too: the whole board becomes one tagged, accessible PDF, with the cards laid out in their board positions and their text as real, selectable document content. Cards are drawn the way Obsidian's canvas draws them: its heading sizes and spacing, card colours, and a linked note's name as a small label above its card.

A card whose text does not fit is first shrunk a little. If it still does not fit, it shows what fits and continues on a page of its own, with links between the card and its continuation in both directions.

A mood board exported with the default settings: one board page, with an over-long card continued on page 2 (PDF).

• The board's JSON is sent as-is, apart from each card's text, which is preprocessed like a note's — wikilinks, callouts, highlights and ![[image]] embeds inside cards work as they do in notes.
• Images referenced by the board (file nodes and group backgrounds) are read from your vault and inlined. Images over 2400 pixels on their long edge are downscaled before sending.
• Linked .md notes are sent as preprocessed markdown, with their embedded images inlined and the Properties to include table applied. A file node's #Heading or #^blockid subpath renders just that section or block, not the whole note.
• PDF file nodes are sent as file data and the server embeds the PDF's page itself, as vector content. A #page=N subpath picks the page; without one it is page 1. At most 10 PDFs per board, 5MB each: a PDF over a limit, or one that cannot be read, is left out and renders as a placeholder card without failing the export. PDFs do not count toward the 60-image budget.
• Files of other types (audio, and so on) are not sent; the server draws a placeholder card naming the file.
• The request is capped at 25MB; images, notes and PDFs all count toward it. If the board's files would exceed it, the export stops with a notice instead of sending. The board's JSON is itself capped at 2MB by the service: images embedded in card text count toward that (they are sent as-is), while files placed on the board as file nodes travel in a separate map and do not. The service embeds at most 60 images per board (extras become placeholders), and the free anonymous path's 20-page cap applies.
• Canvas exports use your Page size and Font family; the font size and margin settings apply to note exports only.

Settings

Properties to include prints a note's front matter properties (Obsidian's properties) as a key/value table at the top of the exported PDF. List the names you want, in the order you want them, or * for every property. Names are matched case-insensitively and the note's own spelling is used in the table. Lists are joined with commas, booleans print as Yes/No, and wikilinks print as their display text. Properties of embedded notes are never printed. The front matter block itself is still sent to the server, which reads title, author and the other option keys from it.

Development

npm install
npm run dev        # watch build with inline sourcemaps
npm run build      # production build
npm run typecheck
npm test

To test against a local API service, run the makesPDF app and set API URL to http://localhost:8788.

The sample export near the top of this README, docs/example-export.png, is generated from docs/example-note/Q3 Field Notes.md by npm run generate:example-export. It runs the note through the plugin's own conversion modules and an anonymous render against makespdf.com, so it needs network access and pdftoppm (poppler). The note's file name supplies its title heading, so keep the name and do not add a # heading to its body.

To load the plugin into a vault, symlink the repo into the vault's plugin folder and enable it under Settings, Community plugins:

ln -s /path/to/makespdf-obsidian-plugin \
  /path/to/your-vault/.obsidian/plugins/makespdf

License

MIT. See LICENSE.