How to create PDF document in Node.js ?

Last Updated : 09 Apr, 2021

In this article we will see how to generate PDF document in NodeJS.

Prerequisites:

Basic knowledge of Node.js.
1. Node.js installed (version 12+).
2. npm installed (version 6+).

Step 1: Install PDF module. The PDFkit– It is an Inbuilt Module for generating the PDF documents in the NodeJS in a very simpler and easy way in which we can make graphics, load images and also provide link of the website.

For installing it in the project write the following command on the terminal or command prompt.
```
npm install pdfkit
```

Syntax:

const PDFDocument = require('pdfkit');
const doc = new PDFDocument;

For adding new page in the PDF.
```
doc.addPage()
```

For saving PDF document in root directory.

doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('PDF Name'));

Step 2: Installing Module for setting NodeJS environment. Also we need to configure the packahe.json file.

npm install express

package.json

{
  "name": "node_func",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "start": "node app.js",
    "dev": "nodemon app.js"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "fs": "^0.0.1-security",
    "pdfkit": "^0.11.0"
  }
}

Folder Structure: We can see that the PDF file is created in root directory.

Folder Structure

Example: Here is the JavaScript code that should be written in app.js which is for NodeJS.

index.js

// Importing modules
import PDFDocument from 'pdfkit'
import fs from 'fs'
  
// Create a document
const doc = new PDFDocument();
  
// Saving the pdf file in root directory.
doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('example.pdf'));
  
// Adding functionality
doc
   
  .fontSize(27)
  .text('This the article for GeeksforGeeks', 100, 100);
  
// Adding image in the pdf.
  
  doc.image('download3.jpg', {
    fit: [300, 300],
    align: 'center',
    valign: 'center'
  });
  
  doc
  .addPage()
  .fontSize(15)
  .text('Generating PDF with the help of pdfkit', 100, 100);
   
  
   
// Apply some transforms and render an SVG path with the 
// 'even-odd' fill rule
doc
  .scale(0.6)
  .translate(470, -380)
  .path('M 250,75 L 323,301 131,161 369,161 177,301 z')
  .fill('red', 'even-odd')
  .restore();
   
// Add some text with annotations
doc
  .addPage()
  .fillColor('blue')
  .text('The link for GeeksforGeeks website', 100, 100)
    
  .link(100, 100, 160, 27, 'https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/');
   
// Finalize PDF file
doc.end();

Output: Created PDF file will look like this.

My Personal Notes

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How to create PDF document in Node.js ?

package.json

index.js