Export PDF from your editor

Use Tiptap's @tiptap-pro/extension-export-pdf to export your editor's content as a .pdf file. This extension integrates PDF export functionality into your editor by sending the document to the Tiptap convert service for conversion.

You can also use the REST API instead if you'd prefer to handle the conversion on your end.

Install the PDF Export extension

The Conversion extensions are published in Tiptap's private npm registry. Integrate the extensions by following the private registry guide.

Once done you can install and import the Export PDF extension package.

npm i @tiptap-pro/extension-export-pdf

import { ExportPdf } from '@tiptap-pro/extension-export-pdf'

Configuring the extension

The ExportPdf extension can be configured with an ExportPdfOptions (object) as an argument to the configure method with the following properties:

import { ExportPdf } from '@tiptap-pro/extension-export-pdf'

const editor = new Editor({
  extensions: [
    // Other extensions ...
    ExportPdf.configure({
      endpoint: 'https://api.tiptap.dev/v2/convert',
      token: 'YOUR_TOKEN',
      appId: 'YOUR_APP_ID',
      styleOverrides: {},
      headers: {},
      footers: {},
      pageSize: { width: '21cm', height: '29.7cm' },
      pageMargins: { top: '1cm', bottom: '1cm', left: '1cm', right: '1cm' },
      customNodes: [],
      onCompleteExport: (result) => {
        // Handle the exported Blob
      },
    }),
    // Other extensions ...
  ],
})

Header and footer slot values

Every header and footer slot (default, first, even) accepts any of five shapes; pick whichever matches your data. The first three work with @tiptap-pro/extension-export-pdf alone; the last two require @tiptap-pro/extension-export-docx to also be installed (they take the DOCX-first export path, which is lazy-loaded so PDF-only consumers aren't affected).

Tiptap JSONContent objects must include a type field. That's the runtime discriminator the extension uses to tell a Tiptap node apart from a docx instance. Objects without type that aren't Header / Footer instances are dropped with a console.warn pointing at the offending value, not forwarded to the DOCX serializer.

In TypeScript these shapes collapse to two aliases (the type requirement is encoded in TiptapNodeContent):

import type { JSONContent } from '@tiptap/core'
import type { Footer, Header } from 'docx'

type TiptapNodeContent = JSONContent & { type: string }

type HeaderSlotValue = string | TiptapNodeContent | Header | (() => Promise<Header>)
type FooterSlotValue = string | TiptapNodeContent | Footer | (() => Promise<Footer>)

HeaderConfig

FooterConfig

PageSize

PageMargins

CustomFont

Export a PDF file

With the extension installed, you can export your editor's content to .pdf using the exportPdf command.

/**
 * Export the current document as a PDF file via the Tiptap convert service.
 *
 * @param options - All extension-level options can be overridden per-invocation
 * @example editor.commands.exportPdf({ onCompleteExport: (result) => {} })
 */
exportPdf: (options?: ExportPdfCommandOptions) => ReturnType

The ExportPdfCommandOptions interface extends ExportPdfOptions, so every configuration option can be overridden per-command invocation:

import { ExportPdf } from '@tiptap-pro/extension-export-pdf'

const editor = new Editor({
  extensions: [
    // Other extensions ...
    ExportPdf.configure({
      token: 'YOUR_TOKEN',
      appId: 'YOUR_APP_ID',
      onCompleteExport(result) {
        // Download the PDF file
        const url = URL.createObjectURL(result)
        const a = document.createElement('a')

        a.href = url
        a.download = 'document.pdf'
        a.click()

        URL.revokeObjectURL(url)
      },
    }),
    // Other extensions ...
  ],
})

// Use the extension-level callback
editor.chain().exportPdf().run()

// Or override options for a specific export
editor
  .chain()
  .exportPdf({
    pageSize: { width: '8.5in', height: '11in' },
    onCompleteExport(result) {
      // Custom handling for this specific export
      const url = URL.createObjectURL(result)
      window.open(url)
    },
  })
  .run()

How it works

When you call exportPdf, the extension serializes the editor's document to JSON and sends it to the Tiptap convert service along with any configured options (style overrides, page layout, headers, footers, custom fonts). The service converts the document to PDF and returns it as a binary blob. The onCompleteExport callback receives this blob directly, which you can then download or process as needed. Errors are thrown as exceptions rather than passed through the callback.

Custom fonts

The PDF export supports custom fonts for on-premises deployments. You can provision custom fonts by providing an array of font URLs that the conversion service will download and use when generating the PDF.

Font files must be .ttf or .woff2 format and accessible via HTTPS. The fontFamily must match the font family name used in your document's text styles.

ExportPdf.configure({
  token: 'YOUR_TOKEN',
  appId: 'YOUR_APP_ID',
  customFonts: [
    {
      url: 'https://your-cdn.com/fonts/CustomFont-Regular.ttf',
      fontFamily: 'Custom Font',
    },
    {
      url: 'https://your-cdn.com/fonts/CustomFont-Bold.ttf',
      fontFamily: 'Custom Font',
    },
  ],
  onCompleteExport(result) {
    // Handle the exported PDF
  },
})

You can also override custom fonts per-command invocation:

editor
  .chain()
  .exportPdf({
    customFonts: [
      {
        url: 'https://your-cdn.com/fonts/SpecialFont.woff2',
        fontFamily: 'Special Font',
      },
    ],
  })
  .run()

What to expect

• Authentication required. The export sends the document to the Convert service, which requires a JWT (token) and your App ID. Generate JWTs server-side; never embed your secret key in the browser. See the Conversion install guide.
• HTTP responses you may need to handle: 401 (missing or invalid JWT), 403 (the operation isn't permitted for your app — most often a format your plan doesn't include, or customFonts against the cloud plan), 5xx (transient server-side error; retry with backoff).
• Custom fonts are an Enterprise / on-prem feature. In the cloud plan, requests carrying customFonts return 403. To enable them, contact us about an Enterprise plan or run an on-prem deployment.
• Each request is processed end-to-end before responding. Very large documents may take longer to return; size the request timeouts on your side accordingly.

What not to expect

• Round-trip identity from DOCX → PDF. PDF is a fixed-layout format; Word and the Convert service use different layout engines, so visual output may differ in subtle ways from Word's PDF print.
• Pixel-perfect Word match for complex layouts — especially multi-column sections, RTL text, or content that relied on Word-specific layout quirks.
• Editing in the resulting PDF. PDF export is one-way. To preserve editability, export to DOCX as well.

Support & Limitations

For a detailed per-feature breakdown, see the Supported features matrix. Note that element overrides (paragraphOverrides, textRunOverrides, tableOverrides, tableCellOverrides, imageOverrides) available in the DOCX export extension are not passed through to the PDF conversion.