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PDF Export

Calcpad.Web only (web editor, desktop app, and VS Code extension). Not available in the standalone WPF desktop application for Windows.

Calcpad.Web can export your report to a print-ready PDF that matches the on-screen preview, with configurable page size, margins, and optional headers, footers, and a letterhead background.

Set the options below in the sidebar's PDF tab, then export:

  • Desktop app — File → Export PDF…
  • VS Code — CalcpadCE: Export to PDF
  • Web editor — the PDF button on the sidebar's PDF tab

Browser requirement

PDF export renders the report using a Chromium-based browser (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Chromium). The app looks for one already installed on your system; if it can't find one, it downloads a minimal headless build automatically the first time you export.

On Linux, if no browser is found the app shows you the exact package to install for your distribution:

Distribution Install command
Arch / CachyOS / Manjaro / EndeavourOS / Garuda sudo pacman -S chromium or yay -S ungoogled-chromium-bin
Debian / Ubuntu / Mint sudo apt install chromium
Fedora / RHEL / Rocky / Alma sudo dnf install chromium
openSUSE sudo zypper install chromium
Alpine sudo apk add chromium
macOS brew install --cask google-chrome
Windows Install Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome

Page setup

  • Paper size — Letter, Legal, Tabloid, Ledger, or A0–A6. Default is A4.
  • Orientation — portrait (default) or landscape.
  • Margins — set each edge independently, using values like 2cm, 1.5cm, or 0.5in.
  • Scale — a zoom factor from 0.1 to 2.0 for shrinking or enlarging the content.
  • Background — colors and background images are printed by default.

Excluding sections from the PDF (NoPrint)

Wrap sections you want visible on screen but omitted from the PDF in NoPrintStart / NoPrintEnd markers:

'<!--{"NoPrintStart": true}-->
'These lines are visible in the preview but stripped from the PDF.
debug_x = 5
debug_y = debug_x + 1
'<!--{"NoPrintEnd": true}-->
'This prints!'

Good to know:

  • The marker lines themselves are removed too.
  • Regions can be nested; the outermost pair wins.
  • A NoPrintStart without a matching NoPrintEnd strips everything through the end of the file.
  • Property names are matched case-insensitively, and the marker's value doesn't matter — only that the property is present.
  • These sections stay visible in the live preview; they're only removed from PDF (and other print) output.
  • These markers are one kind of metadata comment; the Metadata panel tab can insert them for you.

This uses the same comment-marker syntax as LintIgnore and per-file settings.

Options reference

Every option you can set for a PDF export:

Option Default Purpose
format Letter Paper size
marginTop 2cm Top margin
marginRight 1.5cm Right margin
marginBottom 2cm Bottom margin
marginLeft 1.5cm Left margin
documentTitle — Title (header, bold)
dateTimeFormat — .NET date/time format string for the timestamp

Troubleshooting

Symptom Fix
Export fails or times out Install a Chromium browser (see the table above). In the desktop app, Server → Show Server Log shows the underlying error.
Images missing in the PDF Use paths the app can read; local images are embedded automatically before export.
A debug section appears in the PDF Wrap it in NoPrintStart / NoPrintEnd markers.

See also