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Configure PDF output

Customize the appearance of generated PDFs with branding, fonts, and page headers and footers.

PDF configuration options

Open a PDF target in the publish manager and expand its configuration panel. All fields save automatically as you change them. The following options are available:

Page size: Letter or A4.

Orientation: Portrait or landscape.

Margins: Customize top, bottom, left, and right margins independently.

Header/footer content: Configure separate left and right content for both the header and footer. Supports variable tokens:

Token

Output

{title}

Document title

{section}

Current section name

{page}

Current page number

{pages}

Total page count

{company}

Project name

Cover page: Toggle on or off. When enabled, displays the project name, target name, generation date, and logo.

Table of contents: Toggle on or off. Generated from the map structure with page numbers.

Font family: Sans-serif, serif, or monospace. Serif fonts tend to work better in print than on screen.

The primary color and logo come from your project branding (Settings > General), not the PDF panel. The primary color is applied to headings and decorative elements, and the logo appears on the cover page when it is enabled.

PDF rendering uses a separate CSS pipeline from web output. Styles that work on your published web site may not carry over to PDFs. Custom CSS entered in project branding applies only to web targets. PDF output uses the configuration options above plus the branding color and logo.

PDF structure

Generated PDFs include (depending on your configuration):

  1. Cover page (if enabled): project name, target name, generation date, logo

  2. Table of contents (if enabled): generated from the map structure with page numbers

  3. Topic content: one page for each topic with print-ready typography

  4. Page breaks: automatic between topics

If you need finer control over PDF layout, these CSS properties affect print rendering:

/* Force a page break before every H1 */
h1 {
  page-break-before: always;
}

/* Prevent headings from appearing at the bottom of a page
   without any following content */
h2, h3 {
  page-break-after: avoid;
}

/* Keep images from being split across pages */
img {
  page-break-inside: avoid;
}

/* Adjust margins for the printed page */
@page {
  margin: 1in 0.75in;
}

Choose a serif font for a more traditional print look. Serif typefaces are generally easier to read in long-form printed documents because the serifs guide the eye along lines of text.

Tips

  • Keep header and footer text short. Long text may overflow on narrow pages.

  • The primary color should have enough contrast against white for readability in print.

  • Test PDF output before distributing: publish a PDF target and review the downloaded file.

See also

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