Customizing the PDF

Last updated 2 months ago

Learn how to set margins, headers, footers and other options.

When creating jobs, the following parameters are available to customize the PDF output.
You can set these parameters either as form data or as a JSON object in the body of the request.
Form data
JSON
Here's how you might use curl to make a request using form data from the command line:
$ curl -u myapp-api-key: https://api.paperplane.app/jobs \
  -d url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplane" \
  -d margin_top=0.5cm \
  -d margin_bottom=0.5cm \
  -d page_size=A4
​
{
  "id": "a43ad1ff-ee2a-4c32-b279-eef51cc46d12",
  "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplane",
  "status": "queued",
  "done": false,
  "object": "job"
}
This is an example of submitting parameters as a JSON object, again using the curl command line tool. This example uses an external file - body.json - which contains the API parameters as JSON-formatted data.
body.json
{
  "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplane",
  "footer_template": "<div style=\"width=100%; font-size: 12px; text-align: center\">Page <span class=\"pageNumber\"></span> of <span class=\"totalPages\"></span></div>",
  "margin_bottom": "2cm"
}
curl -u myapp-api-key: \
  --data @body.json \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  https://api.paperplane.app/jobs
​
{
  "id": "29d89d2f-1a4f-4bcc-a2ff-16ca6e90e635",
  "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplane",
  "status": "queued",
  "done": false,
  "object": "job"
}
Parameter name
Description
url (required)
The url parameter is required and is the web address that will be loaded and used to render the PDF.
landscape
Set this to “true” to use landscape orientation.
​
Default: false
margin_top
margin_right
margin_bottom
margin_left
Use these parameters to set the size of the page margins. The value must be a number and by default will be interpreted as inches. You can set a margin size in centimetres by suffixing the value with “cm”. For example, these are all valid margins:

1 (interpreted as 1 inch)
1.25 (interpreted as 1.25 inches)
1.25in
1.25cm
Default: 1cm
page_size
The page size can be set to one of the following values:
​
Letter
Legal
A3
A4
A5
Default: Letter
header_template
footer_template
These parameters allow you to provide an HTML template that will be used to insert a header or footer on each page. Take a look at the header and footer templates guide for more information about setting up a template.
​
Default: No header or footer
wait_time
If the page content isn't immediately visible, you can instruct Paperplane to wait up to 20 seconds before generating the PDF. This delay will allow time for your content to fully load.
​
The wait_time value must be a number between 0 and 20.
​
Default: 0 (No wait time)
wait_css_selector
If the page content is not immediately visible, you can instruct Paperplane to wait for an element matching a specific CSS selector to be loaded.
​
This is an alternative to the wait_time option which gives you finer control over exactly when the PDF starts generating. You might find this useful if you have a single-page app or a page with a lot of dynamic content.
​
You can set wait_css_selector to any valid CSS selector - for example:
​
.container
body > .container
#main-content
Default: Not set (Does not wait for any matching element)

API reference

Webhooks

Parameter name	Description
`url` (required)	The url parameter is required and is the web address that will be loaded and used to render the PDF.
`landscape`	Set this to “true” to use landscape orientation. Default: false
`margin_top` `margin_right` `margin_bottom` `margin_left`	Use these parameters to set the size of the page margins. The value must be a number and by default will be interpreted as inches. You can set a margin size in centimetres by suffixing the value with “cm”. For example, these are all valid margins: 1 (interpreted as 1 inch) 1.25 (interpreted as 1.25 inches) 1.25in 1.25cm Default: 1cm
`page_size`	The page size can be set to one of the following values: Letter Legal A3 A4 A5 Default: Letter
`header_template` `footer_template`	These parameters allow you to provide an HTML template that will be used to insert a header or footer on each page. Take a look at the header and footer templates guide for more information about setting up a template. Default: No header or footer
`wait_time`	If the page content isn't immediately visible, you can instruct Paperplane to wait up to 20 seconds before generating the PDF. This delay will allow time for your content to fully load. The `wait_time` value must be a number between 0 and 20. Default: 0 (No wait time)
`wait_css_selector`	If the page content is not immediately visible, you can instruct Paperplane to wait for an element matching a specific CSS selector to be loaded. This is an alternative to the `wait_time` option which gives you finer control over exactly when the PDF starts generating. You might find this useful if you have a single-page app or a page with a lot of dynamic content. You can set `wait_css_selector` to any valid CSS selector - for example: `.container` `body > .container` `#main-content` Default: Not set (Does not wait for any matching element)