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Python HTML to PDF: Convert HTML to PDF Using wkhtmltopdf

Q: What Are the Steps to Install and Configure wkhtmltopdf for Python HTML-to-PDF Conversion?

First, install `wkhtmltopdf` on your system and ensure it’s in your `PATH`. Then, install `pdfkit` using `pip install pdfkit` and configure it in your Python script if needed.

Q: How Can I Troubleshoot Errors in Python HTML-to-PDF Conversion Using wkhtmltopdf?

Review the error messages, ensure `wkhtmltopdf` is correctly installed, verify that HTML resources are accessible, and adjust `pdfkit` options to address rendering issues.

Hulya Masharipov

This article was first published in December 2022 and was updated in August 2024.

If you’re looking for a way to convert HTML to PDF using Python, this post will show you how to do it efficiently using wkhtmltopdf.

wkhtmltopdf is an open source command-line tool that converts HTML to PDF using the Qt WebKit rendering engine. It’s available for macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Common use cases for converting HTML to PDF include generating invoices or receipts for sales, printing shipping labels, converting resumes to PDF, and much more.

This tutorial will use Python-PDFKit to convert HTML to PDF, and pdfkit, a simple Python wrapper that allows you to convert HTML to PDF using the wkhtmltopdf utility.

Installing wkhtmltopdf for Python HTML-to-PDF Conversion

Before you can use wkhtmltopdf, you need to install it on your operating system.

On macOS

Install wkhtmltopdf using Homebrew:

brew install --cask wkhtmltopdf

On Debian/Ubuntu

Install wkhtmltopdf using APT:

sudo apt-get install wkhtmltopdf

On Windows

Download the latest version of wkhtmltopdf from the wkhtmltopdf website.

After you’ve downloaded the installer, set the path to the wkhtmltopdf binary to your PATH environment variable.

Installing Python-PDFKit

Install Python-PDFKit using Pip:

pip install pdfkit
# or
pip3 install pdfkit # for Python 3

Python-PDFKit provides several APIs to create a PDF document:

From a URL using from_url
From a string using from_string
From a file using from_file

Creating a PDF from a URL

The from_url method takes two arguments: the URL, and the output path. The following code snippet shows how to convert the Google home page to PDF using pdfkit:

import pdfkit

pdfkit.from_url('https://google.com', 'example.pdf')

Running the Code

This section outlines two options for running the code.

Option 1: Direct Execution

Save the code snippet in a file named url.py.
Run the script:

python url.py

If you’re using Python 3 and the default Python command points to Python 2, use:

python3 url.py

Option 2: Using a Virtual Environment

Create a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv venv

Activate the virtual environment:

source venv/bin/activate

Install pdfkit:

pip install pdfkit

Save the code snippet in a file named url.py and run the script:

python url.py

The output PDF will be saved in the current directory as example.pdf.

Python HTML to PDF conversion using wkhtmltopdf

Creating a PDF from a String

The from_string method takes two arguments: the HTML string, and the output path. The following code snippet shows how to do this:

import pdfkit

pdfkit.from_string('<h1>Hello World!</h1>', 'out.pdf')

Creating a PDF from a String - Python HTML to PDF conversion

Creating a PDF from a File

The from_file method takes two arguments: the path to the HTML file, and the output path. The following code snippet shows how to do this:

import pdfkit

pdfkit.from_file('index.html', 'index.pdf')

You’ll use an invoice template for the HTML file. You can download the template from here. The following image shows the invoice template.

Invoice HTML to PDF example - Python HTML to PDF conversion

It’s also possible to pass some additional parameters — like the page size, orientation, and margins. Add the options parameter to do this:

options = {
    'page-size': 'Letter',
	 'orientation': 'Landscape',
    'margin-top': '0.75in',
    'margin-right': '0.75in',
    'margin-bottom': '0.75in',
    'margin-left': '0.75in',
    'encoding': "UTF-8",
    'custom-header': [
        ('Accept-Encoding', 'gzip')
    ],
    'no-outline': None
}

pdfkit.from_file('index.html', 'index.pdf', options=options)

Additional Use Cases for HTML-to-PDF Conversion

Generating Reports

Example: If you need to generate reports from web data, you can convert HTML tables or dashboards to PDF for easy sharing and archiving.

import pdfkit

html_report = """
<html>
  <head><title>Report</title></head>
  <body>
    <h1>Monthly Sales Report</h1>
    <table border="1">
      <tr><th>Product</th><th>Quantity</th><th>Price</th></tr>
      <tr><td>Product A</td><td>10</td><td>$100</td></tr>
      <tr><td>Product B</td><td>5</td><td>$200</td></tr>
    </table>
  </body>
</html>
"""

pdfkit.from_string(html_report, 'report.pdf')