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Generate PDFs

Learn how to generate PDFs using the built-in PDF exporter resource.

Retool provides a built-in PDF exporter to generate PDFs based on data in your Retool apps. To download the entire view of your Retool app as a PDF, you can instead use the utils.downloadPage() method.

PDF exporter example

Write queries using the PDF resource​

Select the PDF Exporter (exporter) resource in the query editor and configure the following fields. On query success, a PDF file with the given contents is downloaded to the user's browser.

PDF content​

The PDF content field accepts Markdown for formatting. To convert data, such as the contents of a table, to a format usable for Markdown, use a JavaScript transformer or query.

The following transformer constructs Markdown table formatting for {{ table1.data }}.

transformer1
const headers = [Object.keys({{ table1.data }}[0])];
const breaks = [headers[0].map(() => "---")];
const rows = {{ table1.data }}.map((r) => Object.values(r));
const tableEntries = headers.concat(breaks).concat(rows);
return tableEntries.map((row) => "|" + row.join("|") + "|").join("\n");

You can then reference the transformer in the PDF Exporter resource using an {{ }} embedded expression, such as {{ transformer1.value }}.

Filename​

Use the Filename field to specify a PDF file name. This field accepts dynamic inputs. For example, set it to user_{{ usersTable.selectedRow.id }}_data to download the file as user_<selected_user_ID>_data.pdf.