The Print to PDF feature allows to generate PDF documents with record data. The document content is defined by a Template.
!!! warning "Important"
You need to have at least one Template for the entity type of the record you want to print.
The Print to PDF action is available on the detail view under the dropdown next to the Edit button.
Print to PDF is available in the list view as a mass action. You need to select needed records and click Print to PDF from the Actions menu. It will generate a single merged PDF file or multiple PDFs zipped (depending on a used engine) for multiple records.
By default, the maximum number of records is limited to 50. The limit is defined by the config parameter massPrintPdfMaxCount.
Access to PDF printing is controlled by Roles. An administrator can set a read access level for the Template entity type.
PDF documents are generated from HTML code by the use a PDF engine. Out of the box, Espo supports Dompdf engine. Tcpdf engine is available as an extension. Dompdf has better CSS support. Tcpdf supports some languages which Dompdf does not.
The engine can be switched at Administration > Settings > PDF Engine.
Table of content:
- Code view
- Charset issues
- Access to templates
- Page numbering
- Page breaking
- Condition checking
- Each iterator
- Lookup
- Expressions
- Logical expressions
- Images
- Date & time formatting
- Number formatting
- Currency symbol
- Text field
- Related records
- Multi-enum & Array fields
- Checklist field
- Barcode field
- Raw values
- Maps
- Custom helpers
Available under Administration > PDF Templates.
For more precise editing it's recommended to use Code View mode. To switch to Code View click on the button </>.
You can print fields of the record as well as fields of related records by utilizing placeholders (Handlebars like) in your template.
!!! example "Examples"
* `{{name}}` – Name of the record;
* `{{assignedUserName}}` – Assigned User;
* `{{account.name}}` – Name of the related account.
!!! note
If an attribute name coincides with a name of some helper, you can use the following form: `{{this.attributeName}}`.
You can specify a document title in the Title field (as of v7.0). {$name} placeholder is available to substitute an entity name.
A code view mode can be enabled by clicking </> button. It allows to edit raw HTML and make sure the layout is not messed up.
If some characters are not displayed in generated PDF files, it can be usually solved by changing the font in the template. For the Arabic language, use 'AlArabiya' font, for Chinese, use 'CID-0 cs'.
An administrator can add the Templates tab under Administration > User Interface. Access to templates must be defined in Roles (the Templates scope).
Placeholders are only available in footer (and also header if the header is set to be printed on each page).
{pageNumber}– the current number of the page
In places where you need to have an explicit page break, add:
{{pagebreak}}
As of v8.4.
<table>
<tr x-if="{{equal status 'Active'}}">
<td></td>
</tr>
</table>
Helpers:
- if
- unless
- ifEqual
- ifNotEqual
- equal
- notEqual
{{#if value}}
{{value}}
{{/if}}
{{#if value}}
{{value}}
{{else}}
No value
{{/if}}
{{#if condition1}}
{{else if condition2}}
{{else}}
{{/if}}
Opposite to if.
{{#unless value}}
No value
{{/unless}}
{{#unless value}}
No value
{{else}}
{{value}}
{{/unless}
{{#ifEqual a b}}
a is equal b
{{else}}
a is not equal b
{{/ifEqual}}
Opposite to ifEqual.
As of v8.4.
Returns boolean.
{{#if (equal status 'Active')}}
...
{{/if}}
As of v8.4.
Returns boolean.
{{#if (notEqual status 'Active')}}
...
{{/if}}
Looping through a list of items.
Example:
{{#each contacts}}
Contact name: {{name}}
{{/each}}
Array (list):
{{#each array}}
{{this}} – item
{{@index}} – index
{{/each}}
Object (map):
{{#each map}}
{{this}} – item
{{@key}} – key
{{/each}}
!!! note
Using `<tr>` and `<td>` tags along with `{{#each}}` helper is not recommended as it breaks markup of a *contenteditable* element.
With iterate attribute (as of v8.2):
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr iterate="{{contacts}}">
<td>{{name}}</td>
<td>{{assignedUserName}}</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>Displaying certain number of items in one row:
{{#each contacts}}
{{#ifMultipleOf @key 3}}<br>{{/ifMultipleOf}}{{name}}
{{/each}}
Access a parent scope:
{{#each contacts}}
{{../name}}
{{/each}}
In object (map):
{{lookup subject key}}
In array:
{{lookup teamsId index}}
{{subject.key}}– lookup in objects;{{array.[0]}}– lookup in arrays;{{~anyTag}}– remove all previous spacing;{{anyTag~}}– remove all next spacing;{{{helper}}}– prevent escaping;{{helper1 (helper2 arg1 arg2) arg2 arg3}}– sub-expression passed as an argument;
As of 8.4.
Helpers:
- and
- or
- not
To be used in sub-expressions.
Examples:
{{#if (or (equal status 'Draft') (equal status 'Active'))}}
...
{{/if}}
{{#if (and value1 value2 value3)}}
...
{{/if}}
{{imageTag imageFieldNameId width=50 height=50}}
- imageFieldNameId is a name of image field, concatenated with Id
- width and height can be omitted
Another legacy way to print images:
<img src="{{file imageFieldNameId}}">
where imageFieldNameId – the name of an image field, concatenated with the suffix Id.
See info about date formatting.
Format Date-Time field:
{{dateFormat createdAt_RAW format='MMMM DD, YYYY' timezone='Europe/London'}}
Format Date field:
{{dateFormat closeDate_RAW format='YYYY MMMM DD'}}
Print formatted now:
{{dateFormat now_RAW format='MMMM DD, YYYY HH:mm'}}
Print formatted today:
{{dateFormat today_RAW format='MMMM DD,YYYY'}}
Specific language:
{{dateFormat createdAt_RAW format='MMMM DD' language='de_DE'}}
To display float numbers without a fractional part (as integer), use the following expression:
{{numberFormat quantity_RAW decimals=0}}
Where quantity is a field name.
Custom formatting for currency values:
{{numberFormat unitPrice_RAW decimals=2 decimalPoint=',' thousandsSeparator=' '}}
Value 10000.5 will be printer as 10 000,50.
Note that _RAW is appended to the field name.
{{amountCurrencySymbol}}
where amount is a field name (of currency type).
To display text fields (multi-line) use triple braces:
{{{description}}}.
Print Markdown (as of v8.1):
{{markdownText fieldName_RAW}}
Many-to-many and one-to-many.
It's possible to loop through a link collection.
The maximum number of records is 100. It can be changed with a config parameter htmlizerLinkLimit.
!!! example
Printing contact names and roles of an opportunity:
```
{{#each contacts}}
Name: {{name}},
Role: {{opportunityRole}},
Contact's Account Type: {{account.type}}
{{/each}}
```
Where *contacts* is a relationship name. You can obtain relationship names at Administration > Entity Manager.
!!! example
Example, printing contact names of an opportunity:
```
{{#each contactsIds}}
{{var this ../contactsNames}}
{{/each}}
```
Printing selected items:
{{#each fieldName}}
{{./this}}
{{/each}}
Option 1: {{checkboxTag fieldName option='Option 1' color='blue'}}
Option 2: {{checkboxTag fieldName option='Option 2' color='blue'}}
Option 3: {{checkboxTag fieldName option='Option 3' color='blue'}}
{{barcodeImage barcodeField_RAW type='EAN8' width=60 height=30 fontsize=14 text=true padding=0}}
Where barcodeField is the name of your barcode field.
Parameters fontsize, text, and padding are supported only in the TCPDF engine.
(TCPDF only)
Available types:
- CODE128
- CODE128A
- CODE128B
- CODE128C
- EAN13
- EAN8
- EAN5
- EAN2
- UPC
- UPCE
- ITF14
- pharmacode
- QRcode
To access a raw value of a specific attribute, you need to add a suffix _RAW to the attribute name. The raw value is a not formatted value. Raw date-time values are strings with values in the UTC timezone.
!!! example
Example (applying another format to the raw value):
```
{{numberFormat quantity_RAW decimals=0}}
```
*quantity* is a field name.
It's possible to print Google Maps image in PDF. See here.
See here.