# jsPDF — Generate PDF Documents in JavaScript

> A client-side JavaScript library for generating PDF documents programmatically in the browser and Node.js.

## Install

Save in your project root:

# jsPDF — Generate PDF Documents in JavaScript

## Quick Use
```bash
npm install jspdf
```
```js
import { jsPDF } from 'jspdf';
const doc = new jsPDF();
doc.text('Hello world!', 10, 10);
doc.save('output.pdf');
```

## Introduction
jsPDF is a JavaScript library that creates PDF files entirely on the client side. It lets developers generate invoices, reports, and other documents without sending data to a server, keeping sensitive information in the browser and reducing backend load.

## What jsPDF Does
- Creates multi-page PDF documents from JavaScript code
- Adds text, images, shapes, and vector graphics to pages
- Supports custom fonts via a font converter plugin
- Integrates with the html2canvas or jsPDF-AutoTable plugins for HTML-to-PDF and table rendering
- Works in modern browsers and Node.js environments

## Architecture Overview
jsPDF builds an in-memory representation of the PDF document structure. Each API call (text, image, rect, line) appends objects to an internal content stream following the PDF specification. When `save()` or `output()` is called, jsPDF serializes the object tree into a valid PDF byte stream. Plugins extend the core by hooking into lifecycle events to add capabilities like table layout or HTML conversion.

## Setup & Configuration
- Install via npm (`npm install jspdf`) or load from a CDN script tag
- Import as an ES module or use the global `jsPDF` constructor
- Set page size and orientation in the constructor: `new jsPDF('p', 'mm', 'a4')`
- Add plugins like jspdf-autotable for structured table output
- Use `addFont()` to register custom TTF fonts for non-Latin scripts

## Key Features
- Pure client-side PDF generation with no server dependency
- Plugin ecosystem for tables, HTML conversion, and SVG support
- Supports standard page sizes (A4, Letter) and custom dimensions
- Produces compact PDF output with optional compression
- Mature project with a large community and extensive documentation

## Comparison with Similar Tools
- **pdf-lib** — lower-level API for modifying existing PDFs; jsPDF focuses on creating new documents from scratch
- **pdfmake** — uses a declarative document-definition approach; jsPDF uses an imperative drawing API
- **Puppeteer PDF** — generates PDFs by rendering HTML in a headless browser; heavier setup than jsPDF
- **React-PDF (renderer)** — React-specific; jsPDF is framework-agnostic

## FAQ
**Q: Can jsPDF handle complex HTML layouts?**
A: Use the html2canvas plugin or jsPDF's `.html()` method, though CSS support is partial. For pixel-perfect HTML-to-PDF, a headless browser approach may be more reliable.

**Q: Does jsPDF support Unicode and non-Latin text?**
A: Yes, after registering a TTF font via `addFont()`. The default built-in fonts cover only basic Latin characters.

**Q: What is the maximum file size jsPDF can produce?**
A: There is no hard limit, but very large documents may hit browser memory constraints. Generating pages incrementally helps manage memory.

**Q: Is jsPDF suitable for server-side generation?**
A: It works in Node.js, though libraries like PDFKit or pdf-lib are more commonly chosen for server-side workflows.

## Sources
- https://github.com/parallax/jsPDF
- https://raw.githack.com/nicejob/jsPDF/master/docs/index.html

---
Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/jspdf-generate-pdf-documents-javascript-3db53003
Author: AI Open Source