PDF Generation

Achieve Custom PDF Generation Workflows via API

Build professional PDF documents from application data using pdfRest. Start with a blank PDF canvas, add precisely positioned content, and create finished documents such as invoices, reports, statements, forms, and certificates without relying on a pre-existing template.

The pdfRest API provides the building blocks for programmatic PDF generation:

Create the document foundation: Use the Create Blank PDF API Tool to define the page size, orientation, and number of pages.
Add dynamic content: Use the Add to PDF API Tool to place text, images, lines, rectangles, and tables using application data.
Build structured layouts: Create styled tables with headers, footers, merged cells, image cells, and multi-page overflow handling.
Support accessible workflows: Apply optional structure tags to newly inserted text, images, shapes, and table content.
Assemble documents: Use the Merge PDFs API Tool to combine generated pages, blank canvases, templates, or supporting documents.
Prepare archival output: Use the Convert to PDF/A API Tool to prepare generated documents for long-term preservation and applicable archival workflows.

Generate Documents from Structured Data

PDF generation becomes especially useful when document content changes for every request. Your application can supply customer information, transaction details, measurements, product data, or other structured content, while the API controls how that data appears in the final PDF.

Common examples include:

Invoices with customer details, line items, taxes, totals, and payment instructions
Financial statements with account summaries and transaction tables
Shipping documents with addresses, package details, barcodes, and status information
Reports with headings, charts, tables, summaries, and supporting images
Certificates and forms with names, dates, identifiers, signatures, and organization branding
Compliance documents with required metadata, structured content, and attached source files

This approach keeps business data in the application while allowing the PDF layout to be generated consistently for each request.

Build a PDF from a Blank Canvas

A typical generation workflow begins with a blank document:

Call Create Blank PDF to establish the page dimensions and page count.
Use the returned file identifier as the input to Add to PDF.
Insert the document's text, images, shapes, and tables.
Repeat the process when additional content must be added.
Use other pdfRest API Tools to finalize, combine, secure, or archive the result.

For example, an invoice workflow might create a Letter-sized blank PDF, add a logo and company information, insert customer and payment details, generate a line-item table, and then add totals and footer content.

The same workflow can also enhance an existing PDF. Add to PDF accepts an existing document when content needs to be appended to a template, report, form, or previously generated file.

Generate Tables and Structured Content

The Add to PDF API Tool supports table-oriented layouts for data-driven documents. Applications can define:

Fixed or proportional column widths
Header and footer rows
Repeated headers when a table continues onto another page
Merged cells spanning multiple columns or rows
Cell-level text and image content
Table, row, column, and cell styling
Borders, fills, padding, opacity, and text formatting
Optional structure tags for table content

These capabilities make it possible to generate useful business documents directly from records, transactions, or other structured input rather than treating the PDF as a collection of unrelated text fragments.

Support Tagged PDF Generation

Generated documents can include optional structure tags for newly inserted content. These tags can identify text, images, shapes, and tables in the PDF structure for downstream processing and accessibility-oriented workflows.

When a document is built from a blank PDF, the generated content can be tagged as it is added. When content is added to an already tagged PDF, the new tagged content can be appended while preserving the existing document structure.

Tagging does not automatically create a complete structure tree for pre-existing untagged content. It is intended to identify content introduced by the current generation or enhancement workflow.

Scale Document Generation Workflows

Once the document layout is defined, the same workflow can be applied to large volumes of requests. Generate individualized documents from billing records, customer data, transactions, or other application events while maintaining consistent page geometry and formatting.

Batch-oriented generation can help organizations:

Produce customer-specific documents automatically
Reduce manual document preparation
Apply consistent branding and layout rules
Generate documents on demand or on a schedule
Integrate PDF output with storage, delivery, and archival systems

Combine and Finalize Generated PDFs

Generated PDFs can be passed through additional pdfRest workflows depending on the requirements of the final document:

Combine generated pages or supporting documents with the Merge PDFs API Tool.
Prepare the result for archival workflows with the Convert to PDF/A API Tool.
Compress the output for more efficient storage or delivery.
Attach XML, spreadsheets, or supporting files to the PDF.
Encrypt or restrict the document when access controls are required.
Upload, poll, and manage files through the supporting workflow tools.

Start Building PDFs from Application Data

Use the Create Blank PDF API Tool to define the document canvas, then use the Add to PDF API Tool to populate it with dynamic content.

Together, these tools provide a foundation for generating custom PDFs from scratch, enhancing existing documents, and building scalable document workflows around application data.