Headings automatically receive GitHub-compatible anchor IDs. For example:
Markdown PDF uses a Chromium-based browser for PDF/PNG/JPEG export. It tries the following sources in order:
Usage
Command Palette
- Open the Markdown file
- Press
F1 or Ctrl+Shift+P
- Type
export and select below
markdown-pdf: Export (settings.json)markdown-pdf: Export (pdf)markdown-pdf: Export (html)markdown-pdf: Export (png)markdown-pdf: Export (jpeg)markdown-pdf: Export (all: pdf, html, png, jpeg)
- Open the Markdown file
- Right click and select below
markdown-pdf: Export (settings.json)markdown-pdf: Export (pdf)markdown-pdf: Export (html)markdown-pdf: Export (png)markdown-pdf: Export (jpeg)markdown-pdf: Export (all: pdf, html, png, jpeg)
Auto convert
- Add
"markdown-pdf.convertOnSave": true option to settings.json
- Restart Visual Studio Code
- Open the Markdown file
- Auto convert on save
Extension Settings
Visual Studio Code User and Workspace Settings
- Select File > Preferences > UserSettings or Workspace Settings
- Find markdown-pdf settings in the Default Settings
- Copy
markdown-pdf.* settings
- Paste to the settings.json, and change the value
Options
List
Save options
markdown-pdf.type
- Output format: pdf, html, png, jpeg
- Multiple output formats support
- Default: pdf
"markdown-pdf.type": [
"pdf",
"html",
"png",
"jpeg"
],
markdown-pdf.convertOnSave
- Enable Auto convert on save
- boolean. Default: false
- To apply the settings, you need to restart Visual Studio Code
markdown-pdf.convertOnSaveExclude
- Excluded file name of convertOnSave option
"markdown-pdf.convertOnSaveExclude": [
"^work",
"work.md$",
"work|test",
"[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]-work",
"work\\test" // All '\' need to be written as '\\' (Windows)
],
markdown-pdf.outputDirectory
- Output Directory
- All
\ need to be written as \\ (Windows)
"markdown-pdf.outputDirectory": "C:\\work\\output",
- Relative path
- If you open the
Markdown file, it will be interpreted as a relative path from the file
- If you open a
folder, it will be interpreted as a relative path from the root folder
- If you open the
workspace, it will be interpreted as a relative path from each root folder
"markdown-pdf.outputDirectory": "output",
- Relative path (home directory)
- If path starts with
~, it will be interpreted as a relative path from the home directory
"markdown-pdf.outputDirectory": "~/output",
- If you set a directory with a
relative path, it will be created if the directory does not exist
- If you set a directory with an
absolute path, an error occurs if the directory does not exist
markdown-pdf.outputDirectoryRelativePathFile
- If
markdown-pdf.outputDirectoryRelativePathFile option is set to true, the relative path set with markdown-pdf.outputDirectory is interpreted as relative from the file
- It can be used to avoid relative paths from folders and workspaces
- boolean. Default: false
Styles options
markdown-pdf.styles
- A list of local paths to the stylesheets to use from the markdown-pdf
- If the file does not exist, it will be skipped
- All
\ need to be written as \\ (Windows)
"markdown-pdf.styles": [
"C:\\Users\\<USERNAME>\\Documents\\markdown-pdf.css",
"/home/<USERNAME>/settings/markdown-pdf.css",
],
- Relative path
- If you open the
Markdown file, it will be interpreted as a relative path from the file
- If you open a
folder, it will be interpreted as a relative path from the root folder
- If you open the
workspace, it will be interpreted as a relative path from each root folder
"markdown-pdf.styles": [
"markdown-pdf.css",
],
- Relative path (home directory)
- If path starts with
~, it will be interpreted as a relative path from the home directory
"markdown-pdf.styles": [
"~/.config/Code/User/markdown-pdf.css"
],
- Online CSS (https://xxx/xxx.css) is applied correctly for JPG and PNG, but problems occur with PDF #67
"markdown-pdf.styles": [
"https://xxx/markdown-pdf.css"
],
markdown-pdf.stylesRelativePathFile
- If
markdown-pdf.stylesRelativePathFile option is set to true, the relative path set with markdown-pdf.styles is interpreted as relative from the file
- It can be used to avoid relative paths from folders and workspaces
- boolean. Default: false
markdown-pdf.includeDefaultStyles
- Enable the inclusion of default Markdown styles (VSCode, markdown-pdf)
- boolean. Default: true
Syntax highlight options
markdown-pdf.highlight
- Enable Syntax highlighting
- boolean. Default: true
markdown-pdf.highlightStyle
"markdown-pdf.highlightStyle": "github.css",
Markdown options
markdown-pdf.breaks
- Enable line breaks
- boolean. Default: false
Emoji options
markdown-pdf.emoji
Configuration options
markdown-pdf.executablePath
- Path to a Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Chromium executable to run instead of the bundled Chromium
- See How is the Chromium browser selected? in the FAQ for how this setting interacts with installed browser detection and the managed Chromium download
- All
\ need to be written as \\ (Windows)
- To apply the settings, you need to restart Visual Studio Code
"markdown-pdf.executablePath": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe"
Common Options
markdown-pdf.scale
- Scale of the page rendering
- number. Default: 1
"markdown-pdf.scale": 1
PDF options
- Enables header and footer display
- boolean. Default: true
- Activating this option will display both the header and footer
- If you wish to display only one of them, remove the value for the other
- To hide the header
"markdown-pdf.headerTemplate": "",
- To hide the footer
"markdown-pdf.footerTemplate": "",
- Specifies the HTML template for outputting the header
- To use this option, you must set
markdown-pdf.displayHeaderFooter to true
<span class='date'></span> : formatted print date. The format depends on the environment<span class='title'></span> : markdown file name<span class='url'></span> : markdown full path name<span class='pageNumber'></span> : current page number<span class='totalPages'></span> : total pages in the document%%ISO-DATETIME%% : current date and time in ISO-based format (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss)%%ISO-DATE%% : current date in ISO-based format (YYYY-MM-DD)%%ISO-TIME%% : current time in ISO-based format (hh:mm:ss)- Default (version 1.5.0 and later): Displays the Markdown file name and the date using
%%ISO-DATE%%
"markdown-pdf.headerTemplate": "<div style=\"font-size: 9px; margin-left: 1cm;\"> <span class='title'></span></div> <div style=\"font-size: 9px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1cm; \">%%ISO-DATE%%</div>",
- Default (version 1.4.4 and earlier): Displays the Markdown file name and the date using
<span class='date'></span>
"markdown-pdf.headerTemplate": "<div style=\"font-size: 9px; margin-left: 1cm;\"> <span class='title'></span></div> <div style=\"font-size: 9px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 1cm; \"> <span class='date'></span></div>",
markdown-pdf.printBackground
- Print background graphics
- boolean. Default: true
markdown-pdf.orientation
- Paper orientation
- portrait or landscape
- Default: portrait
- Paper ranges to print, e.g., '1-5, 8, 11-13'
- Default: all pages
"markdown-pdf.pageRanges": "1,4-",
- Paper format
- Letter, Legal, Tabloid, Ledger, A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6
- Default: A4
"markdown-pdf.format": "A4",
markdown-pdf.width
markdown-pdf.height
- Paper width / height, accepts values labeled with units(mm, cm, in, px)
- If it is set, it overrides the markdown-pdf.format option
"markdown-pdf.width": "10cm",
"markdown-pdf.height": "20cm",
markdown-pdf.margin.top
markdown-pdf.margin.bottom
markdown-pdf.margin.right
markdown-pdf.margin.left
- Paper margins.units(mm, cm, in, px)
"markdown-pdf.margin.top": "1.5cm",
"markdown-pdf.margin.bottom": "1cm",
"markdown-pdf.margin.right": "1cm",
"markdown-pdf.margin.left": "1cm",
PNG, JPEG options
markdown-pdf.quality
- jpeg only. The quality of the image, between 0-100. Not applicable to png images
"markdown-pdf.quality": 100,
markdown-pdf.clip.x
markdown-pdf.clip.y
markdown-pdf.clip.width
markdown-pdf.clip.height
- An object which specifies clipping region of the page
- number
// x-coordinate of top-left corner of clip area
"markdown-pdf.clip.x": 0,
// y-coordinate of top-left corner of clip area
"markdown-pdf.clip.y": 0,
// width of clipping area
"markdown-pdf.clip.width": 1000,
// height of clipping area
"markdown-pdf.clip.height": 1000,
markdown-pdf.omitBackground
- Hides default white background and allows capturing screenshots with transparency
- boolean. Default: false
PlantUML options
markdown-pdf.plantumlOpenMarker
- Opening delimiter used for the plantuml parser.
- Default: @startuml
markdown-pdf.plantumlCloseMarker
- Closing delimiter used for the plantuml parser.
- Default: @enduml
markdown-pdf.plantumlServer
markdown-it-include options
markdown-pdf.markdown-it-include.enable
- Enable markdown-it-include.
- boolean. Default: true
mermaid options
markdown-pdf.mermaidServer
FAQ
How can I change emoji size ?
- Add the following to your stylesheet which was specified in the markdown-pdf.styles
.emoji {
height: 2em;
}
Auto guess encoding of files
Using files.autoGuessEncoding option of the Visual Studio Code is useful because it automatically guesses the character code. See files.autoGuessEncoding
"files.autoGuessEncoding": true,
Output directory
If you always want to output to the relative path directory from the Markdown file.
For example, to output to the "output" directory in the same directory as the Markdown file, set it as follows.
"markdown-pdf.outputDirectory" : "output",
"markdown-pdf.outputDirectoryRelativePathFile": true,
Page Break
Please use either of the following to insert a page break.
<div class="page"/>
<div class="page"></div>
Why did my heading anchors change?
Starting with 2.0.0, Markdown PDF generates heading IDs using a custom markdown-it-named-headers implementation that follows GitHub-compatible VS Code slug generation. Compared to the previous implementation, the new slug generator preserves CJK characters and underscores while removing unsupported punctuation, which can cause existing internal anchors (e.g. #some-heading) to resolve differently.
If your Markdown relies on specific anchor strings (for example, a table of contents or cross-document links), re-check the generated anchors after exporting and update the links as needed.
Why did my syntax highlight style stop working?
Starting with 2.0.0, Markdown PDF uses highlight.js v11 (previously v9). Some style names from v9 have been renamed or removed. Markdown PDF maps legacy style names to current names where possible and shows a warning message when a configured style cannot be found. If no mapping is available, the extension falls back to tomorrow.css.
Please check the available styles and update your markdown-pdf.highlightStyle setting to a current style name.
Why is my front matter no longer parsed?
Starting with 2.0.0, Markdown PDF parses YAML front matter with a custom implementation instead of gray-matter. The new parser is stricter and rejects the following cases that the old parser may have accepted:
- Top-level YAML sequences (arrays) as front matter
- Front matter that does not parse into a plain object
- Malformed YAML structures
A valid front matter must be a YAML mapping (object) at the top level, for example:
---
title: My Document
"markdown-pdf":
displayHeaderFooter: true
---
BOM-prefixed files are still supported.
How is the Chromium browser selected?
Markdown PDF resolves a Chromium-based browser in the following order:
- The path specified in markdown-pdf.executablePath, if the file exists.
- An installed browser on your system. Google Chrome (stable) is detected via @puppeteer/browsers at its standard OS install location; Microsoft Edge and Chromium are probed at the fixed paths listed below.
- A managed Chromium that Markdown PDF automatically downloads on first use.
The first match wins. The per-OS scan order for installed Edge and Chromium is:
Windows
- Google Chrome (stable install, detected via
@puppeteer/browsers)
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe%LOCALAPPDATA%\Chromium\Application\chrome.exe%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe%PROGRAMFILES%\Chromium\Application\chrome.exe%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Chromium\Application\chrome.exe
macOS
- Google Chrome (stable install, detected via
@puppeteer/browsers)
/Applications/Chromium.app/Contents/MacOS/Chromium/Applications/Microsoft Edge.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft Edge
Linux
- Google Chrome (stable install, detected via
@puppeteer/browsers)
/usr/bin/chromium-browser/usr/bin/chromium/usr/bin/microsoft-edge/usr/bin/microsoft-edge-stable
Where is Chromium downloaded?
If no installed browser is found, Markdown PDF downloads a managed Chromium on first use. The download is stored under the extension's VS Code global storage directory:
| OS |
Download path |
| Windows |
%APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage\yzane.markdown-pdf\ |
| macOS |
~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/yzane.markdown-pdf/ |
| Linux |
~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/yzane.markdown-pdf/ |
If you use VS Code Insiders or VSCodium, the base path changes accordingly (for example Code - Insiders or VSCodium instead of Code).
During the download, Installing Chromium is shown in the status bar.
Known Issues
markdown-pdf.styles option
- Online CSS (https://xxx/xxx.css) is applied correctly for JPG and PNG, but problems occur with PDF. #67
2.0.1 (2026/04/14)
- Fix: Self-closing
<div class="page" /> now correctly triggers a page break #428
2.0.0 (2026/04/13)
- Breaking: Heading ID slug generation, front matter parsing, and Chromium resolution have changed. See the FAQ for details.
- Change: Migrate to TypeScript and bundle with esbuild
- Change: Bundle
puppeteer-core and manage Chromium via the built-in chromium-resolver (installed Chrome/Edge preferred, auto-download fallback)
- Change: Replace
markdown-it-include, markdown-it-named-headers, and markdown-it-checkbox with in-repo custom implementations
- Change: Remove
cheerio, mustache, and gray-matter dependencies
- Add: Unit and integration test suites (
vscode-test-cli)
For details, see Change Log.
License
MIT
Special thanks
