Markdown to PDF Converter

A powerful VS Code extension that converts Markdown files to professionally formatted PDF documents using Playwright.

Features

🚀 One-Click Conversion: C- 🐛 Report Issues
💡 Feature Requests
📖 Documentation
⭐ Star the repo if you find it useful!rt Markdown files to PDF with a single command
🎨 Syntax Highlighting: Preserves code block formatting with syntax highlighting using Highlight.js
📄 Professional Output: Clean, readable PDF documents using Playwright rendering engine
⚡ Fast Processing: Efficient conversion using browser-grade rendering
💾 Flexible Output: Choose where to save your PDF files
🖼️ Image Support: Automatically includes images from your Markdown files

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace

Open VS Code
Press Ctrl+P / Cmd+P to open Quick Open
Type ext install md-to-pdf
Press Enter

From Source

Clone this repository
Run npm install
Run npm run compile
Press F5 to launch Extension Development Host

Usage

Method 1: Command Palette

Open a Markdown file (.md)
Press Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P
Type "Export Markdown to PDF"
Press Enter
Choose output location for your PDF

Right-click in a Markdown file editor
Select "Export Markdown to PDF"
Choose output location

Method 3: Editor Context (Right-click)

Right-click anywhere in the Markdown editor
Select "Export Markdown to PDF" from the context menu

Example

Input Markdown:

# My Document
This is a sample markdown document.

## Features
- Bullet points
- **Bold text**
- *Italic text*

## Code Example
```javascript
function hello() {
  console.log('Hello, World!');
}


### Output:
A professionally formatted PDF with:
- Clean typography
- Proper heading hierarchy
- Syntax-highlighted code blocks
- Preserved formatting and styles

## Requirements

- VS Code version 1.107.0 or higher
- Node.js 16.x or higher (bundled with extension)
- Playwright (automatically included with extension)

## Configuration

Currently, the extension uses sensible defaults:
- **Page Format**: A4
- **Margins**: 20mm top/bottom, 15mm left/right
- **Background**: Print backgrounds enabled
- **Code Highlighting**: GitHub style theme

Future versions will include customizable settings:
```json
{
  "mdToPdf.outputPath": "${fileDir}",
  "mdToPdf.pageFormat": "A4",
  "mdToPdf.margins": {
    "top": "20mm",
    "bottom": "20mm",
    "left": "15mm",
    "right": "15mm"
  },
  "mdToPdf.openAfterConversion": true
}

Supported Markdown Features

✅ Headings (H1-H6)
✅ Bold, Italic, Strikethrough
✅ Lists (ordered and unordered)
✅ Code blocks with syntax highlighting
✅ Inline code
✅ Links
✅ Images (local and remote)
✅ Blockquotes
✅ Tables
✅ Horizontal rules
✅ HTML (embedded)

Known Limitations

Large images may affect conversion time
Some advanced Markdown extensions may not be fully supported
Custom CSS styling not yet available (planned for future release)
Batch conversion not yet supported

Troubleshooting

Conversion fails or produces blank PDFs

Ensure Playwright is properly installed: npx playwright install
Try restarting VS Code
Check the Output panel (View → Output → "MD to PDF") for error messages

Images not appearing in PDF

Verify image paths are correct (relative paths work best)
Ensure images are accessible from the Markdown file location
Check that image URLs are valid for remote images

"No active editor" error

Make sure you have a Markdown file open and focused
The file must have a .md extension

Performance

Small files (< 100 KB): ~1-2 seconds
Medium files (100 KB - 1 MB): ~2-5 seconds
Large files (> 1 MB): ~5-10 seconds

Conversion time depends on content complexity, number of images, and system performance.

Roadmap

[ ] Batch conversion support (multiple files)
[ ] Custom CSS themes and styling
[ ] Configurable page settings via VS Code settings
[ ] Table of contents generation
[ ] Header/footer templates with page numbers
[ ] Preview PDF before saving
[ ] Custom output filename templates
[ ] Watch mode for auto-conversion on save

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile TypeScript
npm run compile

# Watch for changes
npm run watch

# Run tests
npm test

# Package extension
npm run package

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Support

🐛 Report Issues
💡 Request Features
📖 Documentation
⭐ Star the repo if you find it useful!

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history and release notes.

Acknowledgments

Built with Playwright
Markdown parsing by markdown-it
Syntax highlighting by Highlight.js

Enjoy converting your Markdown files to PDF! 📄✨

Following extension guidelines

Ensure that you've read through the extensions guidelines and follow the best practices for creating your extension.

Extension Guidelines

Working with Markdown

You can author your README using Visual Studio Code. Here are some useful editor keyboard shortcuts:

Split the editor (Cmd+\ on macOS or Ctrl+\ on Windows and Linux).
Toggle preview (Shift+Cmd+V on macOS or Shift+Ctrl+V on Windows and Linux).
Press Ctrl+Space (Windows, Linux, macOS) to see a list of Markdown snippets.

For more information

Enjoy!

MD to PDF

Swastika Gupta