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View PDFs, compare modified PDFs, and author PDFs in XML with Lpdf — PDF as Code on every platform

A PDF viewer, a visual diff for PDFs you have modified, and authoring tools for Lpdf: you describe a document in XML, preview it live, and turn the template into SDK code for your platform. Everything runs on your machine.

Open and compare PDFs

PDF viewer

Open any .pdf file in VS Code: right-click it in the Explorer and select Lpdf: View PDF, or use the command palette. To open every PDF this way, turn on the lpdf.defaultPdfViewer setting. It follows your light or dark theme.

The PDF viewer with the page thumbnails and the search bar open, with numbered labels explained in the list below

Page thumbnails.
Text search, with highlight all, match case, diacritics and whole words.
Zoom by field, buttons, pinch or Ctrl and the mouse wheel, from 10% to 1000%, with a toggle between fit to width and fit to page.
A two-page view, with or without a cover page.
Save, and document properties.

Compare PDF with HEAD

See what changed in a modified PDF. Right-click it in the Explorer and select Lpdf: Compare PDF with HEAD, or choose it from the ... menu of an open PDF's tab. Click a changed PDF in the Source Control view and Lpdf offers to open it this way instead of as a text diff (switch the offer off with the lpdf.promptPdfDiff setting). The version in your last commit and your working copy open side by side. The file needs a committed version in a git repository.

Compare PDF with HEAD: the PDF from the last commit on the left and the working copy on the right, with numbered labels explained in the list below

HEAD: the PDF as of your last commit, with its page count and size.
Working copy: the file on disk.
What changed: here, the colour of the heading.
Sync scroll: both sides scroll together. Untick it to scroll them apart.
One zoom for both sides: the buttons, a typed percentage, the fit button, or a pinch.
The info button: a table of both documents' properties.

The info button opens the two documents' properties, such as size, page count and producer, in two columns.

A property that differs is marked.
How many of them differ.

The properties of the HEAD version and the working copy side by side, with the file size row marked as different, with numbered labels explained in the list on the left

Write PDFs in XML

Lpdf describes a document in XML, or in code, and renders a compact PDF that is identical on every platform. This extension is where you author them.

Start from a template

Run Lpdf: New Document..., or choose it under File > New File... or on a folder in the Explorer. Pick a template and where to save it. The templates are seven documents, from a one-page admission letter to a 117-page book: a résumé, an invoice, a report, an installment contract and a brochure are the others. A template that has data, such as the invoice and the report, writes its JSON beside the XML, and one that has fonts or images writes them to an assets folder next to it. The document opens with its preview beside it. Change a value in the JSON and the preview follows.

Live preview

Any .xml file whose root element is <lpdf> is an Lpdf document, whatever it is named. Run Lpdf: Preview PDF, or use the buttons above <lpdf>, to open the rendered PDF beside your XML. It updates each time you save, and keeps your place and zoom. It is the same viewer as above, and it follows your light or dark theme.

The XML next to its live preview, with numbered labels explained in the list below

Buttons above the root element: preview, export, generate code, and link a data file. The Lpdf ◆ item in the status bar opens the preview too.
The preview, which updates when you save.
The viewer's toolbar, with search, zoom, page views, save and properties.

The same window in a light theme

Autocomplete, validation and hover docs

The XML is checked against the Lpdf schema as you type.

A list of the elements the schema allows at the cursor, with numbered labels explained in the list on the right

Completion offers only what the schema allows at that point.

Mistakes are underlined as you type: here, the unfinished tag.
The elements that can go inside this one.

Hover an element or an attribute for what it does, the attributes it takes, and the values each accepts. The text comes from the Lpdf schema.

What the element is for, and where the documentation comes from.

The documentation that appears when hovering over a text element: what it is, and the attributes it takes with their values, with a numbered label explained in the list on the left

Generate code

Run Lpdf: Generate Code to turn the saved XML into SDK code that builds the same document. It opens beside your template.

The Generate Code command offering four languages, with the XML on the left and the generated C# on the right, with numbered labels explained in the list below

Choose the language: TypeScript, C#, Python or PHP.
Your template.
The code that builds the same document.

Data, images and export

Data files. Templates can bind to JSON data. A <name>.json file next to <name>.xml is picked up automatically, or choose any JSON file with Lpdf: Link Data File.... The preview updates when the data file changes, and export uses the same data.
Images and fonts. <image src="…"> and <font src="…"> in <assets> load from disk. A relative path is looked up next to the XML file first, then in the root of the workspace folder. URLs are not downloaded.
Export. Run Lpdf: Export PDF to render the current document, with its linked data, and save it to disk.

Works offline

The Lpdf engine, PDF viewer, and export all run locally on your machine. No server round-trips, no accounts — your documents stay private. The extension collects no telemetry. The Red Hat XML extension it depends on asks for your consent to its own.

Requirements

Red Hat XML — required for XSD autocomplete and validation. It is installed automatically, also if you only use the PDF viewer.

Docs

lpdf.io/docs

License

The extension is free to use, for any purpose. Previews and exports carry a "Made with Lpdf" line on every page.

The PDF viewer is built on PDF.js, Mozilla's open-source PDF renderer, under the Apache License 2.0, with Lpdf's own toolbar around it. It, its fonts and its other components are listed with their licenses in THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.

The extension code is MIT licensed. The bundled Lpdf engine may be used through the extension by anyone, including for the PDFs it produces. See LICENSE for the terms. Using the engine in your own app is covered by the Lpdf License.

Pull requests are not accepted. Report bugs and request features at github.com/lpdfio/lpdf/issues. See CONTRIBUTING.