Source/QuestPDF/Resources/Description.md
QuestPDF is a production-ready library that lets you design documents the way you design software: with clean, maintainable, strong-typed C# code. Stop fighting with HTML-to-PDF conversion. Build pixel-perfect reports, invoices, and exports using the language and tools you already love.
The library is free for individuals, non-profits, all FOSS projects, and organizations under $1M in annual revenue. Read more
Learn how easy it is to design, implement and generate PDF documents using QuestPDF. Effortlessly create documents of all types such as invoices and reports.
using QuestPDF.Fluent;
using QuestPDF.Helpers;
using QuestPDF.Infrastructure;
// set your license here:
// QuestPDF.Settings.License = LicenseType.Community;
Document.Create(container =>
{
container.Page(page =>
{
page.Size(PageSizes.A4);
page.Margin(2, Unit.Centimetre);
page.PageColor(Colors.White);
page.DefaultTextStyle(x => x.FontSize(20));
page.Header()
.Text("Hello PDF!")
.SemiBold().FontSize(36).FontColor(Colors.Blue.Medium);
page.Content()
.PaddingVertical(1, Unit.Centimetre)
.Column(x =>
{
x.Spacing(20);
x.Item().Text(Placeholders.LoremIpsum());
x.Item().Image(Placeholders.Image(200, 100));
});
page.Footer()
.AlignCenter()
.Text(x =>
{
x.Span("Page ");
x.CurrentPageNumber();
});
});
})
.GeneratePdf("hello.pdf");
The code above produces the following PDF document:
QuestPDF provides 60+ production-ready features for building complex, data-driven PDF documents with clean and maintainable C# code.
π§± Layout:
Page setup, headers, footers, watermarks, tables, rows, columns, lists, layers, inlined content, multi-column flow, sections, decorations
π¨ Visual Content:
Rich text, fonts, colors, backgrounds, borders, rounded corners, shadows, lines, raster images, SVG, placeholders, canvas graphics
π Positioning:
Alignment, width, height, padding, aspect ratio, rotation, scaling, scale-to-fit, offset, flip, extend, shrink, unconstrained layout, Z-index
π Content Flow:
Page breaks, prevent page breaks, ensure space, show entire, repeat, show once, skip once, conditional rendering, stop paging
π§© Dynamic Documents:
Loops, conditions, reusable components, dynamic components, lazy loading, custom helpers, extension methods, strongly-typed models
π Internationalization:
RTL layout direction, bidirectional text, advanced text shaping, font fallback, multilingual documents, accessibility support
Use your existing programming language and patterns to ship faster with less training.
Loops, conditionals, functions are natively supported. Leverage IntelliSense, inspections, navigation, and safe refactoring.
container.Column(column =>
{
column.Item().Text("Order Items").Bold();
if (Model.ShowSummary)
column.Item().Element(ComposeOrderSummary);
foreach (var item in Model.Items)
column.Item().Element(c => ComposeItem(c, item));
});
Review document changes like any other code. Get clean diffs, PR approvals, and traceable history.
void ComposeItem(IContainer container, OrderItem item)
{
container
.Border(1, Colors.Grey.Darken2)
.Background(item.HighlightColor)
- .Padding(12)
+ .Padding(16)
.Row(row =>
{
row.RelativeItem().Text(item.Name);
row.AutoItem().Text($"{item.Price:F2} USD");
});
}
Accelerate development with live document preview and hot-reload capability. See your changes instantly without recompiling.
π§© Dynamic Content Is Just Code
Use your existing programming language and development patterns to ship faster with less training. Loops, conditionals, functions, reusable components, and data-driven generation are supported natively.
π Version Control Friendly
Review document changes like any other code. Get clean diffs, pull request approvals, traceable history, and safer collaboration across your team.
β¨ Ready for AI
QuestPDFβs semantic Fluent API helps AI assistants generate layouts, refactor components, explain document structure, and troubleshoot issues more effectively.
π― Predictable Development
Eliminate CSS debugging, browser quirks, and layout surprises common with HTML-to-PDF tools. What you code is what you get.
ποΈ Source-available
Entire QuestPDF source code is available for review and customization, ensuring transparency and compliance with your organization's requirements.
π Complete Data Privacy
QuestPDF runs entirely within your infrastructure with no external API calls, internet requirement, or background data collection. As a company, we do not access, collect, store, or process your private data.
ποΈ Comprehensive Layout Engine
A powerful layout engine built specifically for PDF generation. Gain full control over document structure, precise content positioning, and automatic pagination.
π Advanced Language Support
Create multilingual documents with full RTL language support, advanced text shaping, and bi-directional layout handling.
β‘ High Performance
Generate thousands of pages per second while maintaining minimal CPU and memory usage. Perfect for high-throughput enterprise applications.
π¦ Optimized File Size
Drastically reduce file sizes without compromising quality. Benefit from automatic font subsetting, optimal image compression, and efficient file compression.
Leverage a powerful C# Fluent API to create, customize, and manage your PDF documents with ease.
DocumentOperation
.LoadFile("input.pdf")
.TakePages("1-10")
.MergeFile("appendix.pdf", "1-z") // all pages
.AddAttachment(new DocumentAttachment
{
FilePath = "metadata.xml"
})
.Encrypt(new Encryption256Bit
{
OwnerPassword = "mypassword",
AllowPrinting = true,
AllowContentExtraction = false
})
.Save("final-document.pdf");
Deploy on any major operating system and integrate seamlessly with your favorite IDEs, cloud platforms, and development tools.
| Platform | Support |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, macOS |
| Frameworks | .NET 6+ and .NET Framework 4.6.2+ |
| Cloud | Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, Others |
| Containers | Docker, Kubernetes |
| IDEs | Visual Studio, VS Code, JetBrains Rider, Others |
Generate PDF documents that meet the strictest archival and accessibility requirements. Every build is automatically validated using the open-source veraPDF and Mustang tools.
ποΈ PDF/A (Archival)
PDF/A-2b, PDF/A-2u, PDF/A-2a, PDF/A-3b, PDF/A-3u, PDF/A-3aβΏ PDF/UA (Accessibility)
PDF/UA-1π§Ύ EN 16931 (E-Invoicing):
ZUGFeRD, Factur-XA model that benefits everyone. Commercial licensing provides businesses with legal safety and long-term stability, while funding a feature-complete, unrestricted library for the open-source community.
The library is free for individuals, non-profits, all FOSS projects, and organizations under $1M in annual revenue.
Follow our detailed tutorial and see how easy it is to generate a fully functional invoice with fewer than 250 lines of C# code.
We are incredibly grateful to our .NET Community for their positive reviews and recommendations of the QuestPDF library. Your support and feedback are invaluable and motivate us to keep improving and expanding this project. Thank you for helping us grow and reach more developers!