PdfKit

PDFKit Node

Actions3

Overview

This node provides PDF manipulation capabilities with three main operations: converting images to a PDF, merging two PDFs into one, and converting an Excel sheet to a PDF. It is useful in workflows where you need to generate or combine PDF documents dynamically from various input formats.

  • Convert Images To PDF: Takes multiple image files from binary data and compiles them into a single PDF document.
  • Merge PDFs: Combines two existing PDF files (from binary data) into one consolidated PDF.
  • Convert Excel To PDF: Converts a specified worksheet from an Excel file into a formatted PDF document.

Practical examples:

  • Creating a PDF portfolio from multiple images uploaded by users.
  • Merging contract pages stored as separate PDFs into a single document for easier distribution.
  • Generating printable reports from Excel spreadsheets automatically.

Properties

Name Meaning
Destination Key The name of the binary key where the resulting PDF will be stored.
PDF Name The filename to assign to the output PDF document.
First PDF Binary Field The binary field containing the first PDF file to merge (used only in Merge PDFs operation).
Second PDF Binary Field The binary field containing the second PDF file to merge (used only in Merge PDFs operation).
Keep Source PDFs Whether to retain the original source PDFs in the binary data after merging (boolean).

Output

The node outputs items with a binary property containing the generated PDF under the specified destination key. The PDF is stored as binary data with the given filename and MIME type application/pdf.

  • For imagesToPDF and mergePDFs, the output binary contains the merged or created PDF.
  • For xlsxToPDF, the output binary contains the PDF rendering of the selected Excel worksheet.
  • If configured, the original source files (images, PDFs, or Excel files) can be optionally kept in the binary data.

Dependencies

  • Uses the pdf-lib library to manipulate and merge PDF documents.
  • Uses pdfkit to create PDFs from images and Excel data.
  • Uses image-size to determine dimensions of images.
  • Uses exceljs to read Excel files and extract worksheet data.
  • Requires input items to have binary data fields containing images, PDFs, or Excel files depending on the operation.

No external API keys or services are required; all processing is done locally within the node.

Troubleshooting

  • Missing Binary Data: Errors occur if expected binary fields (e.g., PDFs or Excel files) are not present on the input item. Verify that the binary field names exactly match those configured.
  • Invalid PDF Files: When merging PDFs, corrupted or invalid PDF files may cause errors. Ensure input PDFs are valid and not damaged.
  • Worksheet Not Found: For Excel to PDF conversion, specifying a non-existent sheet name or invalid index will throw an error. Check available worksheet names and indexes.
  • Empty Worksheet: Converting an empty worksheet results in an error. Confirm the worksheet contains data.
  • Output Key Conflicts: If the destination key conflicts with existing binary keys and "keep source" options are false, source data will be removed. Be cautious to avoid unintended data loss.

Links and References

Discussion