Chrome PDF Generator issues (Print_designer)

thefox · June 30, 2025, 7:37am

I understand, that since print designer V1.5.0 we have the option to use chrome for pdf generation instead of wkhtmltopdf.
We run V1.5.2, is there anything we need to change in order to use chrome, or is this now enabled by default?

@maharshivpatel Any hint to documentation is appreciated.

Mubasher · June 30, 2025, 12:33pm

used custom print format is uses wkhtmltopdf

jls · June 30, 2025, 2:16pm

PDF generation using Chrome was added due to the technical limitations of wkhtmltopdf.

Personally, I recommend using Chrome for PDF generation.

jls · June 30, 2025, 3:25pm

You can change here:

thefox · July 2, 2025, 6:00pm

Thanks for all the replies, unfortunately I don’t see the option using chrome as PDF generator.

Our Server ist running:

Installed Apps

ERPNext: v16.0.0-dev

Framework: v16.0.0-dev

Print Designer: v1.5.2

is there anything else we need to do in order to activate the chrome option?

jls · July 2, 2025, 8:58pm

Try bench setup-chrome
And bench migrate

thefox · July 3, 2025, 6:31am

hmm, seems thats not it

trustedcomputer · July 5, 2025, 3:12am

I’m not saying this is the only problem, but you do have a version mismatch between Frappe, ERPNext, and Print Designer. If you are using develop branch for the first two, then Print Designer’s develop branch should be used as well. Hopefully that’s all it is.

thefox · July 17, 2025, 6:32am

Changed to dev branch, unfortunately still the same problem.

Peer · July 17, 2025, 2:42pm

ReportLab has a pdfgen module since long time, used in big projects.

thefox · July 18, 2025, 8:59am

thanks for bringing this up, I think this information is more relevant to the developer in case they wanna integrate it into frappe. In my case fixing the issue would probably be better

federico_calvo · August 6, 2025, 9:57pm

this comment its relevant today?

github.com/frappe/print_designer

Comment by maharshivpatel - feat: Chrome PDF Generator

develop ← maharshivpatel:pdf-backend

For anyone who wants to test it new backend is now available for testing on d…evelop branches. ( FC is not supported for now ) 1. fetch latest develop branch from frappe and print_designer 2. run `bench setup-chrome` 3. open print format and change `PDF Generator` to `chrome` incase of unable to run chrome go to `bench folder -> chromium -> chrome-platform` where you will find `headless_shell` file run `./headless_shell --remote-debugging-port=0` and share the output here. P.S. if you are running docker you need to install below dependancies. ``` # currently not installed fonts-liberation libatk-bridge2.0-0 libatk1.0-0 libatspi2.0-0 libgbm1 libgtk-3-0 | libgtk-4-1 libnspr4 libnss3 xdg-utils libvulkan1 libxcomposite1 libxdamage1 libxfixes3 libxkbcommon0 libxrandr2 #installed most likely by wkhtmltopdf ca-certificates libasound2 libc6 libcairo2 libcups2 libdbus-1-3 libexpat1 libglib2.0-0 libpango-1.0-0 wget libudev1 libx11-6 libxcb1 libxext6 libcurl3-gnutls ```

trustedcomputer · August 7, 2025, 2:38pm

If you mean the docker dependencies mentioned in the article, yes. You need to make sure those packages are part of your build as you create an image with the print_designer app.

auliabismar · September 22, 2025, 4:09am

Errored out saying no such command ‘setup-chrome’
I am using bench 5.25.9

trustedcomputer · September 22, 2025, 10:19pm

That means you don’t have the print_designer app in your bench. If you’re on docker, you need it part of your image build. If not on docker, you need to bench get-app. Then, regardless of your environment, you need to install it to your site.

M.Toseef · May 7, 2026, 6:32am

‘PDF Generator’ option can solve the problems.

For ‘wkhtmltopdf‘, it is required:

Ensure the required version, if you can not then use ‘chrome‘ as the PDF generator.

Thanks!