Document Export

An Obsidian plugin that exports your vault notes to PDF, DOCX, or LaTeX book formats with full control over structure, formatting, and content.

Features

• Multi-format export — Generate PDF (via pdf-lib), DOCX (via docx.js), or LaTeX output from your notes in a single run.
• Two content modes — Choose notes via an index note with wikilinks (manifest mode) or manually pick and reorder them.
• Heading mapping — Map H1–H6 to document structure elements (part, chapter, section, subsection) or to inline styles (bold, italic, paragraph).
• Front matter & cover page — Set title, subtitle, author, cover image, and enable a table of contents.
• Custom formatting — Choose from 8 font families, set base font size (8–14pt), and configure page number position.
• Obsidian syntax normalization — Converts wikilinks, tags, highlights, comments, callouts, and image embeds to standard markdown.
• Table of contents — Auto-generated TOC with configurable depth (1–6 levels).
• Asset resolution — Embedded images, PDFs, and files are resolved through the Obsidian vault API.
• Drag-and-drop reordering — In manual mode, reorder notes with drag and drop.
• Mermaid diagrams — Mermaid code blocks are rendered to PNG and embedded in the output.
• KaTeX formulas — LaTeX math expressions ($...$ and $$...$$) are rendered to PNG via KaTeX for PDF/DOCX output. Left as raw syntax in LaTeX output.
• Syntax highlighting — Code blocks include basic syntax highlighting with color-coded keywords, strings, comments, and numbers.
• Callout support — All Obsidian callout types (note, tip, warning, danger, etc.) are rendered with distinct colors and styling.
• Task lists — Checkbox items (- [ ] / - [x]) are rendered as checkbox characters in the output.
• Footnotes — Block references (^block-id) with [[#^block-id]] references become footnotes.
• Embedded PDFs — ![[file.pdf]] embeds are rendered page-by-page as images.
• Recursive embed resolution — ![[Note]] embeds are recursively inlined with circular reference protection.
• Internationalization — UI is translated into 24 languages.
• Ribbon icon — Quick access via the file-down icon in the Obsidian sidebar.
• Progress tracking — A progress modal shows real-time status during export.
• Default presets — Save your preferred export settings as defaults for future sessions.

Installation

From a release

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
2. Create the folder <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/document-export/ in your vault.
3. Copy the three files into that folder.
4. In Obsidian, go to Settings → Community plugins, refresh the list, and enable Document Export.

From source (development)

See DEVELOPMENT.md for building and deploying from source.

Usage

Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) and run Document Export: Export vault. The export configuration modal appears with four panels.

1. Source panel

Controls what content to export and its metadata.

Content mode:

• Manifest — Select an index note. The plugin parses its wikilinks (e.g., [[Chapter 1]], [[Chapter 2]]) to discover and order the notes to export. When you pick an index note, the detected chapters are shown in order. Broken wikilinks are detected and highlighted with a red badge.
• Manual — Add individual notes one by one using the note suggester. Reorder them by dragging the handle on the left of each row. Remove a note with the X button. Duplicate notes are automatically prevented.

Metadata:

• Title — Book/document title (used in the cover page, file naming, and document metadata).
• Subtitle — Optional subtitle for the cover page.
• Author — Author name for the cover page and metadata.

2. Structure panel

Controls how headings and structural elements are handled.

• New chapter per note — When enabled, each note starts on a new chapter (or top-level structure element). Default: enabled.
• Heading mapping — For each heading level H1 through H6, choose what it maps to:
  • Part — Top-level division (page break before, rendered as \part{} in LaTeX).
  • Chapter — Chapter-level division (H1 default). Forces a page break in PDF/DOCX.
  • Section — Section-level division (H2 default).
  • Subsection — Subsection-level division (H3 default).
  • Inline — Rendered as inline bold text, no structural break (H4–H6 default).
  • Paragraph — Rendered as a regular paragraph.
  • Bold — Rendered as bold text.
  • Italic — Rendered as italic text.
• Wikilink handling — Choose how [[wikilinks]] are processed:
  • Resolve to note title — Converts [[Note]] to [Note](Note) markdown links.
  • Keep as raw text — Leaves [[Note]] unchanged in the output.
  • Strip references — Removes all wikilink references entirely.
• Tag handling — Choose how #tags are processed:
  • Tag text only — #mytag becomes mytag (hash removed). Default.
  • Convert to bold — #mytag becomes mytag.
  • Strip tags — Removes all tags entirely.
• Note name — Optionally prepend each note's filename as a heading at any structural level (part/chapter/section/etc.) or none (default).

3. Front matter panel

Controls cover page and table of contents settings.

• Cover page — Toggle to include a cover page with the document title, subtitle, and author. Default: enabled.
• Use book metadata — When enabled, the cover pulls metadata from the book structure. Default: enabled.
• Cover image — Select an image file to display on the cover page. The image is scaled to fit the page. Uses the OS file picker.
• Table of contents — Toggle to include an auto-generated table of contents. Default: enabled.
  • TOC depth — How many heading levels to include in the TOC (1–6, default: 2).
  • TOC title — Custom title for the table of contents (default: "Contents").

4. Output panel

Controls output formats, formatting, and save location.

Formats (select one or more):

• PDF — Export to PDF using pdf-lib.
• DOCX — Export to Microsoft Word format using docx.js.
• LaTeX source — Export to LaTeX source code (.tex).

Formatting:

• Font family — Choose from: Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Georgia, Garamond, Verdana, Courier New, or Consolas. Default: Times New Roman.
• Base font size — Set the base font size from 8pt to 14pt (default: 11pt). Heading sizes scale relative to base: H1=2x, H2=1.7x, H3=1.4x, H4=1.2x, H5=1.1x, H6=1.05x.
• Page numbers — Toggle page numbers on/off (default: enabled) and choose a position:
  • Top left, Top center, Top right
  • Bottom left, Bottom center (default), Bottom right

Save path:

• Click Select folder to choose where the exported files are saved in your vault. The folder path is displayed once selected. Shows "(vault root)" when no folder is selected.

Running the export

Once all panels are configured, click the Export button at the bottom. A progress modal shows the current stage:

1. Reading notes — Each note is read from the vault.
2. Processing notes — Image paths are resolved, embeds are expanded.
3. Rendering Mermaid diagrams — Code blocks with mermaid language are rendered to PNG.
4. Rendering formulas — $...$ and $$...$$ are rendered to PNG via KaTeX.
5. Processing embedded PDFs — ![[file.pdf]] pages are rendered to PNG.
6. Generating output — Each enabled format renders the document.
7. Saving files — Generated files are written to the vault.

Files are named automatically: <title>-<format>.<ext> (e.g., MyBook-pdf.pdf, MyBook-docx.docx, MyBook-latex.tex). Special characters in the title are replaced with underscores.

Output format details

PDF

• Generated with pdf-lib.
• US Letter page size (612 x 792 points), 1-inch margins.
• Cover page: If a cover image is provided, it is scaled to fit and centered. Otherwise, title (28pt bold), subtitle (18pt), and author (14pt) are centered.
• Table of contents: Dedicated page with entries indented by depth level and page numbers right-aligned.
• Headings: Bold, scaled sizes. H1 structural headings force a page break. H1 and H2 get a horizontal rule underneath.
• Code blocks: Gray background (#f5f5f5), Courier 9pt font, with syntax highlighting colors (keyword=blue, string=green, comment=gray, number=orange, builtin=purple).
• Blockquotes: Left border bar (3px gray). Callouts get a 6px colored left border with shaded background.
• Lists: Bullet points or numbered, with proper indentation. Task list checkboxes rendered as square boxes with checkmark.
• Tables: Equal-width columns, gray header row, bordered cells, bold headers.
• Images: PNG and JPEG embedded directly. Image-only paragraphs are centered. Formula images are auto-trimmed.
• Links: Web links rendered in blue.
• Page numbers: 9pt font, positioned per configuration, starting after front matter.
• Footnotes: Block references rendered at page bottom with separator line.

DOCX

• Generated with docx.js library.
• Full Word document with document properties (title, author).
• Cover page: Title (36pt bold), subtitle (24pt), author (20pt), centered.
• Table of contents: Native TableOfContents with dot leader tab stops and hyperlink support.
• Headings: Maps to native HeadingLevel.HEADING_1 through HEADING_6 with proper spacing. H1 triggers pageBreakBefore.
• Code blocks: Courier New font, light gray background, left border, syntax highlighting.
• Callouts: Colored left border (18pt width), shaded background, matching color scheme.
• Lists: Nested with increasing indent (400 EMU per level), alternating bullet characters (bullet, circle, square, triangle).
• Task lists: Checkbox characters (checked: ☑, unchecked: ☐).
• Inline formatting: Bold, italic, strikethrough, highlight (yellow), subscript, superscript.
• Links: External hyperlinks with blue color and underline.
• Images: Sized using actual dimensions with scaleToFit().
• Page numbers: In footer with configurable alignment.
• Footnotes: Native DOCX footnotes with italic text.
• Compatible with: Microsoft Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice, and other DOCX readers.

LaTeX

• Generates a complete, compilable .tex file using the book document class.
• Preamble includes: inputenc, fontenc, lmodern, graphicx, hyperref, tocloft, fancyhdr, listings, xcolor, amssymb, ulem.
• Font packages: Automatically includes the appropriate LaTeX package for the selected font (e.g., mathptmx for Times New Roman, helvet for Arial).
• Cover page: \begin{titlepage} with \includegraphics if cover image provided; otherwise \maketitle.
• Table of contents: \tableofcontents followed by \newpage.
• Headings: \part{}, \chapter{}, \section{}, \subsection{}, \subsubsection{}.
• Inline formatting: \textbf{}, \textit{}, \sout{} (strikethrough), \colorbox{yellow}{} (highlight), \textsubscript{}, \textsuperscript{}, \href{}.
• Code blocks: lstlisting environment with language specification and syntax highlighting colors, or verbatim for unlabeled blocks.
• Blockquotes: \begin{quote} environment. Callouts use \fcolorbox with colored minipage.
• Lists: \begin{itemize} / \begin{enumerate} with \item. Task lists use Unicode checkbox symbols.
• Tables: \begin{tabular} with alignment per column, \hline borders.
• Footnotes: \footnote{See page \pageref{block:id}}.
• LaTeX escaping: Proper escaping of \, {, }, &, %, $, #, _, ~, ^ with protection of existing math blocks.
• Extra files: Image files are copied alongside the .tex file with sanitized filenames.
• Compile with: pdflatex or xelatex.

Syntax normalization

The plugin automatically converts Obsidian-specific markdown to standard markdown before rendering. Transformations are applied in this order:

Obsidian syntax	Converted to
%%comment%%	Removed
==highlighted text==	<mark>highlighted text</mark>
^block-id	<blocklabel id="block-id"></blocklabel>
[[#^block-id]]	<footnote id="block-id">text</footnote>
~text~	<sub>text</sub>
^text^	<sup>text</sup>
[[Internal link|Display text]]	[Display text](Internal link) (resolve mode)
![[image.png]]	
![[file.pdf]]	Rendered page-by-page as PNG images
![[Note]]	Content inlined recursively (with circular reference protection)
#tag	tag, tag, or removed (configurable)
> [!type] Title	Colored callout with title header

Code blocks and math blocks ($...$, $$...$$) are protected from transformations during normalization.

Callout types

All Obsidian callout types are supported with distinct colors:

Type	Color
note, info, todo	Blue
tip, hint, important, success, check, done	Green
question, help, faq	Teal
warning, caution, attention	Orange
danger, error	Red
abstract, summary, tldr	Purple
default / unknown	Gray

Embed resolution

The plugin resolves embedded content through several layers:

• Image embeds (![[image.png]]) — Converted to standard markdown images with resolved paths.
• PDF embeds (![[file.pdf]]) — Each page is rendered to a PNG image using pdfjs-dist.
• Media embeds (![[audio.mp3]], ![[video.mp4]]) — Converted to links with the file path.
• Note embeds (![[Other Note]]) — Content is recursively inlined into the parent note. Circular references are detected and stopped.
• Section embeds (![[Note#heading]]) — Only the content under that heading is included.
• Block embeds (![[Note#^blockid]]) — Only the referenced block is included.
• External URLs (![](https://...)) — Fetched and embedded (10-second timeout).

Supported languages

The UI is automatically translated based on your Obsidian language setting:

Language	Code	Variants
English	en	—
Spanish	es	es_ES, es_MX, es_AR
French	fr	fr_FR, fr_CA, fr_BE, fr_CH
German	de	de_DE, de_AT, de_CH
Italian	it	it_IT, it_CH
Portuguese	pt	pt_PT, pt_BR
Russian	ru	ru_RU
Chinese	zh	zh_CN, zh_TW, zh_HK
Japanese	ja	ja_JP
Korean	ko	ko_KR
Arabic	ar	ar_SA, ar_EG
Hindi	hi	hi_IN
Turkish	tr	tr_TR
Polish	pl	pl_PL
Dutch	nl	nl_NL, nl_BE
Swedish	sv	sv_SE
Vietnamese	vi	vi_VN
Thai	th	th_TH
Indonesian	id	id_ID
Greek	el	el_GR
Czech	cs	cs_CZ
Romanian	ro	ro_RO
Hungarian	hu	hu_HU
Ukrainian	uk	uk_UA

Plugin settings

Accessible via Settings → Community plugins → Document Export.

The settings tab provides default presets organized into sections:

• Source defaults — Source mode, default index note path, default title/subtitle/author.
• Structure defaults — New chapter per note, heading mapping (H1–H6), wikilink mode, tag mode, note name mode.
• Front matter defaults — Cover page toggle, book metadata toggle, cover image path, TOC toggle, TOC depth.
• Output defaults — PDF/DOCX/LaTeX format toggles.
• Formatting defaults — Font family, font size, page numbers toggle, page number position.

Settings are persisted automatically via Obsidian's loadData/saveData API. When new settings are added in future versions, they are merged with your existing settings without overwriting them.

Commands

Command ID	Name	Description
export-document	Export vault	Opens the export configuration modal

A ribbon icon (file-down) is also added to the sidebar for quick access.

Limitations

• Mobile: The plugin is marked isDesktopOnly: false, but the folder picker may fall back to webkit-based pickers on mobile. Tested on desktop only.
• Cover image: Must be a path accessible within the vault.
• PDF fonts: PDF uses the 14 standard PDF fonts. Non-standard font selections map to the closest equivalent (e.g., Georgia → Times-Roman, Arial → Helvetica). The rendered output uses the correct font name in DOCX and LaTeX.
• Mermaid diagrams: In DOCX output, mermaid code blocks show a placeholder message since they cannot be natively rendered. In PDF, they are rendered to PNG. In LaTeX, they show a placeholder.
• Formula rendering: KaTeX formulas are rendered to PNG images for PDF/DOCX. Complex formulas with special fonts may have slight visual differences. In LaTeX output, formulas are kept as raw $...$ syntax.
• File size: Exported PDFs with many images can be large. Consider compressing images in your vault before export.

Troubleshooting

• Plugin doesn't appear: Ensure main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css are in <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/document-export/. Reload Obsidian.
• Export button does nothing: Check that at least one output format is selected and at least one note is loaded.
• Broken wikilinks in manifest mode: The plugin highlights broken links in red. Verify the target notes exist in your vault.
• Cover image not showing: Use a vault-relative path (e.g., assets/cover.png). Absolute paths and URLs may not resolve correctly.
• Formula rendering fails: KaTeX is loaded dynamically. If it fails, the original $...$ syntax is preserved in the output.
• Build issues: Run npm install first, then npm run build. See DEVELOPMENT.md.

Development

For setup instructions, available npm scripts, deployment configuration, project structure, and release process, see DEVELOPMENT.md.

License

MIT