2020-02-11 21:41:44 +00:00
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---
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layout: docs
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title: Convert HTML Files
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2020-03-28 15:35:28 +00:00
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permalink: dev/adr/0007_convert_html_files
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2020-02-11 21:41:44 +00:00
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---
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# {{ page.title }}
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## Context and Problem Statement
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How can HTML documents be converted into a PDF file that looks as much
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as possible like the original?
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It would be nice to have a java-only solution. But if an external tool
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has a better outcome, then an external tool is fine, too.
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Since Docspell is free software, the tools must also be free.
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## Considered Options
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* [pandoc](https://pandoc.org/) external command
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* [wkhtmltopdf](https://wkhtmltopdf.org/) external command
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* [Unoconv](https://github.com/unoconv/unoconv) external command
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Native (firefox) view:
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<div class="thumbnail">
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<img src="./img/example-html-native.jpg" title="Native view of an HTML example file">
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</div>
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Note: the example html is from
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[here](https://www.sparksuite.com/open-source/invoice.html).
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I downloaded the HTML file to disk together with its resources (using
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*Save as...* in the browser).
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### Pandoc
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<div class="thumbnail">
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<img src="./img/example-html-pandoc-latex.jpg" title="Pandoc (Latex) HTML->PDF">
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</div>
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<div class="thumbnail">
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<img src="./img/example-html-pandoc-html.jpg" title="Pandoc (html) HTML->PDF">
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</div>
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Not showing the version using `context` pdf-engine, since it looked
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very similiar to the latex variant.
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### wkhtmltopdf
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<div class="thumbnail">
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<img src="./img/example-html-wkhtmltopdf.jpg" title="wkhtmltopdf HTML->PDF">
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</div>
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### Unoconv
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<div class="thumbnail">
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<img src="./img/example-html-unoconv.jpg" title="Unoconv HTML->PDF">
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</div>
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## Decision Outcome
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wkhtmltopdf.
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It shows the best results.
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