SurveyJS PDF Generator is a JavaScript library that renders SurveyJS forms and collected responses as PDF documents. Generate editable PDF forms (AcroForm) for offline completion, export completed forms as read-only PDFs, or create printable copies of blank forms using the same JSON form definition you use on the web.
The `survey-pdf` package extends [`survey-core`](https://github.com/surveyjs/survey-library/tree/master/packages/survey-core) and is built on top of [jsPDF](https://github.com/parallax/jsPDF). It supports React, Angular, Vue, and plain JavaScript applications. PDF files can be generated entirely in the browser or on a Node.js server without sending form definitions or response data to SurveyJS.
Documentation
·
Setup Guides for My Stack
·
PDF Generator Demos
·
PDF Customization
·
Licensing
·
Report a Bug
## How It Works
SurveyJS PDF Generator uses the same JSON form definition as [SurveyJS Form Library](https://github.com/surveyjs/survey-library). You can generate a PDF from a blank form definition or populate it with collected response data before export.
Your application can:
1. Create a SurveyJS JSON form definition with [SurveyJS Survey Creator](https://github.com/surveyjs/survey-creator), AI, or manually.
2. Render the form on the web with [SurveyJS Form Library](https://github.com/surveyjs/survey-library).
3. Pass the same JSON definition to PDF Generator (this package).
4. Optionally add collected response data.
5. Generate an editable PDF form or a read-only PDF document.
6. Download the PDF in the browser or generate it on a Node.js server.
Because the web form and PDF share the same SurveyJS definition, form structure, conditional visibility, expressions, localization, and value formatting can remain consistent across both outputs.
## Installation
```sh
npm install survey-pdf
```
`survey-pdf` also runs in Node.js (for example, to generate PDFs on the server after a form is submitted). See the [Create PDF Forms in Node.js](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/get-started-nodejs) guide.
## Usage
Create a `SurveyPDF` instance from the same JSON you feed to the SurveyJS Form Library, optionally assign collected responses to `data`, and call `save()`:
```js
import { SurveyPDF } from "survey-pdf";
const surveyJson = {
elements: [
{ name: "firstName", title: "Enter your first name:", type: "text" },
{ name: "satisfaction", title: "How satisfied are you?", type: "rating" }
]
};
const pdfDocOptions = {
fontSize: 12
};
const surveyPdf = new SurveyPDF(surveyJson, pdfDocOptions);
surveyPdf.data = { firstName: "Jane", satisfaction: 5 };
surveyPdf.save("survey-response.pdf");
```
Because `SurveyPDF` extends `SurveyModel` from `survey-core`, all of the survey model's logic—visibility, expressions, localization, value formatting—works unchanged. See [`IDocOptions`](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/api-reference/idocoptions) for available page-format, margin, font, and compression settings.
The generated document is an interactive fillable form (AcroForm) by default. To produce a static, non-interactive printout instead, set `readOnly` to `true`:
```js
surveyPdf.readOnly = true;
```
See [Customize PDF Form Settings](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/customize-pdf-form-settings) for this and other rendering options.
## Related Packages
| Package | Purpose |
| --- | --- |
| [`survey-core`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/survey-core) | Platform-independent survey model (peer dependency) |
| [`survey-react-ui`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/survey-react-ui) | React renderer for the web form |
| [`survey-angular-ui`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/survey-angular-ui) | Angular renderer for the web form |
| [`survey-vue3-ui`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/survey-vue3-ui) | Vue 3 renderer for the web form |
| [`survey-js-ui`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/survey-js-ui) | HTML/CSS/JavaScript renderer for the web form |
## Get Started
- [React](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/get-started-react)
- [Angular](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/get-started-angular)
- [Vue](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/get-started-vue)
- [HTML/CSS/JavaScript](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/get-started-html-css-javascript)
- [Node.js](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/get-started-nodejs)
## Key Features
### PDF Generation and Export
- Generate PDFs from SurveyJS JSON form definitions
- Export blank or completed forms
- Generate editable AcroForm PDFs or read-only documents
- Generate PDFs in the browser or Node.js
- Convert output to Blob, Base64, etc.
### PDF Appearance and Layout
The appearance of generated PDF forms is customized through shared themes, layout presets, and styles config API.
#### Themes
Colors, shadows, and other theme-level appearance values can be inherited from the active SurveyJS theme through the same `--sjs2-*` design tokens used by [`survey-core`](https://github.com/surveyjs/survey-library/tree/master/packages/survey-core), which helps keep web forms and generated PDFs visually aligned.
Pass an `ITheme` object to `applyTheme()` to reuse a web theme's colors, shadows, and elevation in the PDF. See [PDF Appearance Customization](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/pdf-appearance-customization) and the [PDF Generator v3 announcement](https://surveyjs.io/stay-updated/major-updates/2025-2026#pdf-generator).
#### Layout Presets
Control PDF-specific variables—spacing, sizing, typography, border radius. Import `Compact` (the default, optimized for dense forms and reduced page count) or `Spacious` (optimized for readability) from `survey-pdf/layouts` and pass it to `applyLayout()`:
```js
import { Spacious } from "survey-pdf/layouts";
surveyPdf.applyLayout(Spacious);
```
#### Styles Config API
Adjust individual elements of the form—titles, question containers, input fields, labels, panels, matrices—including colors, font size, font style, line height, padding, borders, and spacing, without rendering hacks or event handlers.
### PDF Form Filler
Collect responses online with SurveyJS Form Library and then use `pdf-form-filler` to populate existing PDF forms with response data. Unlike `SurveyPDF`, which generates a new PDF from a SurveyJS form definition, `pdf-form-filler` writes collected SurveyJS responses into fields in an existing PDF template. See the [Fill a PDF Form with Web Form Responses](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/fill-pdf-form-with-web-form-responses) guide to learn more.
## Documentation
- [Website](https://surveyjs.io/)
- [Documentation](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/overview)
- [PDF Generator Demos](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/examples/)
- [Release Notes](https://surveyjs.io/stay-updated/release-notes)
- [Roadmap](https://surveyjs.io/stay-updated/roadmap)
- [What's New](https://surveyjs.io/stay-updated/major-updates/2025-2026)
For AI coding agents: [https://surveyjs.io/llms.txt](https://surveyjs.io/llms.txt) indexes the documentation. Any documentation page is also available as raw Markdown — append `.md` to its URL, for example [https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/get-started-html-css-javascript.md](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator/documentation/get-started-html-css-javascript.md).
## SurveyJS Product Family
| Product | Purpose | License |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Form Library](https://surveyjs.io/form-library) | Render dynamic forms from JSON | MIT |
| [Survey Creator](https://surveyjs.io/survey-creator) | Drag-and-drop form builder UI | Commercial |
| [Dashboard](https://surveyjs.io/dashboard) | Visualize and analyze collected results | Commercial |
| [PDF Generator](https://surveyjs.io/pdf-generator) | Generate editable and read-only PDFs from SurveyJS forms and responses (this package) | Commercial |
| [AI Form Response Extractor](https://surveyjs.io/documentation/combine-paper-and-online-survey-form-data) | Extract responses from paper forms, PDFs, and images into a SurveyJS schema (`ai-form-response-extractor`) | MIT |
## Build from Source
Requires Node.js 20 or later.
1. **Clone the repo**
```sh
git clone https://github.com/surveyjs/survey-pdf.git
cd survey-pdf
```
2. **Install dependencies**
```sh
npm install
```
`survey-pdf` depends on `survey-core`. The `dependencies` entry in `package.json` points to `../survey-library/packages/survey-core/build`, so if you build against a local `survey-library` checkout, build `survey-core` first (see [`survey-core` build instructions](https://github.com/surveyjs/survey-library/blob/master/packages/survey-core/README.md#build-from-sources)). Otherwise, replace that entry with a published `survey-core` version before running `npm install`.
3. **Build the library**
```sh
npm run build:all
```
Build output goes to the `build` directory. `npm run build` produces the main bundle; `npm run build:all` also builds the embeddable fonts bundle, the interactive-forms (`pdf-form-filler`) bundle, and the layout presets. Use `npm run watch:dev` while developing.
4. **Run the local examples**
```sh
npm run serve
```
This serves the package directory at http://localhost:7777/. The examples load the bundles from `build`, so run `npm run build:all` (step 3) first — `npm start` only rebuilds the main bundle, which leaves the form-filler examples without `build/pdf-form-filler.js`.
The [`examples`](examples) folder contains runnable pages: [`examples/jspdf`](examples/jspdf) generates a PDF from a survey definition, while [`examples/forms/pdf-lib`](examples/forms/pdf-lib) and [`examples/forms/pdfjs`](examples/forms/pdfjs) fill an existing PDF with survey responses through the `pdf-lib` and PDF.js adapters.
5. **Run unit tests**
Unit tests use [Vitest](https://vitest.dev/) in a jsdom environment. PDF output is verified by snapshotting the computed layout — see `src/helper_test.ts`.
```sh
npm run test # whole suite
npm run test:watch # watch mode
npm run test:update-snapshots # regenerate snapshots
npx vitest run tests/flat_checkbox.test.ts # a single file
npx vitest run -t "test name" # tests matching a substring
```
## Licensing
SurveyJS PDF Generator requires a [commercial license](https://surveyjs.io/licensing) for each software developer who works with the SurveyJS APIs or implements the integration.