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full-page capture

How to Capture the Entire Body Instead of Only the Viewport with html2canvas

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To capture a whole page with html2canvas, render the page root and set the rendering viewport to that element’s complete scroll dimensions. The key options are windowWidth: element.scrollWidth and windowHeight: element.scrollHeight. Capture document.body (or the wrapper that actually scrolls), then export the returned canvas as a PNG.

The working full-page capture

Load html2canvas in a browser, select the element containing the page, and pass its scroll dimensions as the virtual rendering viewport:

const element = document.body;

const canvas = await html2canvas(element, {
  windowWidth: element.scrollWidth,
  windowHeight: element.scrollHeight,
  scrollX: 0,
  scrollY: 0,
  backgroundColor: '#ffffff'
});

const pngDataUrl = canvas.toDataURL('image/png');

const link = document.createElement('a');
link.download = 'full-page.png';
link.href = pngDataUrl;
link.click();

windowWidth and windowHeight control the layout viewport used while html2canvas clones and renders the document. They are not the same as the output canvas dimensions. Using the root element’s scrollWidth and scrollHeight gives content below the visible browser window room to lay out.

Use a page wrapper when it is the real scroll root

Some applications keep body short and put scrolling on an app shell. Measure and capture that shell instead:

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const element = document.querySelector('#app');
if (!element) throw new Error('Scrollable app element not found');

const canvas = await html2canvas(element, {
  windowWidth: element.scrollWidth,
  windowHeight: element.scrollHeight,
  scrollX: 0,
  scrollY: 0,
  backgroundColor: '#fff'
});

Choose the element whose dimensions include every section you want. Measuring document.body while #app owns overflow: auto can still produce a clipped result.

Why the default captures only what you see

html2canvas reconstructs the DOM in a cloned document and lays it out using browser viewport assumptions. With the default window.innerWidth and window.innerHeight, content may be laid out as if only the visible area exists; the resulting canvas can stop at the fold or omit lower sections. The scroll-dimension settings change that virtual layout to the full intended page size.

Scrolling the real tab to the bottom is not a substitute. html2canvas is rendering a clone, so the important values are the dimensions supplied to the renderer and the element selected for capture.

Complete browser example

The following example waits for the page to load, temporarily removes a fixed consent panel in the clone, captures the full document, and downloads a PNG. It changes only the clone, not the live page.

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<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/html2canvas.min.js"></script>
<script>
async function captureWholePage() {
  if (document.fonts?.ready) await document.fonts.ready;

  const element = document.body;
  const canvas = await html2canvas(element, {
    windowWidth: element.scrollWidth,
    windowHeight: element.scrollHeight,
    scrollX: 0,
    scrollY: 0,
    backgroundColor: '#ffffff',
    scale: Math.min(window.devicePixelRatio || 1, 2),
    useCORS: true,
    onclone: (clonedDocument) => {
      clonedDocument
        .querySelectorAll('[data-html2canvas-ignore], .cookie-banner, .chat-widget')
        .forEach(node => node.remove());
    }
  });

  const blob = await new Promise(resolve => canvas.toBlob(resolve, 'image/png'));
  if (!blob) throw new Error('Could not encode the canvas');

  const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
  const link = document.createElement('a');
  link.href = url;
  link.download = 'full-page.png';
  link.click();
  URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}

captureWholePage().catch(console.error);
</script>

The version in the script tag is an example browser inclusion. Pin the version you have tested in your own application rather than relying on an unpinned asset in production.

Options that affect a whole-page result

windowWidth and windowHeight

Set these to the selected element’s scrollWidth and scrollHeight. They determine layout and are the main fix for viewport-only output.

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width and height

These set the output canvas size or crop area. They do not replace the virtual viewport settings. Setting only width and height can create a larger bitmap while the cloned page is still laid out at viewport size.

scale

By default, html2canvas uses the device pixel ratio. A higher scale can make text sharper, but multiplies pixel count, memory use, encoding time and file size. For long pages, cap it deliberately, for example at 1 or 2, and reduce it if the browser runs out of memory.

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scrollX and scrollY

These are the scroll offsets used during rendering. Zero values are usually right for a full document. If fixed or sticky elements appear in the wrong place, test offsets that match the intended capture position and inspect the cloned layout.

backgroundColor

Set an explicit color when transparent or inherited backgrounds would make the exported image appear wrong. Use null only when you intentionally need transparency and the page’s styles support it.

useCORS and proxy

useCORS: true asks the browser to load cross-origin images with CORS. It works only when the image server returns an appropriate CORS header. A proxy can retrieve those resources through a same-origin path when you control a suitable proxy. Neither option bypasses browser security policy by itself.

onclone

This callback receives the cloned document just before rendering. Use it to hide transient controls, remove a modal, add a white background, or expand a panel for the screenshot without changing the page that the visitor is using.

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Ignoring nodes

Add data-html2canvas-ignore to elements that must not appear:

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<button data-html2canvas-ignore>Print</button>

You can also remove matching nodes inside onclone, which is useful for third-party overlays you cannot edit directly.

Scrollable panels are a separate problem

A child element with overflow: auto has its own scrollable surface. Capturing the document root does not automatically include content hidden inside that panel. Select the panel itself and use its dimensions:

const panel = document.querySelector('.results-panel');
const canvas = await html2canvas(panel, {
  windowWidth: panel.scrollWidth,
  windowHeight: panel.scrollHeight,
  scrollX: 0,
  scrollY: 0
});

If the panel’s content is still clipped, use onclone to set the cloned panel’s height to auto and overflow to visible. This expands only the rendering copy. Be careful with virtualized lists: rows that have never been mounted in the DOM cannot be captured until the application renders them.

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Limits you cannot fix with options

Canvas size limits

Browsers impose maximum canvas dimensions and total pixel areas. The limits vary by browser, operating system, hardware and available device memory. A very tall page can therefore produce a blank, truncated or failed canvas even when the scroll dimensions are correct.

  • Capture sections separately and stitch them when one bitmap is too large.
  • Lower scale and remove unnecessary margins or whitespace.
  • Prefer a PDF or server-side browser workflow for extremely long pages.
  • Check the actual canvas.width and canvas.height before encoding.

Cross-origin images and tainted canvases

html2canvas cannot bypass content-policy restrictions. Images from another origin need server permission through CORS, or a proxy that returns them in a same-origin response. If permission is absent, images may be skipped; in other cases the canvas becomes unreadable when you call toDataURL or toBlob. Configure the image server rather than attempting to disable browser security.

CSS and embedded content fidelity

html2canvas is not a browser screenshot engine. CSS properties must be implemented individually, so it does not provide complete CSS support. Filters, complex effects, unusual blend modes, some form controls, plug-ins, cross-origin frames and other embedded content can differ from what the tab displays. Test the specific styles your page depends on.

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For a pixel-accurate browser view, a native extension capture API or a real browser controlled by Puppeteer or Playwright is generally a better fit. Those approaches also handle content that html2canvas cannot reconstruct from DOM and computed styles.

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Troubleshooting checklist

The image stops at the viewport

  • Capture the actual scrolling root, not an unrelated wrapper.
  • Set both windowWidth and windowHeight from that element’s scroll dimensions.
  • Check whether a parent has clipping, fixed height or overflow: hidden.

The result is blank or only partly rendered

  • Reduce scale and test a shorter page; canvas limits are likely.
  • Inspect for cross-origin images and configure CORS or a proxy.
  • Wait for fonts, images and lazy-loaded sections before capture.
  • Look for a child scrolling container and capture or expand it separately.

Images are missing

Confirm that the image URL is reachable, the server permits CORS when cross-origin, and the image has loaded before calling html2canvas. A proxy is an alternative when you cannot change the image server.

Sticky headers or fixed banners repeat

Use scrollX and scrollY deliberately, then hide or restyle the element in onclone. Mark known controls with data-html2canvas-ignore.

The page works in the browser but fails in Node.js

html2canvas relies on browser APIs such as window, document and computed styles; those APIs do not exist in Node.js. Run it in a real browser, or use a browser automation tool that renders a page and captures the tab.

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Performance and reliability choices

Measure before rendering, avoid an unnecessarily high scale, and capture after layout has settled. Lazy images must be loaded or they will not appear. Large canvases consume contiguous memory, so a section-by-section workflow is safer for long reports. For repeatable production captures, log the selected element, scroll dimensions, scale, browser errors and output dimensions.

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Client-side capture is convenient because it runs in the visitor’s browser and can access the already-rendered DOM. It is less predictable across devices and cannot overcome browser canvas limits or cross-origin policy. Server-side browser capture is more consistent for scheduled jobs and authenticated pages, but requires browser infrastructure, timeouts, resource controls and a policy for private URLs.

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Or skip the browser setup

ScreenshotNeo provides a website screenshot API when you need a rendered page rather than a DOM canvas. A single request returns PNG, JPEG, WebP or PDF; full-page capture loads lazy images. It removes cookie and consent banners, newsletter popups and chat widgets before capture, and failed loads, blank pages, bot checks and cache hits are not billed. Each response identifies the page result and billing state with X-Page-Verdict and X-Billed headers. An MCP server also lets Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients call screenshot tools.

See the parameter reference and complete request options in the ScreenshotNeo documentation.

cURL

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webp

Python

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot",
    params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"},
    timeout=90,
)
r.raise_for_status()
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)

Node.js

const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${res.status} ${res.statusText}`);
const data = Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer());
await import('node:fs/promises').then(fs => fs.writeFile('shot.webp', data));

The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots each month with no card. Paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots; every feature is included on every plan. Create a free ScreenshotNeo account.

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FAQ

Can html2canvas capture an entire page without increasing the browser window?

Yes. The browser window can remain unchanged; set the cloned rendering viewport to the target element’s scrollWidth and scrollHeight.

Should I use document.documentElement or document.body?

Use whichever element owns the page content and reports the correct full dimensions. Verify both values on layouts that use an application shell or custom scrolling.

Can I capture a page that requires login?

Client-side html2canvas can capture content already available in the current browser session. A remote API needs an authenticated request strategy, such as supported cookies or headers, and should be used only with pages you are authorized to access.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can html2canvas capture an entire page without increasing the browser window?

Yes. Set the cloned rendering viewport to the target element’s scrollWidth and scrollHeight; the visible browser window does not need to be resized.

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Should I use document.documentElement or document.body?

Use whichever element owns the content and reports the correct full dimensions. Custom app shells often work better than body.

Can I capture a page that requires login?

html2canvas can capture content already available in the current browser session. A remote API requires an authorized authentication strategy.

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