To save a webpage as a PDF with Selenium and Chrome, open the page in a headless Chrome WebDriver session, call Selenium’s driver.print_page(), decode its base64 result, and write the bytes to a file. If you do not need WebDriver automation, Chrome can also print a URL directly from its headless command line.
Save a webpage as PDF with Selenium in Python
Selenium’s print-page operation prints the page currently open in the browser and returns the PDF as base64-encoded content. Decode that content before writing it to disk. Chromium printing through this WebDriver operation requires headless mode.
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import base64
from pathlib import Path
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.print_page_options import PrintOptions
options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_argument("--headless=new")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
try:
driver.get("https://example.com")
pdf_base64 = driver.print_page(PrintOptions())
Path("page.pdf").write_bytes(base64.b64decode(pdf_base64))
finally:
driver.quit()
- Install Selenium in the Python environment you will run the script from, and ensure Chrome is installed.
- Set the URL in
driver.get()and choose the output filename inPath("page.pdf"). - Run the script. It opens the URL, requests a PDF of the current page, decodes the returned data, and writes
page.pdfin the current working directory. - Open the PDF and check that the content and page breaks meet your needs.
The Selenium Print Page guide describes this API and its print settings. The Python WebDriver API describes driver.print_page() as making a best effort to return a PDF based on the supplied parameters; it is not a guarantee that every site’s dynamic content will be ready or included.
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Set print layout with Selenium
Use Selenium’s PrintOptions to control print layout. The documented settings cover orientation, page ranges, paper size, margins, scale, background rendering, and shrink-to-fit. For example, configure the options before printing:
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print_options = PrintOptions()
print_options.orientation = "landscape"
pdf_base64 = driver.print_page(print_options)
Path("page.pdf").write_bytes(base64.b64decode(pdf_base64))
Set only the properties your output requires; the available values and behavior are documented in the Selenium print-page reference. Paper size, margins, scale, and whether backgrounds print can change pagination and appearance, so inspect a generated PDF rather than assuming screen layout and print layout will match.
Use Chrome headless without Selenium
If you only need Chrome to load a URL and save a PDF—not to automate interactions or manage the browser through WebDriver—use Chrome’s command-line printing:
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chrome --headless --print-to-pdf https://example.comChrome writes output.pdf in the current working directory by default. To suppress the print header and footer, use --no-pdf-header-footer. To set a maximum wait before capture, use the documented timeout flag, for example:
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemschrome --headless --print-to-pdf --no-pdf-header-footer --timeout=5000 https://example.comThe timeout value is in milliseconds; Chrome’s example uses 5000. It is a capture-time limit, not proof that every page has finished loading. Consult the Chrome Headless command-line reference for the documented flags, and check behavior against your installed Chrome version.
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Choose Selenium or the Chrome command line
| Need | Selenium WebDriver | Chrome headless command line |
|---|---|---|
| Automate browser actions before printing | Use WebDriver to navigate and interact, then print the current page. | Directly captures a URL; the documented command is not a WebDriver automation workflow. |
| Control print layout | PrintOptions exposes orientation, page ranges, page size, margins, scale, background rendering, and shrink-to-fit. |
The referenced documentation describes flags including header/footer omission and capture timeout. |
| Choose how output is saved | Returns base64-encoded PDF content; your code decodes and writes it to the desired path. | Writes output.pdf to the current working directory by default. |
| Handle page readiness | Your automation can wait for the site-specific content it needs before printing. | --timeout sets a capture wait limit; a fixed delay is not a universal guarantee of readiness. |
Wait for dynamic content before printing
A page can render its initial HTML before the content you care about appears. If the site uses client-side rendering or delayed requests, wait for a meaningful condition before calling print_page(), such as the presence of the element containing the content. The exact selector and wait condition depend on the target site; no general wait duration ensures all dynamic content, lazy-loaded assets, or personalized state will be present.
Chrome’s command-line timeout only sets the maximum wait before capture even if a page is still loading. For either approach, inspect the PDF for missing sections, incomplete images, or unexpected page breaks. If the content is absent, adjust readiness handling or print layout and generate it again.
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Check Chrome and ChromeDriver compatibility
The Selenium Chrome documentation says Selenium 4 is compatible with Chrome 75 and newer and advises matching Chrome and ChromeDriver major versions. Treat that as the documentation’s compatibility guidance, not a guarantee for every current installation: check the browser and driver versions available in your environment and follow the current Selenium guidance for them.
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Troubleshooting
- Printing fails in a visible Chromium session: Selenium’s print-page documentation requires Chromium to be headless for this operation. Add a headless argument to
ChromeOptions, as in the example. - The PDF file is empty or invalid: Selenium returns encoded content, not ready-to-write PDF bytes. Decode it with
base64.b64decode()before writing. - The script cannot start Chrome: Check that Chrome is installed and that the Chrome and ChromeDriver major versions match, as Selenium’s Chrome guide advises.
- Content is missing from the PDF: The page may not have finished rendering the required content when printing began. Wait for a site-specific readiness condition, then print again and inspect the result.
- The layout is wrong or pages break unexpectedly: Review orientation, paper size, margins, scale, background rendering, and shrink-to-fit in
PrintOptions; generate another PDF and verify it. - The CLI PDF includes unwanted headers or captures too early: Use
--no-pdf-header-footerto omit headers and footers, and adjust--timeoutwhen appropriate. A timeout alone does not establish that a particular site’s content is ready. - The CLI output is not where expected: The documented default is
output.pdfin the current working directory. Run Chrome from the intended directory or consult the installed version’s command-line behavior.
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For its PDF output, request the PDF format using the options documented in the ScreenshotNeo API documentation. The following one-call cURL example saves a PDF response; adapt the target URL and PDF options to the documented API parameters:
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Selenium return a PDF file from print_page()?
It returns base64-encoded PDF content. Decode the value before writing the PDF bytes to a file.
Can I print a webpage with Chrome without Selenium?
Yes. Chrome’s headless command-line option can print a URL directly to a PDF.
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