Download using jsPDF on a mobile devices - pdf

Question

I have a page that includes a download button using jsPDF. On desktop machines it downloads the page as it should. However, pdf.save() does not work on my tablet or phone.
I tried to add a special case for mobile devices to open the PDF in a new window, since mobile devices don't download things the same as desktops, with the idea being that once the PDF is open in a new window the user can choose to save it manually.
var pdf = new jsPDF('p', 'pt', 'letter');
var specialElementHandlers = {
'#editor': function (element, renderer) {
return true;
}
};
html2canvas($("#pdf-area"), {
onrendered: function (canvas) {
$("#pdf-canvas").append(canvas);
$("#pdf-canvas canvas").css("padding", "20px");
}
});
var options = {
pagesplit: true
};
function download(doctitle) {
pdf.addHTML($("#pdf-area")[0], options, function () {
if (/Android|webOS|iPhone|iPad|iPod|BlackBerry|IEMobile|Opera Mini/i.test(navigator.userAgent)) {
pdf.output('dataurlnewwindow');
} else {
pdf.save(doctitle);
}
});
}
But the download function still does nothing on my tablet/phone. I tested it with this to make sure the pdf.output() function was working:
pdf.addHTML($("#pdf-area")[0], options, function () {
pdf.output('dataurlnewwindow');
});
and it does still work on desktop, but does nothing on mobile.

Answer 1

jsPDF won't download files on mobile apps by this pdf.save(). I have tried and searched for this issue but could not find a complete solution in one place. I am using the file and file-opener plugin. I have developed the solution in Ionic React. Install below modules.
npm i jspdf
npm install cordova-plugin-file
npm install #ionic-native/file
npm install cordova-plugin-file-opener2
npm install #ionic-native/file-opener
ionic cap sync
Go to your file and add these import statements.
import { jsPDF } from "jspdf";
import 'jspdf-autotable';
import { FileOpener } from '#ionic-native/file-opener;
import { File } from '#ionic-native/file';
import { isPlatform } from "#ionic/react";
Check the pdfDownload function
const pdfDownload = async () => {
var doc = new jsPDF();
doc.setFontSize(40);
doc.text("Example jsPDF", 35, 25)
let pdfOutput = doc.output();
if (isPlatform("android")) {
// for Android device
const directory = File.externalRootDirectory + 'Download/';
const fileName = `invoice-${new Date().getTime()}.pdf`
File.writeFile(directory, fileName, pdfOutput, true).then(succ => {
FileOpener.showOpenWithDialog(directory + fileName, 'application/pdf')
.then(() => console.log('File opened'))
.catch(error => console.log('Error opening file', error));
},
err => {
console.log(" writing File error : ", err)
})
} else if (isPlatform("ios")) {
// for iOS device
console.log('ios device')
const directory = File.tempDirectory;
const fileName = `invoice-${new Date().getTime()}.pdf`
File.writeFile(directory, fileName, pdfOutput, true).then(success => {
FileOpener.showOpenWithDialog(directory + fileName, 'application/pdf')
.then(() => console.log('File opened'))
.catch(e => console.log('Error opening file', e));
},
err => {
console.log(" writing File error : ", err)
})
} else {
// for desktop
doc.save("invoice.pdf");
}
}

Answer 2

I had similar issue.
jsPDF won't download file on phones/ tablets / ipads using "pdf.save()".
Do it through File plugin if you are using cordova/phonegap, this will save pdf file in downloads folder (Android) - for the ios you can access pdf file through a path (which is saved somewhere in temp directory) and can send or share.
Hope this helps you.

Answer 3

Here is the solution of download on mobile with jspdf
if (/Android|webOS|iPhone|iPad|iPod|BlackBerry|IEMobile|Opera Mini/i.test(navigator.userAgent))
{
var blob = pdf.output();
window.open(URL.createObjectURL(blob));
}
else
{
pdf.save('filename.pdf');
}

Answer 4

Here is the example if you're using the Cordova platform for your development:
https://github.com/saharcasm/Cordova-jsPDF-Email
The workaround of the pdf not being downloaded in the devices is to use cordova-plugin-file.
Use the output method on the doc that will give you the raw pdf which needs to be written & saved in a file.
For example,
var doc = new JsPDF();
//... some work with the object
var pdfOutput = doc.output("blob"); //returns the raw object of the pdf file
The pdfOutput is then written on an actual file by using the file plugin.

Answer 5

The easiest way which works on both Desktop and Mobile is to use:
window.open(doc.output("bloburl"), "_blank");