Create and store PDF document programmatically using Swift for iOS

Question

I have an app that can view a PDF that is already stored within the project. I want to be able to create a new PDF document and store it in the app directory to later view in the already existing viewer. The PDF would be created from an array var todoList: [String] = [] that is displayed on a UITableView. I know to create a PDF, I have to create a file name, path, and directory. I don't know how to do this. I saw online reference to URL and URL request, but I'm not sure if this is the correct avenue for what I want to do. Can someone please give me some advice and guidance? Everything I can find is for Objective-C.

Once you have the `NSData` for the PDF, use the methods of `NSData` to write the data to a path. — rmaddy, Nov 03 '15 at 16:35
Start by looking at the docs for `NSData` and find the methods used to write it to a file. — rmaddy, Nov 03 '15 at 16:51

score 32 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 27 '18 at 23:00

I used this code to create and save the file (using HTML)

func createPDF() {
    let html = "<b>Hello <i>World!</i></b> <p>Generate PDF file from HTML in Swift</p>"
    let fmt = UIMarkupTextPrintFormatter(markupText: html)

    // 2. Assign print formatter to UIPrintPageRenderer

    let render = UIPrintPageRenderer()
    render.addPrintFormatter(fmt, startingAtPageAt: 0)

    // 3. Assign paperRect and printableRect

    let page = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 595.2, height: 841.8) // A4, 72 dpi
    let printable = page.insetBy(dx: 0, dy: 0)

    render.setValue(NSValue(cgRect: page), forKey: "paperRect")
    render.setValue(NSValue(cgRect: printable), forKey: "printableRect")

    // 4. Create PDF context and draw

    let pdfData = NSMutableData()
    UIGraphicsBeginPDFContextToData(pdfData, .zero, nil)

    for i in 1...render.numberOfPages {
        UIGraphicsBeginPDFPage();
        let bounds = UIGraphicsGetPDFContextBounds()
        render.drawPage(at: i - 1, in: bounds)
    }

    UIGraphicsEndPDFContext();

    // 5. Save PDF file

    let documentsPath = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.documentDirectory, .userDomainMask, true)[0]

    pdfData.write(toFile: "\(documentsPath)/file.pdf", atomically: true)
}

Then I loaded it into UIWebView from the documents directory with this code:

func loadPDF(filename: String) {
    let documentsPath = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.documentDirectory, .userDomainMask, true)[0]
    let url = URL(fileURLWithPath: documentsPath, isDirectory: true).appendingPathComponent(filename).appendingPathExtension("pdf")
    let urlRequest = URLRequest(url: url)
    webView.loadRequest(urlRequest)
}

You helped me with this and it was a big help. I have an incoming PDF now, that is being viewed from an `NSURL` that I want to save as a new PDF. I can't find anything on this for Swift 2. Can you please help? — ChallengerGuy, Dec 22 '15 at 21:59
You should use [Alamofire](https://github.com/Alamofire/Alamofire#downloading-a-file) to download your PDF. — Danny Narváez, Dec 24 '15 at 13:36
images dont render inside the pdf using this approach . Any idea ? — Max, Aug 15 '16 at 09:50
Perfect answer! How can I see this created pdf file on iBook or something? Why I'm asking because I'll use this pdf file later like attach e-mail or something else. Or any idea for sharing this pdf file. — coskukoz, Nov 02 '16 at 08:59
For working with email attachments you can use MFMailComposeViewController https://developer.apple.com/reference/messageui/mfmailcomposeviewcontroller, about iBooks here is a question you could guide http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26343420/open-local-pdf-file-in-ibooks — Danny Narváez, Nov 02 '16 at 15:46

score 8 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 02 '17 at 09:29

For Swift 3:

createPdf() {
    // 1. Create Print Formatter with input text.

    let formatter = UIMarkupTextPrintFormatter(markupText: textView.text)

    // 2. Add formatter with pageRender

    let render = UIPrintPageRenderer()
    render.addPrintFormatter(formatter, startingAtPageAt: 0)


    // 3. Assign paperRect and printableRect

    let page = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 595.2, height: 841.8) // A4, 72 dpi
    let printable = page.insetBy(dx: 0, dy: 0)

    render.setValue(NSValue(cgRect: page), forKey: "paperRect")
    render.setValue(NSValue(cgRect: printable), forKey: "printableRect")


    // 4. Create PDF context and draw
    let rect = CGRect.zero

    let pdfData = NSMutableData()
    UIGraphicsBeginPDFContextToData(pdfData, rect, nil)


    for i in 1...render.numberOfPages {

        UIGraphicsBeginPDFPage();
        let bounds = UIGraphicsGetPDFContextBounds()
        render.drawPage(at: i - 1, in: bounds)
    }

    UIGraphicsEndPDFContext();


    // 5. Save PDF file

    let documentsPath = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.documentDirectory, .userDomainMask, true)[0]

    pdfData.write(toFile: "\(documentsPath)/new.pdf", atomically: true)

    print("saved success")
}

how can this be saved to a temporary directory? – Derry Aug 09 '17 at 16:26 — Derry, Aug 09 '17 at 16:26
how can i save this after creating pdf – Dilip Tiwari Jul 31 '19 at 07:21 — Dilip Tiwari, Jul 31 '19 at 07:21

Create and store PDF document programmatically using Swift for iOS

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