Platform Guide

How to save a Confluence page as a PDF

Need to export a Confluence page to PDF? Confluence's built-in export is slow, ugly, and limited. It strips formatting, breaks tables, and ignores expand macros. Pretty PDF's dedicated Confluence parser handles the real DOM — expand macros are expanded, code macros are properly formatted, and tables keep their structure. One click instead of Confluence's multi-step export menu.

Free — 3 PDFs per month. No credit card required.

Comparison

Confluence built-in export vs Pretty PDF

A side-by-side look at what each approach produces from the same Confluence page.

Feature Confluence Built-in Export Pretty PDF
Speed Slow multi-step export menu One-click from the browser toolbar
Expand macros Collapsed or missing entirely Fully expanded in the PDF
Code macros Plain text, no formatting Syntax-formatted monospace
Table formatting Broken columns, lost alignment Preserved structure and merged cells
Templates None — generic Confluence styling 5 professional templates with embedded fonts
Styling Generic and inconsistent Professional typography and layout
Confluence parser

How the Confluence parser works

Pretty PDF's dedicated Confluence parser understands the unique structure of Confluence pages and handles every macro type correctly.

Expand macro handling

The Chrome extension pre-expands all expand macros in the live DOM before capture. Content hidden inside expandable sections is fully included in the PDF, so nothing is lost — unlike Confluence's built-in export which collapses or omits expand content entirely.

Code macro formatting

Code macros are preserved with syntax highlighting and monospace styling. Pretty PDF renders code blocks using JetBrains Mono with proper indentation, line wrapping, and visual distinction from surrounding prose — instead of the plain-text dump that Confluence's export produces.

Table preservation

Complex tables with merged cells, colored headers, and nested content maintain their structure in the PDF. Column alignment, rowspan, colspan, and background colors are all preserved — producing tables that match what you see in the browser.

Page hierarchy

Breadcrumb context and parent page references are captured, preserving the document's position within your Confluence space. The PDF includes page hierarchy information so readers understand where the content sits in the broader documentation structure.

Attachment handling

Inline images and file references are resolved and embedded directly in the PDF. Attachments linked within the page content appear as expected, so the PDF is a self-contained document that does not depend on Confluence access to display correctly.

Five steps

How it works on Confluence

From any Confluence page to a polished PDF in under ten seconds.

1

Navigate to your Confluence page

Open the Confluence page you want to export. It can be a regular page, a page with expand macros, code blocks, tables, or any other macro type.

2

Extension detects Confluence

Pretty PDF automatically detects that you are on Confluence and activates the dedicated preprocessor. It expands all expand macros and renders code macros in the live DOM before capture.

3

Click the Pretty PDF icon

Click the extension icon in your browser toolbar. The popup shows that Confluence has been detected and the page content has been preprocessed for optimal capture.

4

Choose the Corporate template

Select from five templates. Corporate is ideal for business documentation — it uses clean, professional typography with a structured layout that works well for team documentation and project pages.

5

Generate and download

Click Generate PDF. The server receives the preprocessed content, applies your template with embedded fonts, and returns a clean, professionally styled PDF in seconds.

Built for teams that run on Confluence

Confluence is where teams build their knowledge base — sprint documentation, meeting notes, project handoffs, compliance records, onboarding materials. When that content needs to leave Confluence as a PDF, it should look professional and consistent regardless of who exports it.

On the Team tier, shared branded templates ensure every team member produces PDFs with the same formatting. Configure your Corporate template with company colors and your organization's logo, and every person who installs the extension gets access to the same branded output. No more inconsistent formatting when different team members export the same type of document.

This consistency matters for external-facing documents. Sprint reports shared with stakeholders, project handoff documentation sent to clients, compliance records submitted for audits — all of these benefit from a standardized, professional appearance. The Corporate template is purpose-built for this use case, with clean typography, structured headings, and a layout that communicates credibility.

For organizations that rely heavily on Confluence for internal documentation, the Team tier also provides centralized billing and usage tracking. Administrators can see how many PDFs are being generated across the team and manage seats from a single dashboard. Combined with the API for automated exports, this makes Pretty PDF a natural fit for teams that need to regularly extract polished documents from their Confluence knowledge base.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Confluence's built-in PDF export strips most formatting, collapses expand macros, renders code blocks as plain text, and frequently breaks table layouts. Pretty PDF's dedicated Confluence parser pre-expands all macros in the live DOM, preserves code formatting with monospace fonts, maintains table structure including merged cells, and applies professional templates with proper typography. The result is a significantly higher-quality PDF with far less effort.
Yes. Pretty PDF's Chrome extension preprocesses the Confluence page before capture. It detects all expand macros in the live DOM and expands them automatically, so the content inside every expand section is fully included in the PDF. Confluence's built-in export either collapses or omits expand macro content entirely, which means critical information hidden in expandable sections is lost.
Yes. On the Team tier, you can configure shared branded templates with your company colors and logo. Every team member who installs the extension gets access to the same branded template, ensuring consistent formatting across all exported Confluence pages. The Corporate template is a popular starting point for business documentation.
Pretty PDF works with Confluence Cloud. The extension operates in the browser and captures the rendered page content regardless of hosting. For Confluence Data Center (on-premise), the extension works the same way as long as you can access the Confluence page in your browser — it captures what you see on screen. No server-side integration or Confluence admin permissions are required.
Complex tables are handled well. Pretty PDF preserves table structure including merged cells (colspan and rowspan), colored header rows, and nested content within cells. Confluence's built-in export often breaks tables with merged cells or drops column alignment. Pretty PDF captures the rendered table from the DOM, so what you see in the browser is what appears in the PDF — columns stay aligned, headers stay colored, and merged cells maintain their span.

Export your next Confluence page as a professional PDF

Free tier, no credit card. 3 PDFs per month with all templates included.

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