7 Effective Ways to Download Jupyter Notebooks as PDF

Jupyter Notebook is a file format commonly used for writing and storing documentation of live code, equations, visualizations, and narrative text. In order to enhance its readability and shareability, downloading Jupyter Notebook as PDF is the first choice for many people.

This article will provide you with 8 different and effective methods and their distribution guide to help you quickly download Jupyter Notebook to PDF.

Using the Jupyter Notebook Interface

The first way is to use the help of LaTex. LaTex is an open source document preparation system commonly used to create scientific and technical documents, providing high-quality typesetting.

LaTex is also a popular tool for downloading Jupyter Notebooks to PDF. Just install LaTeX on your system, and you’ll see the option to export it to PDF on the Jupyter Notebook interface.

Step 1. Open the Jupyter notebook that needs to be converted.

Step 2. Click “File” in the menu bar > Go to “Download As” > Select “PDF via Latex(.pdf)”.

However, this method requires the installation of additional packages, and you may receive an error message if you don’t have the required packages. If you don’t want to download more third-party software, please refer to the following methods.

Using nbconvert with LaTeX

Another way to download a Jupyter notebook to PDF is to use the nbconvert tool. The nbconvert tool is a command line tool that supports converting Jupyter notebooks to PDF, HTML, Markdown and other static formats.

Step 1. Download and install nbconvert.

Step 2. Open Terminal > Navigate to the directory where the Jupyter Notebook file is saved.

Step 3. Type the following command:

jupyter nbconvert –to pdf YourNotebook.ipynb

Note replacing YourNotebook.ipynb with the name of your Jupyter Notebook file.

Step 4. Press Enter and wait for the command to run and create a PDF file with the same name as the Jupyter Notebook file.

However, this method is the same as the first method, which also requires LaTeX to be installed on your system.

Using nbconvert with HTML Conversion

If using nbconvert to directly convert Jupyter notebook to PDF fails like method 2, you can also try to convert it to HTML, and then use the browser to save the file as PDF from the website. The specific operations are as follows:

Step 1. Download nbconvert > Open the terminal > Navigate to the folder where the Jupyter notebook is located.

Step 2. Run the following command

jupyter nbconvert –to html YourNotebook.ipynb

Step 3. Open the generated HTML in a web browser > Find the browser’s print function > select “Save page as PDF”.

Using Online Services

If you don’t want to install any other software on your system or the above method fails to load PDF, then some IPYNB (Jupyter Notebook) to PDF online converters are perfect for your needs.

Vertopal is an online file converter that can convert and download Jupyter Notebooks to PDF for free. Simply upload your Jupyter Notebook.

However, the Vertopal online service has certain limitations and can only handle files smaller than 50MB.

Step 1. Access Vertopal Converter online.

Step 2. Select IPYNB as the input format and PDF as the output format.

Step 3. Click “Choose File” to upload the Jupyter notebook that needs to be converted.

Step 4. Wait for Vertopal to parse your file, then click “Continue”.

Click “Convert” on the preview interface.

Step 5. After the conversion is completed, click “Download” to download the Jupyter notebook as PDF.

Direct Print (if LaTeX is problematic)

If there is a problem using LaTex to save it directly to PDF in the Jupyter notebook interface, or LaTex cannot be installed correctly, then you can choose to print the Jupyter notebook directly to PDF.

Step 1. Open your Jupyter notebook > Click “File” in the menu bar > Select “Print Preview”.

Step 2. Call the browser’s print function > Select “Save as PDF”. Different systems may require selecting “Microsoft Print to PDF”. After completing the print settings, Click “Save” to print the Jupyter notebook to PDF.

Using Google Colab

Google Colab is a cloud-hosted Jupyter Notebook service. If you have problems using LaTeX locally, you can upload your Jupyter Notebook to Google Colab and use its built-in functionality to export to PDF.

Step 1. Open Google Colab > Select “upload” > Click “Brose” to upload Jupyter Notebook from local. Or you can choose to open the Jupyter Notebook file in Google Drive.

Step 2. Go to “File” > Click “Print” > Select “Save as PDF” > Click “Save”.

Using a Visual Studio Code Extension

If you use Visual Studio Code with the Jupyter extension, you can export notebooks to PDF directly in the editor.

Step 1. Install the two installation packages nbconvert and PyPDF2 on your system.

Step 2. Open Jupyter Notebook in VSCode.

Step 3. Click “…” in the toolbar > Select “Export”.

Finally, select “PDF”. VSCode will instantly convert your Jupyter notebook to PDF format and save it in the same directory.

FAQs

What should I do if I encounter errors when converting my Jupyter Notebook to PDF?

Errors during conversion are often due to LaTeX dependencies or missing packages. Ensure that LaTeX is properly installed and check the error messages for clues on what might be missing or causing the issue. You might need to install additional LaTeX packages or adjust your notebook formatting.

Can I customize the look of the PDF generated from a Jupyter Notebook?

Yes, you can customize the look by editing the LaTeX template used for conversion. You can find the default templates in the nbconvert templates directory. By copying and modifying these templates, you can change aspects of the document layout, styling, and content inclusion.

Is there a way to export a Jupyter Notebook to PDF without using LaTeX?

If you prefer not to use LaTeX, you can export the notebook as HTML and then print it to a PDF using your web browser’s print function. Alternatively, you can use a screenshot tool to capture the contents of the notebook as images and then compile those into a PDF, though this method might not be suitable for long notebooks.

Conclusion

There are many ways to download Jupyter notebook as PDF. This article introduces a total of 8 different methods, including online and offline. I believe you can find the best method that suits you and can complete the Jupyter notebook to PDF conversion.