Print My Blog – Print, PDF, & eBook Converter WordPress Plugin

Offline publishing for you, site visitors, and the world outside WordPress.

Print My Blog makes WordPress content useful outside of your website, like in print, PDFs, and other formats. It has 3 main features:

Quick Print: print thousands of posts in a few clicks
Print Buttons: let site visitors print individual posts
Pro Print: make professional-quality books and documents

Each of which takes your WordPress content and optimizes it for print, PDF, and eBook by:

removing ink guzzlers like site logo, sidebars, and footer
avoiding page breaks inside images, between images and captions, and even right after headers
allowing you to use other plugins in your printed output

Quick Print

Quick Print lets you easily print your entire blog to paper, PDF, or eBook.

Print your blog to read offline.
Create a paper backup (book or printout) to read when your blog is taken offline.
Create a PDF, ePub, or MOBI file as a human-readable, portable backup. Send it to friends, store it in the cloud or a hard drive, or even archive it with a historical organization.
Copy your entire Blog for quick pasting into another program like Microsoft Word or Google Docs

Quick Print Features

Loads all your blog’s posts into a single web page so you can print them from your web browser (to paper, PDF, ePub, or anything your web browser supports) or copy-and-paste them into another program (although the other program likely won’t format it as nicely)
supports printing thousands of blog posts in one click (the record is over 3000 posts)
prints posts and pages
uses your theme’s and plugins’ styles (so Gutenberg and page builders are supported)
print your entire blog, or filter by author, date, status (e.g. draft, pending, private, password-protected, trashed, etc.), category, and tags
optionally prints comments
optionally places each post on a new page
resizes text
resizes images or removes them altogether
replaces embedded videos with a link, full video title, screenshot and QRCode
optionally removes hyperlinks
optionally includes post excerpts
orders posts by date, and pages by the “order” attribute
place the “Print My Blog” Gutenberg block on a page and allow site visitors to print your blog too
no watermark in print-out, and attribution optional,
GDPR compliant (no data is collected about you or your visitors)
free, open-source software, so you can use it for whatever you like without fear of changing terms of use,
customize it to fit your needs (although we’d be curious to hear what you’ve done with it), and even redistribute it. There is no lengthy legal document describing how you’re giving up your rights by using this software!

Print Buttons

You can also automatically add print buttons to help your visitors print your blog.

Share your content with friends offline
Save it for reading later
Improve long reads by converting a portion of your blog to eBook or PDF

Print Button Features

prints individual posts and/or pages just like Quick Print (e.g. omits the theme’s header, sidebars, footer, etc.)
displays on all posts and/or pages, or specific ones using the shortcode [pmb_print_buttons]
enable buttons for print, PDF, and/or eBook
customize print output settings for each (using the same print settings from Quick Print)
place buttons above or below content, or somewhere in-between using the shortcode [pmb_print_buttons]
customize print button text (e.g. “Print”, “Imprimir”, or just a print emoji like 🖨)
buttons use theme’s design
make more seamless integration with your design or content using the shortcode [pmb_print_page_url] to just get the URL of the print page (see this FAQ for more details)

Pro Print

Replace Google Docs and Microsoft Word with WordPress! Turn existing posts, pages, and custom post types—or write all new print materials—into professional-looking documents that are ready to share with customers and the world.
Use your browser to print Pro Print projects for free, and access premium features (e.g. automatic page references, footnotes, and full control of page margins) with a Pro PDF Service subscription.

Example uses:

white paper. Share an in-depth analysis of a topic on your website and in print.
printed version of entire website or blog. Print it all, except ink guzzlers like site heading, sidebars, footers and pop-ups. Use your own printer or send to a printing service such as lulu.com.
book from select content. Add a title page, introduction, table of contents, and pick existing content from your site to make a book. Sell it on Amazon KDP. Just like that, you’re an author!
new book from scratch. Write new print-only materials that never appear on your website. Leverage WordPress’ great editors and other plugins.
lead magnets. Compile content on a subject into a PDF and grant access after users signup for your email list.
members-only content. Combine with Restrict Content Pro or other plugins to only allow access to select downloadable PDFs of your content.
printed course materials. Create a course using an LMS (learning management system) plugin, and use Print My Blog for learners to print.
event brochure. Let event attendees print a useful copy of your event’s details to take with them.
printed user manual. And digital user manual on the website.
product brochure. Use WooCommerce or other WordPress e-commerce plugins to make content accessible to those who would rather not browse online.
monthly magazine or newspaper. Reuse the same design and blog post content to create a digital or print magazine to send to your email subscribers.
research paper. Put your research on your website and print it with a consistent design.
restaurant menu. Optimized for display on your website, and to look great in print.

Pro Print Features

saveable projects
create digital PDFs, print-ready PDFs, ePub eBooks (paid only), and Microsoft Word documents (paid only)
select posts, pages, print materials (posts intended only for use in Pro Print) and most custom post types (e.g. products from WooCommerce)
search and filter for posts based on post type, status, categories, tags, custom taxonomies, author, and publish date
drag-and-drop reordering of content (and add new print materials on-the-fly)
organize posts into parts
add front and back matter (usually numbered with roman numerals with Pro PDF Service)
select from a variety of pre-built designs (similar to WordPress Themes, but for Pro Print)
customize designs (each has different settings and can have custom CSS) and can be saved for future projects
Theme Designers will feel at home creating a custom design using HTML, CSS, and even Javascript
better integration with plugins than Quick Print (especially those using Javascript)
save project metadata (e.g. title, extra cover page content, categories etc.)
automatic table of contents (with page references using Pro PDF Service)
automatically replace hyperlinks to included content with page references (Pro PDF Service only)
automatically replace hyperlinks to external content with footnotes (Pro PDF Service only)
automatically move or automatically resize images to reduce whitespace and fit better on the page (Pro PDF Service only)
choose image quality and maximum image size to reduce filesize or save ink
choose article templates (e.g. “Content Only” or “Centered Content”)
choose fonts, font sizes, page sizes and lots more
optionally apply your active theme’s CSS. Note: Themes are usually not designed for print, so we offer a paid service to those who need help customizing a design to match their brand.

Some designs have features like:

roman numerals for front matter
page numbers always in bottom-right corner
page numbers appearing in outside corners
running titles (an article’s title appears in the top margin on subsequent pages)
background colors, even with gradients and choosable logos
two-column layout

Read more about Pro Print in our extensive user guide.

Wanna See it in Action? Try Print My Blog on a Free Test Site Now

Translations

Print My Blog includes translation files in the following languages:

German
French
Spanish
Italian
Japanese

To improve the translations, please get in touch.

Give your story life outside your blog!

Want more? Tell us what matters to you on GitHub. Thanks to a revenue stream through optional payments, this is actively supported and improved.

Plugin Compatibility Highlights

PMB strives to be compatible with all plugins. But here are some that are especially noteworthy:

BasePress for creating a user manual on both the web and print
WP Quick LaTeX for mathematical formulas
Translate WordPress with GTranslate for quick and automatic translating of projects
WPML for more advanced translating of projects, and adding print buttons in different languages. Read Translating Projects with WPML Plugin
TablePress makes tables look good in print too, even when they span multiple pages

⚠️Incompability: Some users have reported incompability issues with the Divi theme. If you are using this theme, please use Print My Blog with caution and always back up your database before use.

If you are delighted how PMB worked with another plugin, or had trouble, please let us know!

Our Mission

Preserve your blog for decades to come in a low-tech format.
Make WordPress an alternative to Microsoft Word and Google Docs for publishing documents.

Alternatives to Print My Blog

If this doesn’t meet your needs, there are good paid and free alternatives.

Alternatives to Quick Print
printmy.blog we run a hosted version of this same plugin, so you can print your blog without even installing this. Especially useful for WordPress.com users, or those who can’t install the plugin on their site. (Its free like Quick Print, but won’t use your blog’s styles.)
Anthologize is another great plugin for customizing your blog’s content before exporting to an e-book format. Also free.
Blog To HTML is actually very similar to Print My Blog. It allows you to export your blog to HTML for eBook creation.
blogbooker prints a book, or creates a PDF, from your blog using their pre-made styles. (Paid service.)
blog2print ditto, but temporarily requests your username and password. (Paid service.)

Alternatives for adding print buttons
Print, PDF, Email by PrintFriendly lets visitors easily print to paper, PDF, or email themselves a copy. Easy setup and very customizable. Doesn’t use theme’s styles. The free version is not GDPR-compliant and inserts advertisements.
WP Print Friendly automatically adds a link to print the current post, page, or custom post type. Can convert links to endnotes. Doesn’t use theme’s styles.
WP-Print printouts quite customizable. Requires editing theme files. Does not use theme’s styles.
Print-o-Matic add print buttons with a shortcode. Customizable and can work with theme’s and plugin’s styles.
PDF Generator for WordPress Create & Customize PDF for Post, Pages and WooCommerce Products

Alternatives to Pro Print
MPL – Publisher is another free eBook creator / PDF converter plugin you can use to self-publish a book. To be honest probably the best alternative right now. There’s both free and paid versions.
PressBooks is a good paid, hosted alternative. Begin creating or import content for free, and can pay to export to PDF and other formats.
Designrr is great for creating short documents, but is a fully paid option.

Best Wishes Publishing for Print with WordPress!

⚠️IMPORTANT: Please make sure that you back up your database before running Print My Blog just in case there is an unexpected issue.

Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/print-my-blog directory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly.
Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress.

To Print Your Blog using Quick Print

Under the “Print My Blog” menu item, click “Quick Print.”
Select the format you want, and click “Prepare Print Page.”
When you see the “Print” button appear, click it. Your blog will be printed from your browser.

To Add Print Buttons to Posts and/or Pages

Under the “Print My Blog” menu item, click “Settings.”
Beside “Show print buttons on:”, check “Posts” and/or “Pages”.
Click “Save Settings”.

Also see this FAQ for more options to show the print buttons using shortcodes and postmeta.

To Print with Pro Print

Under “Print My Blog”, click “Pro Print”.
Follow the instructions presented, or refer to our user guide.

To Add a Print Form for Visitors

Add a page using the block editor (added in WordPress 5.0), maybe call it something like “Print My Blog”.
Add the “Print My Blog” block anywhere you like.
Publish the post or page.
You may want to add a link to the page in a menu, widget, or footer.

سوالات متداول

Can I use Pro Print for Free?

Yes, you can use PMB’s Pro Print for free (it’s included in this plugin) to create projects, and can print or make PDFs with them using your web browser. Your web browser will not, however, support all the features that Pro Print is capable of (e.g. adding page references, footnotes, and fully controlling page margins).

ePub eBooks with Pro Print require payment.

So, creating PDFs and printing with PMB Pro Print is free, but it’s best when used with our Pro PDF Service which is paid.

I have a question about Pro Print

You’re in luck, we have an entire user guide that walks you through the first project, then onto customizations, and even through making your own custom designs in HTML, CSS, and Javascript (with a bit of PHP). These FAQs are mostly about Quick Print and Print Buttons.

How do I create a PDF using Quick Print?

Quick Print just puts the content onto a single web page so your browser can print it or create a PDF from it. Because your browser is what creates the PDF, it depends on the browser. Check out the instructions that apply to you:

Google Chrome

Mozilla Firefox

Note: Images may be missing from very large PDFs. See the FAQ “My PDFs are missing images” below for help.

If you use Pro Print, you can download the PDF using our Pro Print Service.

How do I remove the headers and footers from printouts?

One option is to upgrade for the Pro Print Service, which adds more professional-looking content to the margins (e.g. page numbers, running headers, and logos).

You probably don’t want the site’s title, date, and URL appearing in printouts. Here is how to remove it for various browsers:

Google Chrome (for paper and PDF)

Mozilla Firefox (paper)

Mozilla Firefox (PDF)

How do I create an eBook using Print My Blog?

Creating ePub eBooks requires payment, or you can create ePub eBooks using Quick Print and dotEPUB browser extension

Note: if your printout has many images, dotEpub warns you it will replace them with links.

Once the eBook has been generated, you can read it from your computer (here’s instructions on how to read ePubs and MOBI files), or a phone or tablet.

Some images aren’t appearing

Print My Blog can work too fast for some webservers, meaning the webservers refuse to load all the content, most noticeably some images.
In order to fix this, you need to tell Print My Blog to slow down. On the configuration page, show options, then scroll
down to show Troubleshooting options, and increase “Post Rendering Wait-Time” (e.g. to 2000 milliseconds, or whatever
value you need to in order to get all the images to load).

My PDFs are missing images

This is usually a problem with browsers, which our Pro PDF Service hasn’t experienced. So you may want to try Pro Print with the Pro PDF Service.

If your print-page has hundreds of images, browsers may generate PDFs that are missing images at the end.
To fix this, just retry “Generate the PDF”. Each time the browser will fetch more images. Continue re-generating the PDF until the images at the end are included.

The Print Page says “There seems to be an error initializing…”, or is stuck on “Loading Content”, or I can’t filter by categories or terms from the print setup page

This isn’t a problem for Pro Print (even when printing using your browser for free.) If you’d rather use Quick Print, keep reading…

A plugin has probably disabled the WP REST API, which Print My Blog uses for loading data.

This is often done by a security plugin.

Don’t use “Disable REST API” plugins
“All in One WP Security” has a setting called “Disallow Unuahtorized REST API requests”. Disable it.
Wordfence has a setting on their “All Options” page, under “Brute Force Proection”, called “Prevent discovery of usernames through ‘/?author=N’ scans, the oEmbed API, and the WordPress REST API”. Disable it.
iThemes security has a setting under “WordPress Tweaks” called “REST API”. Switch it to “Default Access” if you want to let site visitors print your blog.

If none of the above help identify the issue, please use Print My Blog plugin’s Help page or the WordPress.org support forum to report the problem.
Along with that, it can also be helpful to follow the steps in the following video in order to provide more information about the error.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNK39YuuhMM

How do I remove post content from the printout?

There may be text, images, and other stuff that looks great when viewed from a screen, but doesn’t make sense to have in the printout. E.g. related posts, share buttons, etc.
To remove them from printouts, add the CSS class “pmb-screen-only”.
Alternatively, you can use the shortcodes [pmb_web_only_text]...text, text, text...[/pmb_web_only_text] and [pmb_web_only_blocks]...paragraphs, images, other blocks...[/pmb_web_only_blocks].

If you’re handy at writing CSS, add some additional CSS to your theme that uses the “pmb-print-page” class which is added to the body tag of the print page.

For example, if you want to hide all divs with CSS class “my-video” in printouts, but not on the regular website, add the following CSS to your theme:

.pmb-print-page div.my-video{
    display:none;
}

Also, if it’s content automatically added by a plugin or theme, please let us know in the support forum, and we can hide that content in the next release of Print My Blog.

How do I make post content only appear in the printout?

Use the shortcodes [pmb_print_only_text]...text, text, text...[/pmb_print_only_text] and [pmb_print_only_blocks]...paragraphs, images, other blocks...[/pmb_print_only_blocks].

Alternatively, add the CSS class “pmb-print-only”. See the above question for more details.

How do I show or hide background colors in the printout?

In Pro Print, the background colors are dictated by your project’s design, which might be easily customizable. Go to your project’s “Customize Design” step and see what settings are available. You can also switch to a different design on the “Choose Design” step, or add some custom CSS to your design (body{background-color:black;}).*

If you’re using Quick Print, the background colors are controlled by your WordPress theme and the browser.

Your theme may use different styles when printed, including setting the background to white in order to conserve ink.

But if not, your browser can also remove background colors.

For Google Chrome: when printing, click on “More Options”, then uncheck “Background graphics”
For Firefox: when viewing the print preview, click “Page Setup” then uncheck “Print Background (colors & images)”.
For Firefox Extension “Print to PDF”: click on “Add-ons”, then click “Print to PDF”, then “Options”, and uncheck “Whether the background colors should be shown”

How do I force a page break before something? (So it’s always at the top of a page)

Add the CSS class “pmb-page-break” onto the the element/block you want to be at the top of the page.

How do I avoid a pagebreak inside something?

Add the CSS class “pmb-no-break” onto the element/block. The browser will avoid a pagebreak in that element if possible.
If browsers ignore that, you force the pagebreak to happen just before an element by adding the CSS class “pmb-page-break”.

How do I print a draft?

The easiest way to print a draft post is to enable the front-end print buttons, then view the preview of the post, and click the print button you want.

How do I show the print buttons on posts or pages?

Using Print My Blog Settings and Custom Fields
You can add print buttons to all posts and/or pages from the WordPress admin dashboard, under “Print My Blog”, click “Settings”, then, next to “Show print buttons on:” select the posts and/or pages.
If you don’t want to show them on certain posts or pages, add the custom field named “pmb_buttons” to them with the value “hide”.
Alternatively, if you only want to show the button on specific posts or pages, add the custom field “pmb_buttons” to those posts or pages with the value “show”.

Using a Shortcode in the Post Body
You can add print buttons directly into your posts and pages by using the shortcode [pmb_print_buttons]. You can also supply it with the ID of a different post or page like so: [pmb_print_buttons ID=123].
You can alternatively use the shortcode [pmb_print_page_url] to just get the URL of the print page for more advanced integrations. You can supply it with the ID of a different post, and the format (defaults to “print”, but also accepts “pdf” or “ebook”), and whether to add_protocol (i.e. by default, the URL begins with “http://” or “https://”, but setting this to 0 will prevent that, in case it was already added), like so: [pmb_print_page_url format=pdf add_protocol=0] will produce the URL of the print page for a PDF but not add the “https://” onto the start of the URL.

In a Widget (e.g. sidebar or footer) using a Shortcode
Alternatively, you can add the print buttons to a widget. In the WordPress admin dashboard, under the “Appearance” menu item, click “Widgets”. Add a shortcode widget and add [pmb_print_buttons] like mentioned previously. The print buttons will only appear on single posts (eg not on an archive page).

Editing Your Theme’s Template Files
If you’d like to add the print buttons somewhere in your theme’s template files, add the following PHP code anywhere inside the loop:

<?php echo do_shortcode('[pmb_print_buttons]'); ?>

<a href="<?php echo esc_url(do_shortcode('[pmb_print_page_url]')); ?>">View Print-Ready Version of Page</a>

How do I change the color of the print buttons?

The print button’s color is determined by your theme. But if you can’t change the button colors using your theme’s settings, you can change it with some custom CSS.
E.g. this here’s how to change the button’s text color to black and background color to white:

For Block-Based Themes
1. Go to wp-admin on your website
2. On the left, under “Appreance”, click “Editor”
3. On the left, click “Styles”
4. Click the pencil icon that appears (“Edit Styles”)
5. On the top-right, beside “Styles”, click the three dots
6. Select “Additional CSS”
7. Add the following code:

For Legacy Themes:
1. Go to wp-admin on your website
2. On the left, under “Appearance”, click “Customize”
3. On the left, under Additional CSS” add the the following code:

div.pmb-print-this-page a{
    color:black;
    background-color:white;
}

How do I customize the printouts made with the Print Buttons?

From the Print My Blog Settings page, click “Customize Buttons”. From here you can customize:
* whether print buttons appear by default above or below the post content
* which print buttons appear (print, PDF, and eBook)
* the text used on each button (translate them, use an emoji, etc.)

Under each format, you can also click “Show Options”. These options affect the printout produced by the button. These
options are the same as when printing out multiple posts simultaneously: you can remove the printout metadata, the post’s featured image, etc.

How can I help translate Print My Blog?

Here’s a video showing how to use Poedit to submit a translation of Print My Blog

How can I report security bugs?

You can report security bugs through the Patchstack Vulnerability Disclosure Program. The Patchstack team helps validate, triage and handle any security vulnerabilities. Report a security vulnerability.