Getting Started

Copy a setup prompt with the install steps and the full markdown guide for this plugin.

        Set up this Capacitor plugin in the project.

Use the package manager already used by the project.
Install these package(s): `@capgo/capacitor-printer`
Run the required Capacitor sync/update step after installation.
Read this markdown guide for the full setup steps: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Cap-go/website/refs/heads/main/apps/docs/src/content/docs/docs/plugins/printer/getting-started.mdx
Use that guide for platform-specific steps, native file edits, permissions, config changes, imports, and usage setup.
If that guide references other docs pages, read them too.

Install

bun add @capgo/capacitor-printer
bunx cap sync

Import

import { Printer } from '@capgo/capacitor-printer';

API Overview

`printBase64`

Presents the printing UI to print files encoded as base64 strings.

Platform Behavior:

iOS: Uses UIPrintInteractionController with base64 decoded data
Android: Uses PrintManager with base64 decoded data
Web: Creates a blob from base64 data and opens print dialog

Performance Warning: Large files can lead to app crashes due to memory constraints when decoding base64. For files larger than 5MB, it’s recommended to use printFile() instead.

import { Printer } from '@capgo/capacitor-printer';

// Print a base64 encoded PDF
await Printer.printBase64({
  name: 'Invoice #12345',
  data: 'base64-encoded-pdf-data',
  mimeType: 'application/pdf',
});

// Print a base64 encoded image
await Printer.printBase64({
  name: 'Product Photo',
  data: '/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD/2wBDA...',
  mimeType: 'image/jpeg',
});

`printFile`

Presents the printing UI to print device files.

Platform Behavior:

iOS: Uses UIPrintInteractionController with file URL. Supports file:// paths or paths relative to app’s documents directory.
Android: Uses PrintManager with file path. Supports both content:// URIs and file:// paths.
Web: Reads file and opens print dialog

Supported File Types:

PDF documents (application/pdf)
Images: JPEG, PNG, GIF, HEIC, HEIF

import { Printer } from '@capgo/capacitor-printer';

// iOS: Print from app documents directory
await Printer.printFile({
  name: 'Contract',
  path: 'file:///var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/.../Documents/contract.pdf',
});

// Android: Print from content URI
await Printer.printFile({
  name: 'Receipt',
  path: 'content://com.android.providers.downloads.documents/document/123',
  mimeType: 'application/pdf',
});

// Android: Print from file path
await Printer.printFile({
  name: 'Photo',
  path: 'file:///storage/emulated/0/Download/photo.jpg',
  mimeType: 'image/jpeg',
});

`printHtml`

Presents the printing UI to print HTML documents.

Platform Behavior:

iOS: Renders HTML in WKWebView, then prints using UIPrintInteractionController
Android: Renders HTML in WebView, then prints using PrintManager
Web: Creates iframe with HTML content and triggers print dialog

HTML Requirements:

Should be a complete HTML document with proper structure
Can include inline CSS styles or style tags
External resources (images, stylesheets) should use absolute URLs
Print-specific CSS can be added using

import { Printer } from '@capgo/capacitor-printer';

// Simple HTML document
await Printer.printHtml({
name: 'Sales Report',
html: '<html><body><h1>Q4 Sales Report</h1><p>Revenue: $125,000</p></body></html>',
});

// HTML with print-specific CSS
await Printer.printHtml({
name: 'Styled Invoice',
html: `
<html>
<head>
<style>

`printPdf`

Presents the printing UI to print PDF documents.

Platform Behavior:

iOS: Uses UIPrintInteractionController with PDF file URL
Android: Uses PrintManager with PdfDocument
Web: Creates object URL and opens print dialog

File Path Requirements:

iOS: Must be file:// path or relative to app’s documents directory
Android: Supports content:// URIs (from downloads, media store) or file:// paths
Web: Must be accessible file path

import { Printer } from '@capgo/capacitor-printer';

// Print PDF from app storage
await Printer.printPdf({
  name: 'Annual Report 2024',
  path: 'file:///var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/.../Documents/report.pdf',
});

// Print PDF from Android downloads
await Printer.printPdf({
  name: 'Downloaded Document',
  path: 'content://com.android.providers.downloads.documents/document/123',
});

`printWebView`

Presents the printing UI to print web view content.

Prints the current content displayed in your app’s web view.

Platform Behavior:

iOS: Uses UIPrintInteractionController with WKWebView’s view printable
Android: Uses WebView.createPrintDocumentAdapter() with PrintManager
Web: Triggers window.print() for current page

Print Styling: Supports CSS print media queries for customization. The web view’s current styles will be applied, including any

import { Printer } from '@capgo/capacitor-printer';

// Print current web view with default name
await Printer.printWebView();

// Print with custom job name
await Printer.printWebView({
name: 'Dashboard Screenshot',
});

// Use with print-specific CSS in your HTML
// Add this to your app's CSS:
//

Type Reference

`PrintBase64Options`

Options for printing base64 encoded data.

export interface PrintBase64Options extends PrintOptions {
  /**
   * Valid base64 encoded string representing the file content.
   *
   * The base64 string should NOT include the data URL prefix (e.g., "data:application/pdf;base64,").
   * Only provide the raw base64 encoded content.
   *
   * **Performance Considerations:**
   * - Base64 encoding increases data size by approximately 33%
   * - Large files (>5MB) may cause memory issues when decoding
   * - Consider using printFile() for large documents
   *
   * **Platform Notes:**
   * - **iOS**: Decoded to NSData and passed to UIPrintInteractionController
   * - **Android**: Decoded to byte array and written to temporary file
   * - **Web**: Converted to Blob for printing
   *
   * @since 7.0.0
   * @example 'base64-encoded-pdf-data'
   */
  data: string;

  /**
   * MIME type of the base64 encoded data.
   *
   * **Supported types:**
   * - `application/pdf` - PDF documents
   * - `image/jpeg` - JPEG images
   * - `image/.png` - PNG images
   * - `image/.gif` - GIF images (iOS/Android only)
   * - `image/heic` - HEIC images (iOS only)
   * - `image/heif` - HEIF images (iOS only)
   *
   * **Platform Support:**
   * - All platforms support PDF, JPEG, and PNG
   * - GIF support varies by platform
   * - HEIC/HEIF are iOS-specific formats
   *
   * @since 7.0.0
   * @example 'application/pdf'
   * @example 'image/jpeg'
   */
  mimeType: string;
}

`PrintFileOptions`

Options for printing files from device storage.

export interface PrintFileOptions extends PrintOptions {
  /**
   * Path to the file to print.
   *
   * **iOS Path Formats:**
   * - `file://` URL: Full file URL path
   * - Relative path: Path relative to app's documents directory
   * - Must be within app's accessible directories (documents, temporary, cache)
   *
   * **Android Path Formats:**
   * - `content://` URI: Content provider URI (recommended for external files)
   * - `file://` path: Direct file system path
   * - Must have read permission for the file
   *
   * **Common Use Cases:**
   * - App documents: Files saved in app's document directory
   * - Downloads: Files from system downloads folder (use content:// on Android)
   * - Temporary files: Files in app's temporary/cache directory
   * - Shared storage: Files from external storage (Android, requires permissions)
   *
   * @since 7.0.0
   * @platform ios Supports file:// paths and relative paths
   * @platform android Supports content:// URIs and file:// paths
   * @example 'content://com.android.providers.downloads.documents/document/123'
   * @example 'file:///var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/.../Documents/document.pdf'
   * @example 'file:///storage/emulated/0/Download/receipt.pdf'
   */
  path: string;

  /**
   * MIME type of the file.
   *
   * **Platform Behavior:**
   * - **Android**: REQUIRED for content:// URIs. Helps the system determine how to handle the file.
   *                Optional for file:// paths (auto-detected from extension).
   * - **iOS**: Ignored. File type is auto-detected from file extension.
   * - **Web**: Optional. Auto-detected if not provided.
   *
   * **Common MIME Types:**
   * - `application/pdf` - PDF documents
   * - `image/jpeg` - JPEG images
   * - `image/.png` - PNG images
   * - `image/.gif` - GIF images
   *
   * @since 7.0.0
   * @default Undefined (auto-detected from file extension)
   * @platform android Used for content:// URIs and file type detection
   * @platform ios Ignored (auto-detected)
   * @example 'application/pdf'
   * @example 'image/jpeg'
   */
  mimeType?: string;
}

`PrintHtmlOptions`

Options for printing HTML content.

export interface PrintHtmlOptions extends PrintOptions {
  /**
   * HTML content to print.
   *
   * **Content Requirements:**
   * - Should be a complete HTML document with `<html>`, `<head>`, and `<body>` tags
   * - Can include inline CSS styles or `<style>` tags
   * - External resources (images, fonts) should use absolute URLs
   * - JavaScript is not executed during print rendering
   *
   * **Print Optimization Tips:**
   * - Use `@media print` CSS rules for print-specific styling
   * - Control page breaks with `page-break-before`, `page-break-after`, `page-break-inside`
   * - Hide UI elements using `.no-print { display: none; }` class
   * - Adjust font sizes for readability (12pt is standard for print)
   * - Use print-friendly colors (avoid dark backgrounds)
   *
   * **Platform Rendering:**
   * - **iOS**: Rendered in WKWebView before printing
   * - **Android**: Rendered in WebView before printing
   * - **Web**: Rendered in hidden iframe before printing
   *
   * **Character Encoding:**
   * - UTF-8 is recommended and default
   * - Include charset in HTML: `<meta charset="UTF-8">`
   *
   * @since 7.0.0
   * @example '<html><body><h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a test document.</p></body></html>'
   * @example
   * ```typescript
   * const htmlWithStyles = `
   *   <html>
   *     <head>
   *       <meta charset="UTF-8">
   *       <style>
   *         @media print {
   *           body { font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; }
   *           .no-print { display: none; }
   *           h1 { color: #333; page-break-before: always; }
   *         }
   *       </style>
   *     </head>
   *     <body>
   *       <h1>Invoice #12345</h1>
   *       <p>Amount: $299.99</p>
   *     </body>
   *   </html>
   * `;
   * ```
   */
  html: string;
}

`PrintPdfOptions`

Options for printing PDF documents.

export interface PrintPdfOptions extends PrintOptions {
  /**
   * Path to the PDF document.
   *
   * **iOS Path Formats:**
   * - `file://` URL: Full file URL path to PDF document
   * - Relative path: Path relative to app's documents directory
   * - Must be within app's accessible directories (documents, temporary, cache)
   * - PDF must be valid and not password-protected
   *
   * **Android Path Formats:**
   * - `content://` URI: Content provider URI (recommended for external PDFs)
   * - `file://` path: Direct file system path to PDF
   * - Must have read permission for the file
   * - Supports both single-page and multi-page PDFs
   *
   * **Web Path Formats:**
   * - Relative or absolute path accessible from web context
   * - Must be a valid PDF file
   *
   * **Validation:**
   * - File must exist at the specified path
   * - File must be a valid PDF (checked by magic number/header)
   * - File must be readable by the app
   *
   * **Common Sources:**
   * - App documents: PDFs saved in app's document directory
   * - Downloads: PDFs from system downloads (use content:// on Android)
   * - Generated PDFs: Temporary PDFs created by the app
   * - Network downloads: PDFs downloaded and saved locally
   *
   * @since 7.0.0
   * @platform ios Supports file:// paths and relative paths
   * @platform android Supports content:// URIs and file:// paths
   * @platform web Supports accessible file paths
   * @example 'content://com.android.providers.downloads.documents/document/123'
   * @example 'file:///var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/.../Documents/document.pdf'
   * @example 'file:///storage/emulated/0/Download/report.pdf'
   * @example 'Documents/invoice-2024.pdf'
   */
  path: string;
}

`PrintOptions`

Base options for all print operations.

export interface PrintOptions {
  /**
   * Name of the print job.
   *
   * **Usage:**
   * - Displayed in the system print queue
   * - Shown in print history/logs
   * - May appear in printer status displays
   * - Used as default filename for "Save as PDF" option
   *
   * **Platform Behavior:**
   * - **iOS**: Shown in print preview header and activity view
   * - **Android**: Displayed in print job notification and print queue
   * - **Web**: Used as document title in print dialog
   *
   * **Best Practices:**
   * - Use descriptive names (e.g., "Invoice #12345", "Q4 Report")
   * - Keep under 50 characters for better display
   * - Avoid special characters that may cause issues in filenames
   * - Include relevant identifiers (order numbers, dates, etc.)
   *
   * **Examples:**
   * - "Invoice #12345"
   * - "Sales Report - 2024 Q4"
   * - "Customer Receipt - John Doe"
   * - "Product Photo - SKU-ABC123"
   *
   * @since 7.0.0
   * @default 'Document'
   * @platform ios Shown in print preview and activity view
   * @platform android Shown in print queue and notifications
   * @platform web Used as document title in print dialog
   * @example 'Invoice #12345'
   * @example 'Annual Report 2024'
   * @example 'Receipt - Order #789'
   */
  name?: string;
}

Source Of Truth

This page is generated from the plugin’s src/definitions.ts. Re-run the sync when the public API changes upstream.

Keep going from Getting Started

If you are using Getting Started to plan dashboard and API operations, connect it with Using @capgo/capacitor-printer for the native capability in Using @capgo/capacitor-printer, API Overview for the implementation detail in API Overview, Introduction for the implementation detail in Introduction, API Keys for the implementation detail in API Keys, and Devices for the implementation detail in Devices.