I wanted to provide an option to convert attached images to PDF documents in my websites. A typical use is, in my upcoming website for children (StudyVillage.com), I wanted an option for members to post coloring pages, mazes, printable worksheets etc. I wanted them all in PDF format for 2 reasons:

1. I wanted all pages to be printable in a standard way using PDF. Images are printed differently depending on the software used to open and print. PDF documents ensure a smooth printing in a standard way no matter what printer and what software you use.

2. I wanted all printable documents have a standard header and footer with the name of my website on it and some custom website. I can't really ask members to add a header and footer for all images they upload.

Once I decided to convert all image attachments to PDF, the next question is which tool I should use to convert the uploaded attachments to PDF. I started researching and did a lot of search in Google. I found several tools that can convert images to PDF. But I was confused again how to embed a header and footer for all documents. These are the alternatives I found:

1. Automatically add the header and footer to the image and then convert the image to PDF document

2. Convert image to PDF first and then insert the header and footer to the PDF document directly.

3. Dynamically create a webpage with header, footer and the image. Then convert the Html website directly to a PDF

After doing some evaluation, I decided to go for the 3rd option where I will dynamically generate a webpage and use the URL of the page to create a PDF document.

Html to PDF converters

A quick search in Google for Html to PDF converters showed me several such tools. One thing that was very disgusting was, some of the tools are branded differently in different websites, but they are essentially the same.

I evaluated some of the tools and figured out some are great and some are nothing but waste of time.

Different ways to convert Html to Pdf

I found couple of different ways I can convert the Html pages to Pdf:

1. Online Url to Pdf converters.
There are several online Html to Pdf converters. All you have to do is, provide the Url of the webpage you want to convert and they will generate a PDF document for you. This is quite easy to use. However, the disadvantage is, this is a manual process. You can't really automate the process. Also, I did not want my website to depend on an external free service. What if they go out of business later? What if they stop the free Html to Pdf conversion offer? I did not want by business to depend on them.

2. Online Html text to Pdf converters.
Some websites offer free Html text to Pdf conversion. You can specify a block of Html text and they will convert it to a Pdf document. Some of them have difficulty in using images, css etc in such conversion. This did not really suit my needs.

3. Component based Html to Pdf converters for .NET
This kind of tools provide some kind of DLLs (assemblies) that can be used in our application (websites). Since I am a .NET developer, I wanted some .NET assemblies. This is one of the most flexible and reliable way to convert Html files. Most of such tools allow converting Html text or Url to Pdf documents.

I decided to go by the 3rd since this is a one time purchase and I do not have any dependencies on third parties once I make the purchase.

Best Html to Pdf converters

I evaluated several converters, including online converters and component based. I am currently gathering the reports from various such converters and will soon publish what I found.

Free Html to PDF converter - Convert Html to PDF online

Html to PDF converters

Different ways to convert Html to Pdf

Best Html to Pdf converters

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