Md to Pdf - Converting simple Markdown to Styled .pdf

It wasn’t an easy task to properly export my first bland CV to PDF. 📄 Markdown, as said previously, is super simple, clear, and intentional. But its output in terms of style can be lacking, to say the least. 🎨

So, Pandoc can do something about it—if—and it’s a big if—you have a good styling .css file. 💅

The approach is quite simple:

1. Check the MD content (let’s call it resume.md): Once you’re happy with the content, move on to the next phase. Always ask multiple trusted friends, your partner, or whoever to take a look at the information in resume.md. Read it and rework it ad nauseam.
2. Get your hands on a good, or at least better, stylesheet. I found this randomly when I searched for MD-to-PDF resume templates, and I was given the answer of using a CSS file. 🎭
3. Testing and improving CSS: Pretty self-explanatory. 🛠️

Now, the process to produce a fine, simple CSS-styled resume.pdf is quite easy:

1. Have all files in one folder.

   📁 resume/
   ├── 📝 resume.md
   └── 🎨 resume.css
   

2. Run the command that will output your MD into a simple .html file:

   pandoc .\resume.md --from=gfm --standalone --css=".\resume.css" -o .\resume.html
   

3. Open your HTML in your default browser of choice:

   start .\resume.html
   

4. Proceed to Ctrl+P to print the HTML to PDF. 🖨️

And that’s it for the most part. Simple, right? You have a really custom-made resume in PDF. Since it’s Markdown, you can also use it to host online. 🌐

Now, I’ve found out that printing/exporting from HTML to PDF removes the hyperlinks on the resume (though they show on the created and previewed .html), nor will it create PDF bookmarks (for those overachievers) that allow one to navigate the PDF. 🔗

So, after searching online, here came AI 🤖 to the rescue.

After much trial and error, I got my final answer: to achieve bookmarks and keep links, one needs to use a Chromium-based browser, like Chrome or Edge (I chose Edge since it shipped by default on Windows machines). It cannot be Firefox, sadly, due to its processing limitations regarding PDF/HTML rendering. 🦊

Here are the steps to get PDF bookmarks and keep hyperlinks:

1. Run the command that will output your MD into a simple .html file:

   pandoc .\resume.md --from=gfm --standalone --css=".\resume.css" -o .\resume.html
   

2. After having your Chromium-based browser installed, use the following (on a Windows machine):

   & "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --headless --disable-gpu --no-pdf-header-footer --generate-pdf-document-outline --run-all-compositor-stages-before-draw --print-to-pdf="$PWD\resume.pdf" "file:///$PWD\resume.html"
   

It took me ages to get this working, but it does. And you don’t need to install anything else than Pandoc, or at the limit, have a second browser.

But it works. Simple and effective. No extensions, nada. 🚀