How to build a JavaScript PDF viewer with Nutrient

Hulya Masharipov

July 6, 2021

How to build a JavaScript PDF viewer with Nutrient

In this post, we provide you with a step-by-step guide on how you can deploy Nutrient’s JavaScript PDF viewer.

What is a JavaScript PDF viewer?

A JavaScript PDF viewer uses JavaScript to render and view PDF documents in a web browser without the need to download it to your hard drive or use an external application like a PDF reader.

Nutrient JavaScript PDF viewer

We offer a commercial JavaScript PDF viewer library that can easily be integrated into your web application. It comes with 30+ features that let you view, annotate, edit, and sign documents directly in your browser. Out of the box, it has a polished and flexible UI that you can extend or simplify based on your unique use case.

A prebuilt and polished UI for an improved user experience
15+ prebuilt annotation tools to enable document collaboration
Support for more file types with client-side PDF, MS Office, and image viewing
Dedicated support from engineers to speed up integration

Example of our JavaScript PDF viewer

To demo our JavaScript PDF viewer, upload a PDF, JPG, PNG, or TIFF file by clicking Open Document under the Standalone option (if you don’t see this option, select Choose Example from the dropdown). Once your document is displayed in the viewer, try drawing freehand, adding a note, or applying a crop or an eSignature.

If you prefer a video tutorial, you can watch our step-by-step guide.

Requirements to get started

To get started, you’ll need:

The latest stable version of Node.js(opens in a new tab).
A package manager compatible with npm(opens in a new tab). This guide contains usage examples for Yarn(opens in a new tab) and the npm client(opens in a new tab) (installed with Node.js by default).

Adding Nutrient to your project

Follow along for a step-by-step guide to adding Nutrient to your project.

Step 1: Create a project directory

Open your terminal or command prompt.
Create a new directory for your project:

mkdir my-pdf-viewer
cd my-pdf-viewer

Step 2: Initialize your project

Initialize a new Node.js project:

npm init -y

Step 3: Install Nutrient

Install the pspdfkit package from npm:

npm install pspdfkit

Step 4: Set up your assets folder

Create an assets directory in your project folder:

mkdir assets

Copy the required library files to the assets folder:

cp -R ./node_modules/pspdfkit/dist/ ./assets/

Make sure your assets directory contains the pspdfkit.js file and a pspdfkit-lib directory with the library assets.

Step 5: Add your PDF document

Add the PDF document you want to display to your project’s directory. You can use our demo document as an example.

Step 6: Create your HTML file

Create an index.html file in your project directory and add the following code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>My PDF Viewer</title>
    <!-- Provide proper viewport information so that the layout works on mobile devices. -->
    <meta
      name="viewport"
      content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, minimum-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no"
    />
  </head>
  <body>
    <!-- Element where Nutrient will be mounted. -->
    <div id="pspdfkit" style="height: 100vh;"></div>

    <script src="assets/pspdfkit.js"></script>

    <script>
      PSPDFKit.load({
        container: '#pspdfkit',
        document: 'document.pdf', // Add the path to your document here.
      })
        .then(function (instance) {
          console.log('PSPDFKit loaded', instance);
        })
        .catch(function (error) {
          console.error(error.message);
        });
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

Step 7: Serve your website

You’ll use the npm serve package to serve your project.

Install the serve package:

npm install --global serve

Serve the contents of the current directory:

serve -l 8080 .

Navigate to http://localhost:8080(opens in a new tab) to view the website.

pspdfkit demo

Adding even more capabilities

Once you’ve deployed your viewer, you can start customizing it to meet your specific requirements or easily add more capabilities. To help you get started, here are some of our most popular JavaScript guides:

Conclusion

You should now have our JavaScript PDF viewer up and running in your web application. If you hit any snags, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support team for help.

You can also integrate our JavaScript PDF viewer using web frameworks like Angular, Vue.js, and React.js. To see a list of all web frameworks, start your free trial. Or, launch our demo to see our viewer in action.

FAQ

What is Nutrient?

Nutrient is a powerful JavaScript library that allows developers to integrate PDF viewing, editing, and annotation capabilities into web applications.

How do I install Nutrient?

You can install Nutrient via npm using the command npm install pspdfkit.

Can I use Nutrient with frameworks like React or Angular?

Yes, Nutrient supports integration with various frameworks, including React, Angular, and Vue.js.

What file formats does Nutrient support?

Nutrient supports a variety of file formats, including PDF, JPG, PNG, and TIFF.

Is there any support available for developers using Nutrient?

Yes, Nutrient offers dedicated support from engineers to assist with integration and troubleshooting.

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