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Use Save as for PDFs in Flutter

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Use Save as when users need to edit a document without changing the original file. Nutrient Flutter SDK can save the modified document to a new location.

Implement Save as

After you display a document with NutrientDocumentView, implement Save as with these steps:

  • Set disableAutosave to true in the configuration so the SDK doesn’t change the original file.
  • Call save(outputPath:) on controller.document when the user selects a custom Flutter Button widget. Refer to the save(opens in a new tab) API reference for details.

The following Dart example saves the current document state to a new writable path:

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return Scaffold(
    body: Column(children: [
      Expanded(
        child: NutrientDocumentView(
          documentPath: documentPath,
          configuration: const NutrientViewConfiguration(disableAutosave: true),
          onControllerReady: (controller) => _controller = controller,
        ),
      ),
      SizedBox(
        child: ElevatedButton(
          onPressed: () async {
            // Ensure that the path for the new document is a writable path.
            // You can use a package like https://pub.dev/packages/filesystem_picker to allow users to select the directory and name of the file to save.
            final newDocumentPath =
                await getExportPath('PDFs/Embedded/new_pdf_document.pdf');


            final saved =
                await _controller!.document.save(outputPath: newDocumentPath);


            if (saved) {
              print('Document has been saved to $newDocumentPath');
            }
          },
          child: const Text('Save Document As'),
        ),
      ),
    ]),
  );
}

The original document keeps its unsaved changes in the viewer. The copy at outputPath contains the current state of the document. For a complete runnable example, open save_as_example in the Catalog app.

On web, there’s no file system to save to, so save(outputPath:) throws UnsupportedError. Use exportPdf() to get the document bytes and pass them to the browser download flow instead. Refer to the export PDF(opens in a new tab) API reference for details.

Save as also differs from the legacy method-channel implementation.

The legacy processAnnotations workaround for Save as is part of the deprecated method-channel API. Use save(outputPath:) instead. Refer to the migration guide for details.