Why I Stopped Using html-to-docx (And Why You Should Too)

I spent the last two weeks in "Library Hell."

I needed to generate professional documents from my application. naturally, I started where most of us do: specific libraries like html-to-docx or jspdf.

I thought, "Great, a lightweight library to convert my HTML string into a file. Simple, right?"

The Reality Check It was a nightmare.

• Flexbox didn't work.
• Grid was non-existent.
• Images floated off the page.
• Complex CSS selectors were ignored.

I spent more time fighting the library's limitations than building my actual product. I was trying to force a library to "understand" HTML, rather than just using a tool that already speaks the language perfectly.

The Pivot: Enter Puppeteer I finally scrapped the libraries and spun up Puppeteer (Headless Chrome).

Instead of trying to convert HTML to a document format, I simply told a headless browser to render the page and print it.

The Result?

• 100% CSS Support: If Chrome can render it, Puppeteer can print it.
• Modern Layouts: Flexbox and Grid work perfectly.
• Zero "Translation" Errors: What I see on my screen is exactly what the user gets in the file.

The Code (The "Aha" Moment)

JavaScript

const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
const page = await browser.newPage();

// Just send your HTML directly
await page.setContent(htmlContent, {
  waitUntil: 'networkidle0'
});

// The magic happens here
const pdf = await page.pdf({
  format: 'A4',
  printBackground: true
});

await browser.close();

Conclusion If you are struggling with html-to-docx or similar libraries, stop fighting the parser. Browsers are the best rendering engines in the world—just use them.

Has anyone else gone down the "Headless Chrome" rabbit hole for document generation? Let me know!