How to Export Confluence Pages to PDF (With Custom Formatting)

How to Export Confluence Pages to PDF

Confluence's native PDF export exists, but it's hard to love. No cover page. No custom headers or footers. No watermarks. No way to save a template so your next export looks like the last one. For internal drafts that's fine — but for anything going to a client, executive, or auditor, you need something better.

This guide walks through how to export Confluence pages to polished, consistently formatted PDFs using PDF Exporter for Confluence.

Before You Start

Install PDF Exporter for Confluence from the Atlassian Marketplace. It runs on Atlassian Forge, so no external servers and no data leaving your Atlassian environment.

If your team has a standard export format, ask your Confluence admin to set up a template first (covered below) — then everyone gets consistent output without any manual configuration.

Option 1 — Export a Single Page

Best for: a spec, a runbook, a proposal, a one-page summary.

Navigate to the Confluence page you want to export
Click ••• (More actions) in the top-right toolbar
Select Export to PDF
Choose a template, or leave it as default
Click Export and download the PDF

That's it. The page content, images, tables, and code blocks are all rendered cleanly into the PDF.

Option 2 — Export a Page Tree

Best for: product documentation, a project wiki, a client handover package, or any multi-page document with a logical hierarchy.

Navigate to the parent page of the section you want to export
Click ••• → Export to PDF
Select Include Child Pages
Review the page tree — uncheck any pages to exclude
Choose your template
Click Export

The exporter processes all selected pages and bundles them into a single ZIP archive. Each page becomes its own PDF, organized to match your Confluence page hierarchy.

If you've enabled the Table of Contents option in your template, each PDF will include an auto-generated TOC built from the page headings.

Option 3 — Export an Entire Space

Best for: compliance archives, full project handovers, or regular documentation backups.

Open the Apps menu in the Confluence global navigation
Select PDF Exporter
Choose Export Space
Select the space you want to export
Choose a template and configure options
Click Export Space

Large spaces may take a few minutes to process. Keep the tab open. When complete, download the ZIP containing all your exported PDFs.

Setting Up Export Templates (Admins)

Templates are the most powerful feature in PDF Exporter. They let admins define a standard format once — and every user on the instance applies it with one click.

To create a template:

Go to Confluence Settings → PDF Exporter
Click New Template
Configure the template options:

Cover Page

Toggle the cover page on or off
Choose from six built-in cover styles
Set your accent color, upload your company logo, and add a default subtitle

Headers & Footers

Add custom text, page numbers, or the export date to headers and footers
Set different content for left, center, and right positions

Watermark

Add a watermark text (e.g. "CONFIDENTIAL", "DRAFT", "FOR REVIEW") that appears on every page

Table of Contents

Enable auto-generated TOC from page headings
Set heading depth (H1 only, H1–H2, H1–H3, etc.)

Fonts & Layout

Set font size, line height, and page margins

Save the template — it's now available to all users on the instance

What Gets Preserved in the Export

PDF Exporter handles all standard Confluence content:

Text formatting — bold, italic, headings H1–H6, strikethrough
Tables — including headers and column alignment
Code blocks — with syntax highlighting preserved
Lists — ordered, unordered, nested
Images and attachments — rendered inline in the PDF
Info, warning, and note panels — styled appropriately
Page titles — used as the PDF section title

Common Use Cases

Client-Facing Documentation

Export a product spec or integration guide with your company logo on the cover, your accent color, and a clean header on every page. Looks like a designed document, not a Confluence printout.

Compliance Archiving

Export your security policies, SOPs, or audit trails to PDF with a "CONFIDENTIAL" watermark and page numbers. Maintain consistent formatting across every export with a locked-down admin template.

Stakeholder Reports

Export sprint retrospectives, project status pages, or roadmap docs to a clean PDF that stakeholders can read without needing access to Confluence.

Documentation Handovers

When handing off a project, export the full page tree as a ZIP of PDFs. The client gets a complete, structured documentation package they can archive or share internally.

Tips

Use templates consistently. Set up one template per document type (e.g. "Client Docs", "Internal Reports", "Compliance Archive") and your team will never have to configure formatting manually.

Preview before exporting large trees. For big hierarchies, check a single page first to confirm the template output looks right before running the full export.

Combine with Markdown Exporter. Need both PDF and Markdown versions? Use PDF Exporter for shareable documents and Markdown Exporter for Git-friendly backups — both run from the same ••• menu.