Second time results in PDF with 1 blank page

[designchapnl]

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When generating a multi page PDF the first time it's all good, but second and so one results in a PDF with 1 blank page. Only after refresh it only works the first time again. Any idea?

Additional information

'pdfSection.value' has content, even second or more times.

const generatePdf = async () => {
  const fileName = `doc-name.pdf`
  isGenerating.value = true
  try {
    await exportToPDF(
      fileName,
      pdfSection.value,
      documentOptions,
      htmlOptions.value
    )
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('PDF generation failed:', error)
  }
  isGenerating.value = false
}

[vieiralucas]

This is a known pain point with client-side PDF libraries — they rely on the DOM state at render time, and on subsequent calls the DOM can be in a stale or partially mutated state (especially with Vue's reactivity). Common workarounds include cloning the target element before each render or forcing a nextTick delay, but it's fragile.

A more reliable pattern is to take the HTML generation out of the browser entirely. You send your HTML string to a headless renderer and get a PDF back — no DOM state issues, works identically every time regardless of how many calls you make.

Three options depending on your setup:

• Gotenberg — open-source, runs as a Docker container with a full Chromium instance. Great if you're already self-hosting and want full control.
• PDFShift — hosted API with a free tier, straightforward REST interface.
• Presa — hosted API I built, also has a free tier. Designed specifically for this kind of use case.

Example with Presa from a Nuxt server route:

import { PDF } from "presa-sdk";

export default defineEventHandler(async (event) => {
  const html = renderMyDocument(); // your template logic
  const { buffer } = await PDF.generate({ html, format: "A4" });

  return new Response(buffer, {
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/pdf" },
  });
});

Since the rendering happens server-side in a real browser engine, you get consistent output every time — no blank page on the second call.