Text to PDF — when literal text is what you want and markdown is too much
Sometimes you have plain text that should land as plain text in a PDF — no syntax interpretation, no formatting magic, just the text as you typed it, laid out neatly with consistent line spacing and pagination. Logs, code snippets, letters, transcripts, configuration files, raw notes. Text-to-PDF is the answer when markdown's formatting rules get in the way and you just want the bytes on the page. Here is what the tool does, the four font + page-size combinations that cover almost every real workflow, and the cases where text-to-PDF is the right tool rather than markdown-to-PDF.
Plain text vs markdown rendering
The difference is in what counts as content vs syntax. In markdown, * means italic, # means header, > means blockquote, ` means code. If you have text that legitimately contains those characters (e.g. a shell-script log with literal asterisks, or a math formula with literal asterisks for multiplication), markdown rendering changes the visual meaning. Text-to-PDF treats every character as content — what you typed is what appears on the page.
Line breaks are also handled differently. Markdown collapses single line breaks within a paragraph; text-to-PDF preserves them. Tabs are honored (expanded to 4 spaces for consistent column alignment in Courier). Long lines auto-wrap to fit the page width using exact font metrics, so the wrap happens at sensible word boundaries.
Four font + page-size combinations
Most use cases land on one of four combinations:
- Courier 10pt + Letter portrait. Code listings, log files, configuration dumps. Monospace font preserves column alignment in tables, ASCII art, and shell output. Letter portrait matches the printer paper in US offices.
- Courier 10pt + Letter landscape. Wide log lines and code listings that need more horizontal room. Landscape doubles the per-line character budget before wrapping kicks in.
- Helvetica 11pt + Letter portrait. Letters, formal correspondence, plain-text email bodies converted to PDF. Helvetica is professional and easy-reading at 11pt.
- Times 12pt + A4 portrait. Manuscripts, long-form text submissions, academic drafts that need a serif font. A4 portrait is standard for international submissions.
Five workflow patterns where text-to-PDF is the right tool
Specific use cases:
- Code or log archival. Converting shell output, stack traces, or build logs to PDF for inclusion in incident reports or audit documents.
- Letter writing. Composing a formal letter as plain text, then producing a PDF for printing or attaching to email. No formatting surprises.
- Transcript archival. Meeting transcripts, interview transcripts, podcast transcripts — long text that benefits from being a paginated PDF rather than a wall of text in a .txt file.
- Plain-text submissions to portals that require PDF. Some forms accept attachments only in PDF format. Convert your typed answer to PDF without adding markdown interpretation.
- Code-review handouts. Print a code listing as a PDF for offline review. Courier alignment and pagination make the listing readable on paper.
Three quirks worth knowing
Patterns in the output that show up on the first pass:
- Long words may clip. If a single word is wider than the line width (which happens with URLs and base64 strings), it gets clipped at the right margin. Use a wider page size or smaller font, or pre-wrap the input with a manual line break.
- Trailing whitespace is preserved. If your input has trailing spaces or tabs on lines, those land in the PDF too. Usually not visible (whitespace at end-of-line) but counts toward layout. Trim if you care.
- Tabs vs spaces. Tabs expand to 4 spaces in the output regardless of font. If your source has mixed tabs and spaces and you want consistent alignment, decide on one before converting.
Markdown-to-PDF vs Text-to-PDF — decision rule
The simplest way to decide between the two:
- If your text uses * for emphasis, # for headings, ` for code — use Markdown-to-PDF. The tool interprets those characters as syntax and produces a formatted PDF.
- If your text contains those characters literally — use Text-to-PDF. The tool treats every character as content and produces a literal PDF.
- If you're not sure — try Text-to-PDF first. Plain rendering is the safe default. You can always re-run as markdown if the output looks plain when you wanted formatted.
Limits and compatibility
On the free web tool, text rendering handles inputs up to 5 MB of plain text. Output is byte-compatible with every PDF reader. Auto-pagination handles documents of any length within the input cap; typical output is roughly 1 page per 40 lines at default settings.
Common pairings: Text-to-PDF → Add Page Numbers for final polish. Text-to-PDF → Merge for combining multiple text documents into a bundle. For text that includes diagrams or images, render through a heavier pipeline.