Generate PDF Reports with Python

Overview

Generating PDF reports from data is a common requirement for invoices, analytics dashboards, and automated reporting. Python has two main libraries for this: ReportLab (full-featured, low-level control) and fpdf2 (lightweight, simpler API). This recipe covers both approaches with practical examples.

When to Use

• You need to generate invoices, receipts, or financial reports
• You are building automated reporting pipelines (daily/weekly summaries)
• You need to export data tables with formatting to PDF
• You want to create printable certificates or documents from templates

Solution

Basic PDF with fpdf2

from fpdf import FPDF

pdf = FPDF()
pdf.add_page()
pdf.set_font("Helvetica", size=12)

pdf.cell(200, 10, text="Sales Report", new_x="LMARGIN", new_y="NEXT", align="C")
pdf.ln(10)

pdf.cell(200, 10, text="Total Revenue: $15,430", new_x="LMARGIN", new_y="NEXT")
pdf.cell(200, 10, text="Orders: 247", new_x="LMARGIN", new_y="NEXT")

pdf.output("report.pdf")

Styled PDF with ReportLab

from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import A4
from reportlab.lib.styles import getSampleStyleSheet, ParagraphStyle
from reportlab.lib.units import cm
from reportlab.platypus import SimpleDocTemplate, Paragraph, Spacer, Table
from reportlab.lib import colors

doc = SimpleDocTemplate("report.pdf", pagesize=A4, topMargin=2*cm, bottomMargin=2*cm)

styles = getSampleStyleSheet()
title_style = ParagraphStyle("CustomTitle", parent=styles["Title"], fontSize=18, textColor=colors.HexColor("#1a56db"))
body_style = ParagraphStyle("CustomBody", parent=styles["Normal"], fontSize=10, leading=14)

elements = []
elements.append(Paragraph("Monthly Sales Report", title_style))
elements.append(Spacer(1, 0.5 * cm))
elements.append(Paragraph("Generated on 2026-07-01", body_style))
elements.append(Spacer(1, 1 * cm))

# Data table
data = [
    ["Region", "Orders", "Revenue"],
    ["North", "82", "$5,210"],
    ["South", "65", "$4,180"],
    ["East", "100", "$6,040"],
]

table = Table(data, colWidths=[5*cm, 3*cm, 4*cm])
table.setStyle([
    ("BACKGROUND", (0, 0), (-1, 0), colors.HexColor("#1a56db")),
    ("TEXTCOLOR", (0, 0), (-1, 0), colors.white),
    ("FONTNAME", (0, 0), (-1, 0), "Helvetica-Bold"),
    ("FONTSIZE", (0, 0), (-1, -1), 10),
    ("GRID", (0, 0), (-1, -1), 0.5, colors.grey),
    ("ROWBACKGROUNDS", (0, 1), (-1, -1), [colors.white, colors.HexColor("#f1f5f9")]),
])
elements.append(table)

doc.build(elements)

PDF from a pandas DataFrame

import pandas as pd
from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import A4
from reportlab.platypus import SimpleDocTemplate, Table, TableStyle
from reportlab.lib import colors

df = pd.read_csv("sales.csv")
df_summary = df.groupby("region")[["orders", "revenue"]].sum().reset_index()

# Convert DataFrame to list of lists for ReportLab
table_data = [df_summary.columns.tolist()] + df_summary.values.tolist()

doc = SimpleDocTemplate("sales_summary.pdf", pagesize=A4)
table = Table(table_data)
table.setStyle(TableStyle([
    ("BACKGROUND", (0, 0), (-1, 0), colors.HexColor("#1a56db")),
    ("TEXTCOLOR", (0, 0), (-1, 0), colors.white),
    ("GRID", (0, 0), (-1, -1), 0.5, colors.grey),
]))
doc.build([table])

Adding headers and footers

from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import A4
from reportlab.platypus import SimpleDocTemplate, Paragraph
from reportlab.lib.units import cm

def add_header_footer(canvas, doc):
    canvas.saveState()
    canvas.setFont("Helvetica", 8)
    canvas.drawString(2 * cm, 1 * cm, "StackPractices Report")
    canvas.drawRightString(A4[0] - 2 * cm, 1 * cm, f"Page {doc.page}")
    canvas.restoreState()

doc = SimpleDocTemplate("report.pdf", pagesize=A4)
doc.build([Paragraph("Content here", getSampleStyleSheet()["Normal"])], onFirstPage=add_header_footer, onLaterPages=add_header_footer)

Explanation

fpdf2 is simpler and good for text-heavy documents without complex layouts. It uses a cell-based approach similar to writing text into a grid.

ReportLab uses a flowable-based system. You build a list of elements (Paragraphs, Tables, Spacers) and the engine handles page breaks, wrapping, and layout. This gives you more control but has a steeper learning curve.

For data-driven reports, the pattern is: load data with pandas, aggregate it, convert to a list of lists, and feed into a ReportLab Table. This lets you go from CSV to PDF in under 30 lines of code.

Variants

Library	Complexity	Best For	Dependencies
fpdf2	Low	Simple text documents	pip install fpdf2
ReportLab	Medium	Tables, charts, styled reports	pip install reportlab
WeasyPrint	Medium	HTML/CSS to PDF	pip install weasyprint
matplotlib	High	Chart-only PDFs	pip install matplotlib

Guidelines

• Use fpdf2 for simple invoices or text reports. Less overhead, faster to write.
• Use ReportLab when you need tables, headers/footers, or multi-page layouts.
• Convert DataFrames to lists before passing to ReportLab Tables for clean rendering.
• Set explicit font sizes and margins. Default ReportLab margins are tight.
• Use SimpleDocTemplate for most cases. Only use BaseDocTemplate if you need custom page templates.

Common Mistakes

• Forgetting to call pdf.output() or doc.build(). The file is not written until you do.
• Using fpdf2 for complex tables. It lacks table styling; switch to ReportLab.
• Not handling Unicode. fpdf2 needs pdf.set_font("Helvetica") and may need pdf.add_page() with encoding hints for non-Latin text.
• Hardcoding data instead of reading from a source. Build reports from data files or APIs.
• Ignoring page size. A4 and Letter have different dimensions; pick one explicitly.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I add images to a PDF?

With ReportLab, use from reportlab.platypus import Image and add Image("chart.png", width=15*cm, height=8*cm) to your elements list.

Can I generate PDFs from HTML in Python?

Yes. WeasyPrint converts HTML/CSS to PDF with good fidelity. It is heavier than fpdf2 but handles complex layouts well.

How do I add page numbers?

Use the onFirstPage and onLaterPages callbacks in doc.build() as shown in the header/footer example above.

How do I create a multi-column layout?

ReportLab supports frames and templates via BaseDocTemplate. Define multiple frames on a page and assign flowables to each. This is more complex but gives magazine-style layouts.