What is react-native-pdf?
The react-native-pdf package is a React Native library that allows you to display PDF documents in your mobile applications. It provides a range of functionalities to handle PDF files, including loading PDFs from various sources, rendering pages, and handling user interactions such as zooming and scrolling.
What are react-native-pdf's main functionalities?
Load PDF from URL
This feature allows you to load a PDF document from a URL and display it within your React Native application. The code sample demonstrates how to load a PDF from a remote URL and handle events such as loading completion, page changes, and errors.
import React from 'react';
import { View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import Pdf from 'react-native-pdf';
const PdfExample = () => {
const source = { uri: 'http://www.pdf995.com/samples/pdf.pdf', cache: true };
return (
<View style={styles.container}>
<Pdf
source={source}
onLoadComplete={(numberOfPages, filePath) => {
console.log(`Number of pages: ${numberOfPages}`);
}}
onPageChanged={(page, numberOfPages) => {
console.log(`Current page: ${page}`);
}}
onError={(error) => {
console.log(error);
}}
style={styles.pdf}
/>
</View>
);
};
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
container: {
flex: 1,
justifyContent: 'flex-start',
alignItems: 'center',
marginTop: 25,
},
pdf: {
flex: 1,
width: '100%',
height: '100%',
},
});
export default PdfExample;
Load PDF from local file
This feature allows you to load a PDF document from a local file and display it within your React Native application. The code sample demonstrates how to load a PDF from a local file path and handle events such as loading completion, page changes, and errors.
import React from 'react';
import { View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import Pdf from 'react-native-pdf';
const PdfExample = () => {
const source = require('./path/to/local/file.pdf');
return (
<View style={styles.container}>
<Pdf
source={source}
onLoadComplete={(numberOfPages, filePath) => {
console.log(`Number of pages: ${numberOfPages}`);
}}
onPageChanged={(page, numberOfPages) => {
console.log(`Current page: ${page}`);
}}
onError={(error) => {
console.log(error);
}}
style={styles.pdf}
/>
</View>
);
};
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
container: {
flex: 1,
justifyContent: 'flex-start',
alignItems: 'center',
marginTop: 25,
},
pdf: {
flex: 1,
width: '100%',
height: '100%',
},
});
export default PdfExample;
Zoom and scroll
This feature allows users to zoom in and out of the PDF document and scroll through its pages. The code sample demonstrates how to enable zooming and scrolling functionalities in the PDF viewer.
import React from 'react';
import { View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import Pdf from 'react-native-pdf';
const PdfExample = () => {
const source = { uri: 'http://www.pdf995.com/samples/pdf.pdf', cache: true };
return (
<View style={styles.container}>
<Pdf
source={source}
onLoadComplete={(numberOfPages, filePath) => {
console.log(`Number of pages: ${numberOfPages}`);
}}
onPageChanged={(page, numberOfPages) => {
console.log(`Current page: ${page}`);
}}
onError={(error) => {
console.log(error);
}}
style={styles.pdf}
scale={1.0}
minScale={1.0}
maxScale={3.0}
horizontal={false}
/>
</View>
);
};
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
container: {
flex: 1,
justifyContent: 'flex-start',
alignItems: 'center',
marginTop: 25,
},
pdf: {
flex: 1,
width: '100%',
height: '100%',
},
});
export default PdfExample;
Other packages similar to react-native-pdf
react-native-pdf-view
react-native-pdf-view is another React Native library for displaying PDF documents. It provides basic functionalities for rendering PDF pages and handling user interactions. However, it may not be as feature-rich or actively maintained as react-native-pdf.
react-native-pdf-lib
react-native-pdf-lib is a library focused on creating and modifying PDF documents in React Native. While it offers functionalities for generating PDFs, it does not provide a built-in viewer for displaying PDF documents like react-native-pdf.
react-native-pdf-viewer
react-native-pdf-viewer is a lightweight library for rendering PDF documents in React Native applications. It offers basic viewing capabilities but may lack some advanced features and customization options available in react-native-pdf.
react-native-pdf

A react native PDF view component (cross-platform support)
Feature
- read a PDF from url/local file/asset and can cache it.
- display horizontally or vertically
- drag and zoom
- double tap for zoom
- support password protected pdf
- jump to a specific page in the pdf
Supported versions - React Native / react-native-pdf
The table below shows the supported versions of React Native for different versions of react-native-pdf
.
react-native-pdf | 4.x.x - 5.0.x | 5.0.9+ |
---|
React Native | 0.4x - 0.56 | ^0.57 |
Installation
We use rn-fetch-blob
to handle file system access in this package,
So you should install react-native-pdf and rn-fetch-blob
Notice: rn-fetch-blob v0.10.14 has a bug, please use v0.10.13
npm install rn-fetch-blob --save
npm install react-native-pdf --save
react-native link rn-fetch-blob
react-native link react-native-pdf
if you use RN 0.59.0+, please add following to your android/app/build.gradle
android {
+ packagingOptions {
+ pickFirst 'lib/x86/libc++_shared.so'
+ pickFirst 'lib/x86_64/libjsc.so'
+ pickFirst 'lib/arm64-v8a/libjsc.so'
+ pickFirst 'lib/arm64-v8a/libc++_shared.so'
+ pickFirst 'lib/x86_64/libc++_shared.so'
+ pickFirst 'lib/armeabi-v7a/libc++_shared.so'
+ }
}
FAQ
Q1. After installation and running, I can not see the pdf file.
A1: maybe you forgot to excute react-native link
or it does not run correctly.
You can add it manually. For detail you can see the issue #24
and #2
Q2. When running, it shows 'Pdf' has no propType for native prop RCTPdf.acessibilityLabel of native type 'String'
A2. Your react-native version is too old, please upgrade it to 0.47.0+ see also #39
Q3. When I run the example app I get a white/gray screen / the loading bar isn't progressing .
A3. Check your uri, if you hit a pdf that is hosted on a http
you will need to do the following:
iOS:
add an exception for the server hosting the pdf in the ios info.plist
. Here is an example :
<key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
<dict>
<key>NSExceptionDomains</key>
<dict>
<key>yourserver.com</key>
<dict>
<!--Include to allow subdomains-->
<key>NSIncludesSubdomains</key>
<true/>
<!--Include to allow HTTP requests-->
<key>NSTemporaryExceptionAllowsInsecureHTTPLoads</key>
<true/>
<!--Include to specify minimum TLS version-->
<key>NSTemporaryExceptionMinimumTLSVersion</key>
<string>TLSv1.1</string>
</dict>
</dict>
</dict>
Android:
see here
Q4. why doesn't it work with react native expo?.
A4. Expo does not support native module. you can read more expo caveats here
Q5. Why can't I run the iOS example? 'Failed to build iOS project. We ran "xcodebuild" command but it exited with error code 65.'
A5. Run the following commands in the project folder (e.g. react-native-pdf/example
) to ensure that all dependencies are available:
yarn install (or npm install)
cd ios
pod install
cd ..
react-native run-ios
ChangeLog
v5.1.7
- downgrade to AndroidPdfViewer 3.1.0-beta.1
v5.1.6
- fix componentWillReceiveProps and componentWillMount warnings
v5.1.5
- add setPage() method
- upgrade to AndroidPdfViewer to 3.2.0-beta.1
- fix some codes ,readme and sample
v5.1.4
- Update example project to RN 0.60.4
- fix blank view after native module got recycled in onDetachedFromWindow event
- restore singleTap, only callback, do not change scale
v5.1.3
- remove singleTap action from iOS, make the same with Android.
v5.1.2
- fix overflow when zoom on Android
v5.1.1
- call onScaleChanged when tapped on iOS
- fix overflow when zoom
- add packagingOptions for Detox e2e tests build and androidTest target
- add activityIndicatorProps to index.d.ts
v5.1.0
- remove encodeURI(), Degrade Notice: If you use Chinese/Japanese/Korean path, please encodeURI() yourself
- fix enableAnnotationRendering on iOS
- Trusting certificates for api http redirection
[more]
Example
import React from 'react';
import { StyleSheet, Dimensions, View } from 'react-native';
import Pdf from 'react-native-pdf';
export default class PDFExample extends React.Component {
render() {
const source = {uri:'http://samples.leanpub.com/thereactnativebook-sample.pdf',cache:true};
return (
<View style={styles.container}>
<Pdf
source={source}
onLoadComplete={(numberOfPages,filePath)=>{
console.log(`number of pages: ${numberOfPages}`);
}}
onPageChanged={(page,numberOfPages)=>{
console.log(`current page: ${page}`);
}}
onError={(error)=>{
console.log(error);
}}
style={styles.pdf}/>
</View>
)
}
}
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
container: {
flex: 1,
justifyContent: 'flex-start',
alignItems: 'center',
marginTop: 25,
},
pdf: {
flex:1,
width:Dimensions.get('window').width,
height:Dimensions.get('window').height,
}
});
Configuration
Property | Type | Default | Description | iOS | Android | FirstRelease |
---|
source | object | not null | PDF source like {uri:xxx, cache:false}. see the following for detail. | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
page | number | 1 | initial page index | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
scale | number | 1.0 | should minScale<=scale<=maxScale | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
minScale | number | 1.0 | min scale | ✔ | ✔ | 5.0.5 |
maxScale | number | 3.0 | max scale | ✔ | ✔ | 5.0.5 |
horizontal | bool | false | draw page direction, if you want to listen the orientation change, you can use [react-native-orientation-locker] | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
fitWidth | bool | false | if true fit the width of view, can not use fitWidth=true together with scale | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0, abandoned from 3.0 |
fitPolicy | number | 2 | 0:fit width, 1:fit height, 2:fit both(default) | ✔ | ✔ | 3.0 |
spacing | number | 10 | the breaker size between pages | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
password | string | "" | pdf password, if password error, will call OnError() with message "Password required or incorrect password." | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
style | object | {backgroundColor:"#eee"} | support normal view style, you can use this to set border/spacing color... | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
activityIndicator | Component | | when loading show it as an indicator, you can use your component | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
activityIndicatorProps | object | {color:'#009900', progressTintColor:'#009900'} | activityIndicator props | ✔ | ✔ | 3.1 |
enableAntialiasing | bool | true | improve rendering a little bit on low-res screens, but maybe course some problem on Android 4.4, so add a switch | ✖ | ✔ | <3.0 |
enablePaging | bool | false | only show one page in screen | ✔ | ✔ | 5.0.1 |
enableRTL | bool | false | scroll page as "page3, page2, page1" | ✔ | ✖ | 5.0.1 |
enableAnnotationRendering | bool | true | enable rendering annotation, notice:iOS only support initial setting,not support realtime changing | ✔ | ✔ | 5.0.3 |
onLoadProgress | function(percent) | null | callback when loading, return loading progress (0-1) | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
onLoadComplete | function(numberOfPages, path, {width, height}, tableContents) | null | callback when pdf load completed, return total page count, pdf local/cache path, {width,height} and table of contents | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
onPageChanged | function(page,numberOfPages) | null | callback when page changed ,return current page and total page count | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
onError | function(error) | null | callback when error happened | ✔ | ✔ | <3.0 |
onPageSingleTap | function(page) | null | callback when page was single tapped | ✔ | ✔ | 3.0 |
onScaleChanged | function(scale) | null | callback when scale page | ✔ | ✔ | 3.0 |
parameters of source
parameter | Description | default | iOS | Android |
---|
uri | pdf source, see the forllowing for detail. | required | ✔ | ✔ |
cache | use cache or not | false | ✔ | ✔ |
expiration | cache file expired seconds (0 is not expired) | 0 | ✔ | ✔ |
method | request method when uri is a url | "GET" | ✔ | ✔ |
headers | request headers when uri is a url | {} | ✔ | ✔ |
types of source.uri
Usage | Description | iOS | Android |
---|
{uri:"http://xxx/xxx.pdf"} | load pdf from a url | ✔ | ✔ |
{require("./test.pdf")} | load pdf relate to js file (do not need add by xcode) | ✔ | ✖ |
{uri:"bundle-assets://path/to/xxx.pdf"} | load pdf from assets, the file should be at android/app/src/main/assets/path/to/xxx.pdf | ✖ | ✔ |
{uri:"bundle-assets://xxx.pdf"} | load pdf from assets, you must add pdf to project by xcode. this does not support folder. | ✔ | ✖ |
{uri:"base64data"} | load pdf from base64 string | ✔ | ✔ |
{uri:"file:///absolute/path/to/xxx.pdf"} | load pdf from local file system | ✔ | ✔ |
Methods
Methods operate on a ref to the PDF element. You can get a ref with the following code:
return (
<Pdf
ref={(pdf) => { this.pdf = pdf; }}
source={source}
...
/>
);
setPage()
setPage(pageNumber)
Set the current page of the PDF component. pageNumber is a positive integer. If pageNumber > numberOfPages, current page is not changed.
Example:
this.pdf.setPage(42); // Display the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything