PSVellumPDF

PowerShell module for creating PDF files on Windows, Linux, and macOS, built on the VellumPdf .NET 10 library: a zero-dependency PDF engine with PDF/A archival conformance and tagged, accessible-PDF output.

This module generates new PDFs. It does not read, edit, split, or merge existing files; VellumPdf is a write-only engine with no PDF parser.

Status: stable (1.3.1), on VellumPdf 1.5.4. The full VellumPdf layout API is wrapped: documents, headings, paragraphs (incl. mixed-style runs, colour, hyperlinks, line spacing), tables, lists, images, line separators, embedded TrueType fonts, headers/footers, metadata, margins, bookmarks, encryption, PAdES digital signing (with RFC-3161 timestamps), and custom PDF/A output intents. PDF/A-2b output (plain and signed) is validated with veraPDF in CI on every push. See the CHANGELOG for release history.

Requirements

• PowerShell 7.6+ (runs on .NET 10)
• .NET 10 SDK — needed only to restore the VellumPdf assemblies

Install

From the PowerShell Gallery:

Install-PSResource PSVellumPDF

From source

git clone https://github.com/Tim81/PSVellumPDF
cd PSVellumPDF

# Fetch the VellumPdf assemblies into ./lib (one-time, and after version bumps):
./build.ps1 Restore

Import-Module ./PSVellumPDF.psd1

Usage

The functions form a fluent pipeline: create a document, add content, save.

New-VellumPdfDocument -Conformance PdfA2b -PageSize A4 |
    Add-VellumPdfHeading   -Text 'Quarterly Report' -Level 1 -FontSize 20 |
    Add-VellumPdfParagraph -Text 'Generated with PSVellumPDF.' -Alignment Justify |
    Save-VellumPdfDocument -Path ./report.pdf

Function	Purpose
New-VellumPdfDocument	Create a document (-Conformance, -PageSize, -DefaultFont, -DefaultFontSize, -Tagged, -Language, -Margin/per-side margins, -UseObjectStreams)
Add-VellumPdfHeading	Add a heading (-Text, -Level, -Font, -FontSize, -Alignment, -BookmarkTitle, -FontHandle, -MarginTop/Bottom)
Add-VellumPdfParagraph	Add body text (-Text, -Font, -FontSize, -Alignment, -FontHandle, -Color, -LinkUri, -Leading, -MarginTop/Bottom) or mixed-style runs (-Run)
New-VellumPdfTextRun	Build a styled run (-Text, -Font, -FontSize, -FontHandle, -Color, -LinkUri, -Leading) for -Run paragraphs
Add-VellumPdfTable	Add a table — value arrays, Import-Csv records, or rich per-cell hashtables (-Header, -Row, -ColumnWidth, -ColumnAlignment, -BorderWidth, -BorderColor, -HeaderBackground, -AlternateRowBackground, -Font, -FontSize, -Alignment, -MarginTop/Bottom)
Add-VellumPdfList	Add an ordered/unordered list, flat or nested (-Item strings or @{Text;Children}, -Style, -Indent, -Font, -FontSize, -MarginTop/Bottom)
Add-VellumPdfImage	Embed an image from a file or memory — JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, JBIG2, JPEG 2000 (-Path or -ImageBytes/-Format, -Width, -Height, -Alignment, -AltText, -MarginTop/Bottom)
Add-VellumPdfLineSeparator	Add a horizontal rule (-LineWidth, -Color, -MarginTop/Bottom)
Register-VellumPdfFont	Load a TrueType font for embedding (-Path or -FontBytes); returns a handle for -FontHandle
Set-VellumPdfHeader / Set-VellumPdfFooter	Running bands with {page}/{pages} tokens (-Template, -Font, -FontSize, -Alignment)
Set-VellumPdfDocumentInfo	Document metadata (-Title, -Author, -Subject, -Keywords, -Creator, -Producer)
Protect-VellumPdfDocument	Password protection (-UserPassword/-OwnerPassword as SecureString, -Permission flags, -EncryptMetadata)
Set-VellumPdfSignature	Stage a PAdES digital signature (-Certificate with private key, -Reason, -Location, -ContactInfo, -SignerName, -SigningTime, and -TimestampUrl/-TimestampTimeout/-TimestampRequestCertificate for an RFC-3161 B-T timestamp); applied by Save-VellumPdfDocument
Set-VellumPdfOutputIntent	Replace the default sRGB PDF/A output intent (-IccProfilePath/-ComponentCount or -Cmyk)
Save-VellumPdfDocument	Write the .pdf — signing it if a signature is staged — and dispose the document (-Path, -KeepOpen)

Add-VellumPdfHeading -BookmarkTitle/-Level builds the PDF outline (bookmarks). Dangerous -LinkUri schemes (javascript:, file:, …) are rejected, and the cmdlets fail fast on stale (already-saved) documents and cross-document font handles.

Scope and limitations

PSVellumPDF writes PDFs; it has no reader. Reading text or metadata from an existing PDF, editing one in place, and splitting or merging files are out of scope, because VellumPdf provides no parser to build them on.

A few VellumPdf features stay unwrapped because they need low-level kernel PdfPage references that the layout Document does not expose: AcroForm interactive form fields, outline expand/collapse state (PdfOutlineEntry.IsExpanded), internal go-to links, and standalone outline entries. Bookmarks still come from heading -BookmarkTitle/-Level, and external links from -LinkUri.

Get-Help <function> -Full documents each one. A generated markdown reference lives in docs/PSVellumPDF, and runnable demo scripts in examples/ (report with tables and page numbering, PDF/A archival with an embedded font, rich text + encryption, digital signing).

Embedded fonts (Unicode / PDF​/A)

The base-14 fonts cover only Latin-1: text containing characters beyond it (e.g. Czech diacritics, CJK, the euro sign) renders mangled with those fonts — the cmdlets emit a warning when this is about to happen. The fix, which also satisfies PDF/A's embedding requirement, is a TrueType font:

$doc    = New-VellumPdfDocument -Conformance PdfA2b
$handle = Register-VellumPdfFont -Document $doc -Path ./DejaVuSans.ttf
$doc | Add-VellumPdfParagraph -Text 'Unicode: héllo wörld €' -FontHandle $handle |
       Save-VellumPdfDocument -Path ./unicode.pdf

Development

./build.ps1 Lint    # PSScriptAnalyzer gate
./build.ps1 Test    # restore (if needed) + run Pester with coverage
./build.ps1 Docs    # regenerate docs/ from comment-based help (PlatyPS)
./build.ps1 Clean   # remove ./lib and build output

See CLAUDE.md for architecture and contribution conventions.

License

Apache-2.0, matching the upstream VellumPdf library.