Platform 2 Guide — This article applies to the new platform. Looking for classic platform docs? Browse the Platform 1 collection.
Why: Streamline your meal planning process by generating professional PDFs of your meal plans and recipes. This allows your subscribers to easily access and print their meal plans, enhancing their experience and engagement with your content.
Navigate: App Station > Settings > PDF Templates
Quick Start
Go to the Settings section in App Station.
Click on PDF Templates.
Select a template to customize or create a new one.
Adjust the Density preset to control vertical spacing.
Click Save to apply your changes.
Understanding PDF Generation
The PDF Generation feature allows you to create downloadable PDFs for your meal plans and recipes. This is especially useful for providing your members with a tangible resource they can use in their kitchens.
PDF Template Customization
You can customize the layout of your PDFs through the PDF Templates settings. The primary option for layout control is the Density preset, which adjusts the vertical spacing between blocks in your PDF. Here are the available options:
Tight: Fits more content on a page.
Compact: Slightly more breathing room.
Normal: Default spacing.
Comfortable: Easier to scan with more whitespace.
Spacious: Maximum whitespace for a clean look.
Page Break Behavior
The page break behavior in PDFs is fixed and cannot be changed:
Each recipe will attempt to fit on a single page, but if it overflows, it may break across pages.
Each section of a meal plan (header, schedule, prep-aheads, shopping list, and recipes) starts on a new page.
Inside the recipes block, each recipe also starts on a new page.
Image Options for Cover and Header Blocks
Both the cover-image and header blocks for recipes and meal plans share the same image options, allowing for consistent image sizing across your content. Here are the options you can configure:
Aspect Ratio: Choose from options like 1:1, 4:3, or 16:9.
Fit: Select between cover or contain.
Width Percentage: Set the width as a percentage of the container.
Alignment: Choose left, center, or right alignment.
Max Height: Limit the height of the image.
Border Radius: Control the roundness of the image corners.
Additionally, the pdf-meal-plan-cover-image block mirrors the recipe cover-image block, providing the same customization options.
PDF Content Display
When generating PDFs, the following key points apply:
The Show heading toggle is respected for ingredients, instructions, notes, and prep-aheads.
Recipe titles in the meal plan schedule will wrap instead of truncating.
PDFs will display yield-based recipes correctly, showing the yield amount and unit (e.g., 'Makes 500 g') instead of servings. Nutrition information is also displayed per unit of yield.