**Created**:: [[2025-01-25 Saturday]]
**Link**:: https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E
**Duration**:: 5:51
**Release notes**:: [[2.8.0]]
# Summary
In this video, Zsolt introduces the new PDF export features of Excalidraw in Obsidian 2.8.0, showcasing how users can print their drawings and presentations over multiple pages. He discusses the options available for customizing the export, including page size, orientation, and image scaling. Additionally, he highlights a slideshow script feature that enhances the presentation experience, making it easier to navigate and print presentations in high definition.
# Key Takeaways
- Excalidraw now allows users to export drawings to PDF, with options for multiple-page layouts.
- Users can customize export settings, such as page size, orientation, and margin preferences.
- The slideshow script enhances presentations by converting drawings into navigable formats, with options for high-definition printing.
# Content
Hey everyone, Zsolt here!
Doesn't this look just awesome? I got this picture from Alex from Cohort 12 of the Visual Thinking Workshop. He is one of the very first users of the new feature in Excalidraw Obsidian 2.8.0. You can now print to PDF, print over multiple pages, and you can also print your slides.
Now imagine you have a big presentation like this one here. This was, by the way, my presentation at the PKM Summit in Utrecht in 2024, and take note that the PKM Summit in 2025 is happening again in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
But in terms of printing, let me show you the two different types of features you have. So first, if I want to print this page to PDF, I need to click here on the three-dot menu, and I need to click export image. Now, in export image, you're now going to see two tabs: image and PDF. The PDF tab is only available on the desktop. Here, you can see that I can set the size of the page; it's now set to A4. I can set the orientation to be landscape or portrait, and I can set different sizes of pages. So now I'm going to fit the image to a maximum of four pages because I think this is going to look nice on four landscape A4 sheets, but you have other options here as well. I'm going to use a normal margin. You can set the paper color. I'm now going to set the paper color to use the scene color, so that's this brown around here, and I can position the image on this larger sheet, or if you fit to page, then on the page, uh, wherever you want. So I'm going to now position this to the top left of the page. Now, additionally, if I want, I could add padding. I'm not going to do that now because I have the margin anyway, and I could also set the image scale. If I set the scale, it only has an effect if I choose to use image scale in the page fitting setting. Now, if I click export PDF, then I'm going to be prompted for the name of the file. I'm just going to save this, and depending on the speed of your device and the size of your image, the export can take a little while, but you can see it was pretty fast. So here you can see that this is now printed on four pages, and it's nicely cut at the right points. You can, of course, slice the page and fit the pages together nicely, but if you want, of course, you can get rid of the margins, etc.
Now, the other feature I want to show you is this is also a presentation, so I'm using the slideshow script. I'm going to include a link in the description if you're not familiar with the slideshow script. The slideshow script converts your drawing into a presentation where you can navigate this with simply pressing the arrow buttons, and so this is a nice presentation experience. But now what I want to show you is here you have this printer button, and you have two ways of printing. If I just click the print button, then it's going to print in HD resolution, so this is a screen presentation-ready format. But if you hold down the shift, then it's going to use the current presentation size because the positioning of items in the presentation depends on your screen size. Just to know, if you press print with shift, then it would actually print it in the exact size as I can see it here. I'm now going to print it in HD. Now, this printing takes a little while in this case because I have a large image, and the logic that happens is it takes a bit of time. But I'll just give it a minute, and the image is ready. So it did take a bit of time, but this is a huge presentation with lots of images. Here you can see that you can go from page to page. This is the presentation as it was presented; it's all on separate slides, and this way you can just simply flip through them as normal slides. And there you have it! I think it's an awesome feature.
These were the two key features I wanted to share. There's also lots of other goodness in terms of integration with PDF Plus+ and how Excalidraw can handle rotated pages and all sorts of different page sizes, as well as some new features in how frames are used and how items are grouped, along with a number of other small fixes. So enjoy Excalidraw 2.8.0 and enjoy the PDF printing functionality. I think it's awesome. Thank you! [* ](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=0)
# YouTube Details
## YouTube Description
✏️ Sign up for the Visual Thinking Workshop: https://www.visual-thinking-workshop.com/
👩💻 Join the Techno-Visual PKM Community https://visual-thinking-workshop.com/tvpkm
🗒️ Detailed release notes https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin/releases/tag/2.8.0
-----
If you find my videos helpful, please say thanks by buying me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/zsolt
📩 If you want to connect, you can reach me: (@zsviczian) on the Obsidian Members Group (OMG) on Discord, or on 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/zsviczian
-----
This is the walkthrough of the new Export to PDF feature in Obsidian- Excalidraw.
-----
🍿Watch next:
📽️ Slideshow script https://youtu.be/JwgtCrIVeEU
📽️ The Excalidraw-Obsidian Showcase: 57 key features in just 17 minutes https://youtu.be/P_Q6avJGoWI
📽️ Getting Started with Excalidraw https://youtu.be/QKnQgSjJVuc
📽️ Getting Started with ExcaliBrain https://youtu.be/8LE_QdYQZVk
📽️ The Playful PKM Castle: A Whirlwind Tour of Zsolt's Visual Thinking World! https://youtu.be/X0AmZGQ_7z4
📽️ Which Obsidian-Excalidraw release channel is the right for you? https://youtu.be/2poSS-Z91lY
📽️ Beyond Words https://youtu.be/6rKjWJKTZak
📽️ Idea Mixer https://youtu.be/ItV8PEaPorE
📽️ 6 Strategies for Linking Visual Thoughts https://youtu.be/qiKuqMcNWgU
📽️ Visually Connect Ideas https://youtu.be/mvMQcz401yo
📽️ How are these related? https://youtu.be/N6EFydv0tug
📽️ Deconstruct Elements Script: https://youtu.be/HRtaaD34Zzg
📽️ Knowledge Discovery Using Icons https://youtu.be/_OEljzZ33H8
📽️ Block Reference Images https://youtu.be/yZQoJg2RCKI
📽️ Double Bubble Map https://youtu.be/Hm4En13TDjs
📽️Visual Tools for Transforming Information Into Knowledge https://youtu.be/i5J5pzICrho
---------
Visual Thinking Workshop: https://www.visual-thinking-workshop.com/
My blog: https://zsolt.blog/
https://excalidraw-obsidian.online/
Obsidian: https://obsidian.md
Excalidraw-Obsidian: https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin/
## YouTube Transcript
[hey everyone jolt here doesn't this look](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=0) [just awesome I got this picture from](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=3) [Alex from cohort 12 of the visual](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=6) [thinking Workshop he one of the very](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=9) [first users of the new feature in excal](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=12) [obsidian](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=15) [2.8.0 you can now print to PDF you can](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=17) [print over multiple pages and you can](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=21) [also print your slides now imagine you](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=24) [have a big presentation like this one](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=28) [here this was by the way my presentation](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=32) [at the PKM Summit in utre in](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=35) [2024 and take note that the PKM Summit](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=39) [in 2025 is happening again in utre the](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=43) [Netherlands but in terms of printing let](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=47) [me show you the two different type of](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=50) [features you have so first if I want to](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=52) [print this page to PDF I need to click](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=56) [here on the train menu and I need to](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=59) [click export image now in export image](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=62) [you're now going to see two tabs image](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=66) [and PDF the PDF tab is only available on](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=69) [the desktop here you can see that I can](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=74) [set the size of the page it's now set to](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=77) [A4 I can set the orientation to be](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=80) [landscape or portrait I can set](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=83) [different sizes of pages so now I'm](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=86) [going to to fit the image to maximum](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=89) [four pages because I think this is going](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=92) [to look nice on four lens Escape A4](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=95) [sheets but you have other options here](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=99) [as well I'm going to use a normal margin](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=102) [you can set the paper color I'm now](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=107) [going to set the paper color to use the](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=109) [scene color so that's this brown around](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=112) [here and I can position the image on](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=115) [this larger sheet or if you fit to page](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=118) [then on the page uh wherever you want so](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=120) [I'm going to now position this to the](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=124) [top left of the page now additionally if](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=127) [I want I could add a padding I'm not](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=132) [going to do that now because I have the](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=135) [margin anyway and I could also set the](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=137) [image scale if I set the scale it only](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=140) [has an effect if I choose use image](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=144) [scale in the page fitting setting and](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=147) [now if I click export PDF then I'm going](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=151) [to be prompted for the name of the file](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=155) [I'm just going to save this and](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=158) [depending on the speed of your device](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=161) [and the size of your image the export](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=163) [can take a little while but you can see](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=167) [it was pretty fast and so here you can](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=169) [see that this is now printed on four](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=172) [pages and it's nicely cut at the right](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=176) [points you can of course slice the page](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=180) [and fit the page together nicely but if](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=183) [you want of course you can get rid of](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=187) [the margins Etc now the other feature I](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=189) [want to show you is this is also a](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=192) [presentation so I'm using the slideshow](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=195) [script I'm going to include a link in](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=197) [the description if you're not familiar](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=200) [with the slideshow script but so the](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=202) [slideshow script converts your drawing](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=205) [into a crazy like presentation where you](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=210) [can navigate this with yeah simply](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=215) [pressing the arrow buttons and so this](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=218) [is a nice presentation experience but](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=221) [now what I want to show you is here you](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=225) [have this printer button and you have](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=227) [two ways of printing if I just click the](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=230) [print button then it's going to print in](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=234) [HD resolution so this is a screen](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=237) [presentation ready format but if you](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=241) [hold down the shift then it's going to](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=243) [use the current presentation size](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=246) [because the positioning of items in the](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=249) [presentation depends on your screen size](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=253) [so just to know if you would press print](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=255) [with shift then it would](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=258) [actually print it in the exact size as I](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=261) [can see it here I'm now going to print](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=265) [it in HD now this printing takes a](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=268) [little while in this case because I have](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=272) [a large image and the logic that happens](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=274) [is it takes a bit of time but I'll just](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=278) [give it a minute and the image is ready](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=282) [so it did take a bit of time but this is](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=285) [a huge presentation with lots of images](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=288) [and here you can see that you from page](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=291) [to page this is the presentation as it](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=295) [was presented it's all on separate](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=298) [slides and this way you can just simply](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=301) [flip through them as normal slides and](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=304) [there you have it it's I think an](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=307) [awesome feature so these were the two](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=309) [key features I wanted to share there's](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=312) [also lots of other goodness in terms of](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=315) [integration with PDF Plus+ and how now](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=318) [exol draw can handle rotated pages and](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=322) [all sorts of funny page sizes as well as](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=326) [there are some new features in how](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=330) [frames are used and how items are](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=333) [grouped and a number of other small](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=335) [fixes so enjoy excolo](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=338) [2.8.0 and enjoy the PDF printing](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=342) [functionality I think it's awesome thank](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=346) [you](https://youtu.be/tWi5xTUTz7E?t=349)