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WP Advanced PDF

By cedcommerce

Content Management / Document Management & Downloads

Reviewed by Abdul Hameid

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

WP Advanced PDF Review - In-Depth Analysis

WP Advanced PDF allows users to create PDFs from blog posts and pages. It offers customizable fonts, headers, and watermarks. Users can limit access to PDFs and generate them efficiently.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.88/10

User Rating

2.7/5 (based on 18+ reviews)

Active Installations

700+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

5 / 10 (Medium Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

WP Advanced PDF is a powerful PDF generator designed for WordPress posts and pages. This plugin enables your blog readers to effortlessly create PDFs of your blog posts. Utilizing the TCPDF class, it operates as a self-contained PDF generating solution.

The plugin includes features such as custom font settings, spacing adjustments, and the ability to include a header logo. Users can also add watermarks, customize bullet styles, and modify margins and alignments for their PDFs. Additionally, it allows for the generation of PDFs from cache to enhance server performance.

With the premium version, users gain access to advanced features including compatibility with Advanced Custom Fields, meta field support, and a shortcode feature for easy placement of PDF export buttons. The plugin also provides a log of exported PDFs for better management.

Comparing to Alternatives

WP Advanced PDF faces competition from several other PDF-related plugins that offer similar functionalities with varying degrees of reliability and support.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Offers many configuration options for PDF generation
Capable of rendering shortcodes from some page builders
Free version available with basic features
Has a pro version with additional capabilities

Weaknesses

Not compatible with PHP 8.0 or higher
Known security vulnerabilities with no fixes available
Support is unresponsive or lacking
Shortcodes from page builders like Divi may appear in PDFs undesirably

User Sentiment Analysis

User reviews show a polarized experience with the plugin, reflected in a low average rating and a significant number of 1-star reviews indicating dissatisfaction.

Positive highlights

'It does what it is supposed to' - Nico Visagie
'Many configuration options' - Martin Sauter
'Has been working for several months' - Nico Visagie

Common complaints

Plugin is considered useless by some users
No support or response from developers
Incompatibility with PHP 8.0 and higher causing critical errors
Errors and warnings fill error logs making it unreliable

Weaknesses

Security vulnerabilities remain unpatched
Poor compatibility with newer PHP versions
Lack of developer support
Rendering issues with page builder shortcodes

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users running older PHP versions who need a configurable PDF generation plugin and can tolerate limited support.

Not ideal for

Users requiring PHP 8.0+ compatibility, robust security, or reliable developer support should consider alternatives.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version provides basic PDF generation with multiple configuration options suitable for simple needs.

Pro version

Premium features likely include advanced customization and additional PDF generation options, though specifics are not clearly promoted.

Final Verdict

WP Advanced PDF offers a range of configuration options and basic PDF generation capabilities, but its usefulness is significantly hampered by compatibility issues with PHP 8.0+, unresolved security vulnerabilities, and poor developer support. These factors contribute to a high rate of user dissatisfaction and limit its suitability for modern WordPress environments.

Users seeking a reliable and secure PDF plugin should consider the many available alternatives that provide better support and compatibility. WP Advanced PDF may only be appropriate for those with legacy setups who can accept its limitations and risks.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free WP Advanced PDF plugin.

PDF generator

blog PDF export

custom fonts

Screenshots

FAQ

Go to the Settings page and change value for the ‘Position of buttons in the content’ field.

In order to change main content of pdf/print document you can use following filter:

add_filter( 'the_post_export_content', {your_function} );

For example, add the following code to the ‘functions.php’ file of your theme:

add_filter( 'the_post_export_content', custom_function );  function custom_function( $post_content ){     $my_content = '<p>Adipisci ipsam quod odit eius et et voluptas corporis.</p>';     $more_content = '<p> Velit repudiandae earum ducimus odit excepturi cum laboriosam.</p>';     return $my_content . $more_content; }