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Element Reference
All Press elements.
Structure Elements
| Element | Description | Valid Children |
|---|---|---|
<press> | Root element | document, pages, flows, components, styles, data, assets, schema, meta |
<document> | Page sequence definition | Page references, repeat |
<pages> | Page definitions container | Named page definitions |
<page> | Page definition | Any block elements, flow references |
<flows> | Flow definitions container | Named flows, group |
<group> | Flow group container | Named flows |
<components> | Component definitions | Named component definitions |
<styles> | Style rules container | Tag-name rules, alias |
<data> | Data container (JSON, CSV, or XML) | Structured data |
<schema> | JSON Schema for data validation | JSON Schema definition |
<assets> | Asset definitions | fonts, colors, images, data |
<meta> | Settings for the rendered PDF | pdf |
Layout Elements
| Element | Description | Valid Children |
|---|---|---|
<frame> | Layout container | Any block or inline elements |
Content Elements
| Element | Description | Context |
|---|---|---|
<p> | Paragraph | Block |
<h1> - <h6> | Headings (auto-added to "headings" outline) | Block |
<blockquote> | Block quotation | Block |
<pre> | Preformatted text (preserves whitespace) | Block |
<hr> | Horizontal rule | Block |
Inline Elements
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
<span> | Inline text styling container |
<b> / <strong> | Bold text |
<i> / <em> | Italic text |
<u> | Underlined text |
<s> | Strikethrough text |
<sup> | Superscript |
<sub> | Subscript |
<code> | Monospace/code text |
<br> | Line break |
<a> | Hyperlink (href attribute) |
Table Elements
| Element | Description | Valid Children |
|---|---|---|
<table> | Table container | tr, thead, tbody |
<thead> | Table header group | tr |
<tbody> | Table body group | tr |
<tr> | Table row | td, th |
<td> | Table data cell | Any block or inline elements |
<th> | Table header cell (bold, centred) | Any block or inline elements |
List Elements
| Element | Description | Valid Children |
|---|---|---|
<ul> | Unordered list | li |
<ol> | Ordered list | li |
<li> | List item | Any block or inline elements, nested ul/ol |
Media Elements
| Element | Description | Key Attributes |
|---|---|---|
<img> | Image | src, width, height, max-width, max-height, transparency, scale, display |
<svg> | Embedded SVG | Standard block attributes |
<qr-code> | QR code generator | data, width, height, display |
<visualization> | Chart container | data, width, height |
<x-donut> | Donut/pie chart | stroke, width, height |
<line-plot> | Line graph | data, width, height, y-label, x-label, y-min, y-max, y-dp, y-prefix, y-suffix, y-separator, fill |
Inline images
An <img> takes its own line by default. Set display="inline" to flow it with the surrounding text instead, so it sits on the same line as the words either side of it — the usual choice for icons inside a sentence:
xml
<p>Rating <img src="star" display="inline" height="10pt" /> 4.5
· Verified <img src="check" display="inline" height="10pt" /> Yes</p>An <img> written inside an inline element such as <span> or <b> is already inline and needs no attribute.
Flow and Repeat Elements
| Element | Description | Key Attributes |
|---|---|---|
<flow> | Flow reference (in pages) or flow definition (in flows) | name, type, deferred |
<repeat> | Iteration directive | data, item, index, flow, group, outline |
<show-if> | Conditional wrapper | condition |
<frame-break> | Force a page/frame break | -- |
Reference Elements
| Element | Description | Key Attributes |
|---|---|---|
<ref> | Display referenced element's text | id |
<page-number> | Display page number | id (optional: target element) |
<total-pages> | Display total page count | -- |
Counter Elements
| Element | Description | Key Attributes |
|---|---|---|
<counter-define> | Define/set a named counter | name |
<counter-value> | Increase and display current counter value | name |
Style Elements (inside <styles>)
| Element | Description | Key Attributes |
|---|---|---|
<alias> | Named style bundle | name |
<child> | Child element targeting rule | name |
PDF Security Elements (inside <meta>)
Declared in the template, with each setting overridable per render by a payload; applied to every production render, and never to a draft — a draft render is never encrypted or restricted. See How to restrict what a reader can do with a PDF.
| Element | Description | Valid Children |
|---|---|---|
<pdf> | PDF output settings | security |
<security> | Encrypts the document with AES-256; at most one per template | owner-password, user-password, permissions |
<owner-password> | The password that lifts the restrictions: a data reference, or fixed text plus references (a template), preferred over a bare literal; generated per render when omitted | Text |
<user-password> | The password a reader types to open the document, read from data like the owner password; must differ from the owner password | Text |
<permissions> | What a reader may do; all seven children required, each a literal or one data reference — omit the element to restrict nothing | printing, modifying, copying, annotating, filling-forms, content-accessibility, document-assembly |
<printing> | none, low-resolution or high-resolution | Text |
<modifying> | true or false — changing the content | Text |
<copying> | true or false — copying or extracting text and images | Text |
<annotating> | true or false — adding or editing annotations | Text |
<filling-forms> | true or false — filling in form fields | Text |
<content-accessibility> | true — extracting content for assistive technology (Papermill rejects false) | Text |
<document-assembly> | true or false — inserting, rotating or deleting pages, and creating bookmarks | Text |
Components
| Element | Description | Key Attributes |
|---|---|---|
<slot> | Component content placeholder | -- |