Introduction
PDFs can be generated at any time for all documents in Lawmaker. You can generate them from the Editor or from a document on the Project Tab, Amendment Workspace Tab or the Official Lists Tab.
When you generate or view a PDF it will open in a separate tab or window in your browser.
If the PDF isn’t appearing in a new tab or window, check that you have pop-ups enabled for Lawmaker (clicking on the padlock to the left of the URL in the browser address bar will give you quick access to adjust these settings).
How to generate a PDF
From the Editor: select Document menu> Generate PDF from the upper tool bar. The PDF will be based on the document in the Editor, including any changes you have made but not saved.
From outside the Editor: Select Actions menu> Generate PDF on the document working version or snapshot you want to generate a PDF from. The PDF will be based on the last saved version of the document (or the specific snapshot).
Select your preferred settings and then click Generate.
PDF generation settings
There are a number of different setting you can select to control what is generated. Some options are only available for certain document types.
Pages/provisions to include
By default all provisions in a document (or all amendments in an amendment list) are included in the PDF.
But you can select a subset using this dropdown. You can select any combination of provisions/amendments. They don’t need to be next to one another or of the same type. For example you can select a Part of a Bill (which will include all the sections in a Part) and some individual sections elsewhere in the Bill.
Tracked changes
These settings relate to if and how tracked changes in the document are rendered in the PDF.
Show tracked changes: all tracked changes will be visible in the PDF.
Show changes applied: in this case the PDF will show as if all the changes had been accepted.
Include side-lining: if this option is selected, side-lining will be included in the margin to indicate where changes have been made to the text.
Print and publishing artefacts
Include line numbering
If selected, the PDF will show line numbering in the margin of each page. Every 5th line is numbered.
This feature is only available for Bills. Line numbering shows on the left for Scottish Bills and on the right for UK Bills.
Footers
If selected, the PDF will include appropriate footers drawn from the document metadata, e.g. the Session and Bill number.
Page numbers
Includes page numbers (List of Draft Amendments only). Other documents like Bills, Acts and SIs have page numbers by default.
Generate as House Bill
If selected, the PDF will be generated as a House Bill with the appropriate covers. See [How to generate a House Bill].
Footer note
Use this option to include a custom note in the footer of each page. The note can be up to 2 lines of text.
Extras
These extra features can only be included in the PDF if line numbering is turned off.
Show J numbers in margin (Bills and SI/SSIs only)
Show Jrefs in cross-references
Show amendment D-numbers against inline amendments
Show review comments
Includes any comments that have been added to the document in the Editor
Show D Numbers
Displays the unique number e.g. HoC1)
Document version
When you generate a PDF from a working version or an existing snapshot, this option enables you to save a snapshot version containing the PDF you generated and the corresponding XML document.
This can be useful so you can:
view the same PDF again at a later date without regenerating it,
generate another PDF of the same document but with different settings,
generate a new working version from PDF version to edit further,
publish the document (only PDF snapshots can be published - see Publishing a Bill document version)
You can provide a name for the snapshot or leave the box empty and it will be saved with the default name “PDF”.
How to view a PDF
On the Project Tab, Select Actions > View PDF on the selected document version
The stored PDF will be presented in another browser tab