Odoo PDF Report Not Generating / wkhtmltopdf Issues — Complete Fix

Common PDF Generation Issues

Fix 1: Install the Correct wkhtmltopdf Version

Odoo requires a specific patched version of wkhtmltopdf (with Qt patches for headers/footers).

# Check current version
wkhtmltopdf --version

# Required: 0.12.6 (patched)
# Download from: https://github.com/wkhtmltopdf/packaging/releases

# Ubuntu 22.04 / Debian 12:
wget https://github.com/wkhtmltopdf/packaging/releases/download/0.12.6.1-3/wkhtmltox_0.12.6.1-3.jammy_amd64.deb
sudo apt install -y ./wkhtmltox_0.12.6.1-3.jammy_amd64.deb

# Verify
wkhtmltopdf --version
# Should show: wkhtmltopdf 0.12.6 (with patched qt)

Warning: The unpatched version from apt (apt install wkhtmltopdf) does NOT support headers and footers. You must install the patched version from the GitHub releases page.

Fix 2: PDF Timeouts

# Increase timeout in odoo.conf
limit_time_real = 300  # 5 minutes for large reports

# Or fix the root cause — wkhtmltopdf hanging on external resources:
# Add to wkhtmltopdf options:
# --no-stop-slow-scripts
# --load-error-handling ignore

Fix 3: Missing Images/CSS in PDF

wkhtmltopdf fetches static files from Odoo as an HTTP client. If it cannot reach Odoo:

# Check if Odoo is accessible from localhost
curl -I http://localhost:8069/web/static/src/img/logo.png

# If behind nginx, ensure localhost:8069 is accessible
# Or set report_url in odoo.conf:
report_url = http://localhost:8069

Fix 4: Docker-Specific Issues

# In Docker, wkhtmltopdf may need additional dependencies:
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    libxrender1 libfontconfig1 libxext6 \
    xfonts-75dpi xfonts-base

# The official Odoo Docker image includes wkhtmltopdf
# If using a custom image, install the patched version

Fix 5: Paper Format

# Check paper format in Settings → Technical → Reporting → Paper Format
# Common settings:
# A4: 210mm × 297mm (Europe, most of world)
# Letter: 215.9mm × 279.4mm (US, Canada)
# Margins: top 40mm, bottom 20mm, left 7mm, right 7mm

Debugging PDF Generation

# Generate PDF from command line to see errors:
wkhtmltopdf --debug-javascript http://localhost:8069/report/html/sale.report_saleorder/1 test.pdf

# Check Odoo logs for report errors:
grep -i "report\|wkhtmltopdf\|pdf" /var/log/odoo/odoo.log | tail -20

DeployMonkey

DeployMonkey includes the correct wkhtmltopdf version pre-installed. PDF reports work out of the box on all plans.