Fix Garbled Arabic Headers in jsPDF AutoTable for RTL PDF Reports

If you’ve ever worked with Arabic PDF reports generated using jsPDF and the jspdf-autotable plugin, you’ve likely run into the frustrating issue of garbled headers. While jsPDF is a popular library for generating PDFs with JavaScript, handling right-to-left (RTL) languages like Arabic poses specific challenges. Let’s clarify why this happens and how you can reliably solve this issue.

Understanding jsPDF and jspdf-autotable

Before jumping straight to solutions, let’s quickly refresh what we’re dealing with. The jsPDF library is widely used to create PDF documents directly client-side in the browser. It’s notably lightweight, easy-to-use, and compatible with many frameworks.

When you need well-structured tables in your PDF, the jspdf-autotable plugin is typically the preferred choice. It extends jsPDF’s capabilities, making it straightforward to render professional-looking tables quickly and efficiently.

Generating PDFs in Arabic, one of the commonly used RTL languages, can create unique challenges due to the specific requirements of RTL text rendering. Arabic characters require proper encoding, right-alignment, special fonts, and Unicode support. Without meeting these needs, the output will appear unreadable, corrupted, or garbled.

Why Are Arabic Headers Garbled in AutoTable?

You’ve probably already run into this scenario: your table body renders Arabic correctly, but the table headers are corrupted, looking like indecipherable Unicode gibberish. Why does this happen?

In short, it usually comes down to fonts, encoding, and text alignment issues. Many default fonts shipped with jsPDF are optimized for English and basic Latin scripts, lacking full support for complex scripts such as Arabic. In addition, Arabic letters must be properly shaped according to their position (initial, medial, final, isolated), so rendering must support this shaping.

Moreover, jsPDF AutoTable doesn’t natively handle RTL, so unless you’ve explicitly addressed alignment, font embedding, and proper encoding, you’ll inevitably run into issues with corrupted Arabic headers. Garbled headers severely impact the readability and professionalism of the generated PDFs.

What Usually Doesn’t Work

You’ve likely tried several quick fixes found online or through trial and error. These common attempts usually include:

Adding useUnicode: true option to jsPDF constructor.
Switching fonts to a Unicode-friendly Arabic font (like “Amiri”).
Explicitly setting text-align to right and specifying the language as Arabic.

While these initial approaches seem logical, they don’t always solve the problem entirely. They may help partially, but without correctly integrating all essential configurations—font files, proper AutoTable setup, RTL settings—it’s unlikely you’ll achieve stable results.

Effective Solutions for Garbled Arabic Headers in AutoTable

Fixing the issue requires a methodical approach involving three main steps:

Choose an appropriate Arabic-supporting font
Configure AutoTable alignment and RTL-specific settings correctly
Handle special character encoding and Unicode compatibility effectively

Let’s go through each step clearly and practically.

Step 1: Implementing a Reliable Arabic Font

First, choose a font with complete Arabic Unicode support, such as Amiri Font. Download the TTF file and convert it to a base64 string using tools like font converters online.

Include the font in your jsPDF setup using:


// Initialize jsPDF and add Amiri font
const doc = new jsPDF({
    orientation: "portrait",
    unit: "pt",
    format: "a4"
});

doc.addFileToVFS("Amiri-Regular.ttf", "");
doc.addFont("Amiri-Regular.ttf", "Amiri", "normal");
doc.setFont("Amiri");

This ensures your PDF uses a font that fully supports Arabic characters.

Step 2: Configuring AutoTable for RTL and Proper Styling

Next, configure AutoTable explicitly for RTL. Aligning your headers and content is crucial. Apply alignment on both the headers and the actual columns like this:


doc.autoTable({
    head: [[ 'التاريخ', 'المبلغ', 'الوصف' ]],
    body: [
        ['١ يناير ٢٠٢٤', '٥٠٠', 'الدفع الاول'],
        ['٢ يناير ٢٠٢٤', '١٠٠٠', 'الدفع الثاني']
    ],
    styles: {
        font: "Amiri",
        halign: 'right',
        valign: 'middle',
        fontSize: 12,
        overflow: 'linebreak'
    },
    headStyles: {
        fillColor: '#f3f3f3',
        textColor: '#000000',
        halign: 'right'
    },
    margin: { top: 30, right: 30, bottom: 30, left: 30 }
});

By configuring halign: ‘right’, you ensure the text starts correctly from right to left, solving alignment issues immediately.

Step 3: Accurately Handling Unicode and Special Characters

Double-check all characters in your data source to confirm they’re correctly encoded. Avoid errors caused by copying from external editors that may include invisible formatting characters. Consider using JavaScript libraries like twitter-cldr-js if you need additional Unicode handling in your transformations.

Testing and Validating Your PDF Output

Once you’ve configured your PDF tools correctly, testing becomes essential. Generate sample PDFs and thoroughly check headers, table body content, and alignment.

Check the generated file across multiple readers:

Adobe Acrobat Reader
Chrome’s built-in PDF viewer
Firefox PDF viewer
Your mobile phone PDF viewer

Ensure your layout remains consistent and readable everywhere. For debugging visual or rendering issues, check browser dev tools and jsPDF console outputs.

Best Practices for Consistently Good Arabic PDF Outputs

Here are valuable tips for smooth Arabic PDF exports moving forward:

Always embed robust Arabic-friendly fonts, like Amiri or Cairo.
Consistently enforce RTL alignment at the document and table levels.
Avoid unnecessary special formatting or hidden HTML characters in data.
Regularly test outputs across different PDF viewers and devices for compatibility.
Keep extensive documentation for your Arabic PDF setups, fonts, and RTL adjustments for easier troubleshooting.

Maintaining these practices ensures professional and seamless experiences for all your Arabic-speaking end-users.

Wrapping Up

Garbled Arabic headers can significantly hinder PDF readability and professionalism, but luckily the fix is relatively straightforward. Selecting a reliable Arabic font, ensuring proper RTL alignment via your AutoTable configs, and verifying your Unicode encoding largely solves this annoying issue.

To further improve on your JavaScript PDF workflows, consider reviewing our other helpful articles in the JavaScript category.

What other Arabic PDF generation issues have you faced lately? We’d love to hear your thoughts or additional solutions you’ve encountered. Let us know below!