PDF Catalog for PrestaShop — Complete Guide

Overview

DFPDFCatalog publishes your PDF catalogs directly on your PrestaShop store. The module creates two kinds of front-office pages: a showcase page listing all your catalogs as clickable banners (/catalogues-pdf) and a per-catalog viewer page (/catalogue-pdf/{id}-{slug}) with a professional-grade embedded PDF reader: magazine-style two-page mode, clickable thumbnails, fullscreen, zoom, clickable links and selectable text.

Installation

1. Download the module ZIP file from your DataFirefly account.
2. In your PrestaShop back-office, go to Modules → Module Manager → Upload a module.
3. Select the dfpdfcatalog.zip file and confirm.
4. The module installs automatically: database tables, admin tab and front routes are created without any manual configuration.

After installation, a new PDF Catalogs tab appears under the Catalog menu of the back-office.

Updating from an earlier version

1. Upload the new version via Modules → Module Manager → Upload a module (or replace the /modules/dfpdfcatalog/ folder via FTP).
2. Clear the PrestaShop cache: Advanced Parameters → Performance → Clear cache.

Updating preserves your existing catalogs: database tables and uploaded files (banners and PDFs) are left untouched.

Adding a catalog

1. Go to Catalog → PDF Catalogs and click Add a catalog.
2. Enter the title (translatable per language) — it also generates the URL slug and the page meta title.
3. Enter the description (translatable) — shown on the viewer page and used as the meta description.
4. Upload the banner image — this is what appears in the showcase page grid.
5. Upload the PDF file.
6. Set the position (display order in the grid) and the active/inactive status.
7. In multi-shop setups, tick the shops on which the catalog should appear.
8. Save: the catalog is immediately visible on /catalogues-pdf.

Front-office pages

Showcase page

The /catalogues-pdf page displays all active catalogs of the current shop as a banner grid, sorted by position. Each banner links to the catalog’s viewer. The page generates its own meta title and meta description and integrates with PrestaShop’s native breadcrumb.

Viewer page

Each catalog has its own page at /catalogue-pdf/{id}-{slug}. The PDF is displayed in the embedded viewer, with a back button to the showcase and a direct download button. The PDF is served through a PHP controller with the Content-Disposition inline header, which forces in-browser display.

Using the viewer

The viewer is built on PDF.js (Mozilla) and provides the following toolbar controls:

• Thumbnails — shows or hides the page thumbnails sidebar. Thumbnails are clickable and render progressively as you scroll (lazy rendering), even for very long catalogs. The active page(s) are highlighted.
• Two-page mode — toggles between single-page display and magazine-style two-page mode: cover alone, then pairs 2-3, 4-5, and so on. This mode is enabled by default on screens at least 1024 px wide.
• Navigation — previous/next buttons and a page indicator (e.g. “Page 4-5 / 24” in two-page mode). The keyboard left/right arrows also work.
• Zoom — zoom in/out in 25% steps plus an automatic fit-to-width button.
• Fullscreen — switches the viewer to fullscreen via the browser’s native API. On iOS Safari, a simulated fullscreen mode is used automatically. The Escape key exits.

Hyperlinks contained in the PDF remain clickable: external links open in a new tab, and internal links (table of contents, cross-references) navigate directly inside the viewer. If the PDF contains a text layer, the text is selectable, copyable, and the browser’s Ctrl+F search works on the content.

Rendering uses the display’s pixel density (HiDPI): pages are crisp on Retina and 4K screens.

SEO and URLs

The module registers its routes through PrestaShop’s moduleRoutes hook:

• /catalogues-pdf — showcase page with its own meta title and meta description.
• /catalogue-pdf/{id}-{slug} — one clean URL per catalog, where the slug is generated automatically from the title. The meta title uses the catalog title and the meta description uses its description.

No CMS page needs to be created: routes are registered automatically at installation.

Multilingual and multi-shop

Titles and descriptions are translated field by field in the edit form (standard PrestaShop language selector). Each language generates its own slug and its own metas. In multi-shop setups, the catalog/shop association is handled with checkboxes: each shop displays only the catalogs assigned to it.

Troubleshooting

The PDF does not display

• Check that the PDF file was actually uploaded (re-edit the catalog in the back-office).
• Clear the PrestaShop cache and reload the page in a private window.
• If an error message appears in the viewer, a direct download link for the PDF is offered as a fallback.

Text is not selectable or Ctrl+F finds nothing

Text selection requires the PDF to contain a text layer. Scanned PDFs or pure-bitmap exports do not have one: in that case only graphical display is possible. Run the document through an OCR tool if you need the text.

PDF links are not clickable

Links must be real link annotations in the PDF (created by the export tool: InDesign, Word, LibreOffice…). Text that merely looks like a URL without an annotation will not be clickable.

Pages appear stretched or blurry

This issue from version 1.0.0 has been fixed since version 1.0.1 (HiDPI rendering and neutralisation of theme CSS resets). Update the module and clear the PrestaShop cache.

Version history

• 1.0.4 (2026-05-11) — Fullscreen mode (native API + iOS Safari fallback); fixed cover fit-width in two-page mode; active toggle button highlighting.
• 1.0.3 (2026-05-11) — Magazine-style two-page mode (cover alone, then 2-3, 4-5…); auto-activation on wide screens; clean cancellation of stale renders during fast navigation.
• 1.0.2 (2026-05-11) — Clickable thumbnails sidebar with lazy rendering; text layer (selection + Ctrl+F); thumbnails toggle button.
• 1.0.1 (2026-05-11) — Crisp HiDPI rendering on Retina/4K; clickable PDF links (annotation layer); fixed vertical page stretching.
• 1.0.0 (2026-05-08) — Initial release: showcase page, embedded viewer, SEO URLs, multilingual, multi-shop.