Customize ticket PDF content

Use the PDF template editor to control what appears on the PDFs ToucanTix generates. The same editor covers templates for tickets, invoice documents, delivery notes, and vouchers; this article uses a ticket template as the example.

Ticket PDF template editor with layout controls and preview — Use the PDF template editor to change customer-facing document content and verify the layout.

Before you start

Know which template type you are changing and which order or attendee you can use for a test preview.
Have any background image available as a URL.
Plan the change on a copy first: the ToucanTix-provided templates are marked with the System source, and duplicating one keeps the original intact.

Find and open the template

In the back office, open Comms > PDF Templates.
The list shows Title, Type, Default, and Boxes for each template. Use the Filter by field to filter by type, Default / Not default, or Source (System / Custom).
To work on a copy, select Duplicate on the template, then continue in the duplicate.
Select Open editor.

Edit template settings

Template title (and Template title translation) name the template in the list.
Background URL and Background scale control the page background image.
Custom page width and Custom page height are used only when the template page size is set to CUSTOM; the editor shows the current page size next to these fields.
Set as default template makes this template the one used when documents of its type are generated — for a ticket template, every newly generated ticket PDF.
Save these settings with Save template.

Work with boxes

All visible content on the PDF lives in boxes.

In the Boxes section, select a box to edit it, or select Add box.
In Box Settings, set the box Type and its Content (with Translated content for other languages). Insert placeholders and text blocks from the suggestion list so order, attendee, and event data fills in automatically.
Position the box with Left, Top, Width, and Height, and style it with Font size, Leading, Padding, Horizontal alignment, Vertical alignment, Fill color, Stroke color, and Draw border.
Use Repeat on every page for headers or footers, and Show if placeholder to hide the box entirely when that placeholder has no value.
Select Save box. Remove an unwanted box with Delete box.

You can also drag boxes directly in the Live Positioning area: drag a box to move it, or drag its bottom-right corner to resize it. The background shown there is approximate — always check the generated preview.

Preview the result

In Generated PDF Preview, select a record. For an invoice template, use an invoice from Sales > Documents and select Preview invoice. For a ticket template, select Preview attendance.
Select Open preview or Download preview and check every placeholder, the QR code, and the page layout.

Expected result

Newly generated PDFs of this type use your layout, with placeholders resolved from real order data.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
Change does not appear on PDFs	Whether the edited template is the Default for its type, and whether the box was saved.
Placeholder prints as raw text	Whether it was inserted from the suggestion list and is supported for this template type.
Box missing from the output	The Show if placeholder setting and whether that placeholder has a value for the test record.
Layout differs from the editor	The generated preview — the Live Positioning background is approximate.