# UIPrintFormatter An abstract base class for print formatters, which are objects that lay out custom printable content that can cross page boundaries. ``` class UIPrintFormatter ``` ## Overview Given a print formatter, the printing system can automate the printing of the type of content associated with the print formatter. Examples of such content could be a web view, a mix of images and text, or a long text document. The UIKit framework provides several concrete subclasses of [`UIPrintFormatter`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter): [`UISimpleTextPrintFormatter`](/documentation/UIKit/UISimpleTextPrintFormatter), [`UIMarkupTextPrintFormatter`](/documentation/UIKit/UIMarkupTextPrintFormatter), and [`UIViewPrintFormatter`](/documentation/UIKit/UIViewPrintFormatter). You can assign a single print formatter for a print job using the [`printFormatter`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintInteractionController/printFormatter) property of the [`UIPrintInteractionController`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintInteractionController) shared instance; or you can specify one or more print formatters that are associated with specific pages of a page renderer through the [`addPrintFormatter(_:startingAtPageAt:)`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintPageRenderer/addPrintFormatter(_:startingAtPageAt:))method of [`UIPrintPageRenderer`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintPageRenderer). A page renderer is an instance of a custom subclass of [`UIPrintPageRenderer`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintPageRenderer) that draws content for printing. [`UIPrintFormatter`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter) publishes an interface that allows you to specify the starting page for a print job and the margins around the printed content; given that information plus the content, a print formatter computes the number of pages for the print job. The following image depicts the print-formatter properties, along with certain [`UIPrintPaper`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintPaper) and [`UIPrintPageRenderer`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintPageRenderer) properties, that define the layout of a multipage print job.  Third-party subclasses of [`UIPrintFormatter`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter) aren’t recommended. If you have custom content to print, use a custom [`UIPrintPageRenderer`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintPageRenderer) object. ## Topics ### Laying out the content [`perPageContentInsets`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/perPageContentInsets) The margins for each printed page. [`maximumContentHeight`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/maximumContentHeight) The maximum height of the content area. [`maximumContentWidth`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/maximumContentWidth) The maximum width of the content area. [`contentInsets`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/contentInsets) The distances the edges of content are inset from the printing rectangle. ### Managing pagination [`startPage`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/startPage) The index of the first page that the print formatter lays out. [`pageCount`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/pageCount) The number of pages to print. ### Drawing the content [`draw(in:forPageAt:)`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/draw(in:forPageAt:)) Draws the portion of a print formatter’s content for the specified area of the specified page. [`rectForPage(at:)`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/rectForPage(at:)) Returns the area that encloses a specified page of content. ### Communicating with the page renderer [`removeFromPrintPageRenderer()`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/removeFromPrintPageRenderer()) Removes the print formatter from the page renderer. [`printPageRenderer`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/printPageRenderer) Returns the page renderer for the print formatter. ### Requiring operations to take place on the main thread [`requiresMainThread`](/documentation/UIKit/UIPrintFormatter/requiresMainThread) A Boolean value that determines whether the system executes the print formatter’s rendering operations on the main thread. --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. | [Terms of Use](https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/terms/site.html) | [Privacy Policy](https://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy)