missing metadata with wkhtmltopdf

[aflueckiger]

When converting files with wkhtmltopdf, the metadata is not propagated to the resulting pdf.

To reproduce the issue, try:

pandoc -t html5 -s in.md -o out.pdf \
--css css/style.css \
-V title-meta="test"

Versions:
wkhtmltopdf 0.12.5
pandoc 2.9.2.1

On the opposite, converting markdown files directly into pdf works as expected:

pandoc -s in.md -o out.pdf \ 
-V title-meta="test"

The circumvention of wkthtmltopdf above is not an option since css styling is no longer possible.
I guess the missing metadata is due to a lacking implementation rather than a bug. If I am wrong, please correct me.

[mb21]

you're looking for the title as part of the PDF metadata? if so, you'd need to pass that option to wkhtmltopdf

pandoc -t html5 -s in.md -o out.pdf \
--pdf-engine-opt='--title test'

it's something pandoc could be change to do itself probably..

[aflueckiger]

Yes, I would like to set the PDF metadata using pandoc. Besides title, there is a need for author, keywords and date as well. However, it seems that wkhtmltopdf still lacks this functionality: wkhtmltopdf/wkhtmltopdf#2000

Moreover, I couldn't get your example work:

pandoc -t html5 -s in.md -o out.pdf \
--pdf-engine-opt='--title test'
[WARNING] This document format requires a nonempty <title> element.
  Defaulting to 'letter' as the title.
  To specify a title, use 'title' in metadata or --metadata title="...".
Unknown long argument --title "test"
...

I guess the easiest is to do it post-hoc with exiftool.

[mb21]

ah sorry, probably it's:

--pdf-engine-opt='--title' --pdf-engine-opt='test'

[jgm]

If wkhtmltopdf lacks the functionality, then I don't see any way to improve things in pandoc.
Should this be closed?

[mb21]

wkhtmltopdf can set the title, but not other metadata like author...

[aflueckiger]

Currently, there is no way to improve as wkhtmltopdflacks the functionality to set all metadata. Use exiftool instead.