Bases: Export to PDF not showing Bases content

brentwood · July 2, 2025, 10:57pm

Problem Summary

There seems to be a problem with PDF exports which include or embed bases after other page embeds.

I am trying to build a Resume.md page which includes sections from a number of individual job pages and thought cards from Bases would be great for summarizing the data for each job. (Some custom CSS cleaned everything up well for Reading View.)

In creating the test for this sandbox vault example, I realized that base rendering for the PDF breaks immediately after I embed the regular markup section (“summaries” below.) I went ahead and included a few test case variations even though they may all be related.

I’ve figured out some manual workarounds for my resume in segments, but it would be great if a single export could work since I can’t cut-and-paste the entire page (including the cards) either.

Steps to reproduce

Test Case 1: Interleaving Multiple Base Views and Markdown Embeds

Create separate job notes in a folder with properties about the role and a summary section that can be included in the combined resume.

[!Example] Job Number 1.md

---
title: librarian
location: Boston
---

# Summary

It wasn't technically my job, but I liked to cook the books.

Create a new base with multiple views, one for each job

[!Example] ResumeBase.base

filters:
  and:
    - file.path.startsWith("Jobs")
views:
  - type: cards
    name: Librarian
    filters:
      and:
        - title == "librarian"
    order:
      - file.name
      - title
      - location
  - type: cards
    name: Chef
    filters:
      and:
        - title == "chef"
    order:
      - file.name
      - title
      - location
  - type: cards
    name: Mechanic
    filters:
      and:
        - title == "mechanic"
    order:
      - file.name
      - title
      - location

Create a resume file to combine all the roles:

[!Example] Resume.md

# Job Number One

![[ResumeBase.base#Librarian]]
![[Job Number 1#Summary]]

# Job Number Two

![[ResumeBase.base#Chef]]
![[Job Number 2#Summary]]

# Job Number Three

![[ResumeBase.base#Mechanic]]
![[Job Number 3#Summary]]

This displays correctly:

Command → Export to PDF

This only displays the first base, subsequent ones are empty (except for the filter/control bar.)

Test Case 2: Embedding Summary before Base

While testing this, I accidentally deleted my sandbox vault and had to recreate it, but I noticed that none of the bases displayed in the PDF if a summary was included first.

It looks like it’s specifically those embeds that break base rendering.

Test Case 3: Multiple Bases before other Embeds

I originally thought the problem was related to having multiple bases on the same page, but if I switch to this ordering, all three bases appear correctly in the PDF:

[!example] Resume Reordered.md

# All Bases
![[ResumeBase.base#Librarian]]
![[ResumeBase.base#Chef]]
![[ResumeBase.base#Mechanic]]

# All Summaries

![[Job Number 1#Summary]]
![[Job Number 2#Summary]]
![[Job Number 3#Summary]]

Test Case 4: Embedding Single view from Original Pages

This should have been my first example since I tried it before creating multiple views, but I wasn’t sure if that sort of embed was supported.

Before trying out bases, I had all the job details as markdown tables under an “Info” header and included them on Resume.md like this:

[!example] Resume.md

# Job Number One

![[Job Number 1#Info]]
![[Job Number 1#Summary]]

# Job Number Two

![[Job Number 2#Info]]
![[Job Number 2#Summary]]

# Job Number Three

![[Job Number 3#Info]]
![[Job Number 3#Summary]]

On each job page, I moved the #Info details into the frontmatter and just included a card view with this filter instead:

[!example] ResumeBase.base

    filters:
      and:
        - file.path == this.file.path

The PDF results look the same as the results from Test Case 1 above.

I’m now guessing that the bug is unrelated to the fact that I was including the same view from multiple pages multiple times, but it would be great to test this case as well since it’s definitely cleaner than the approach in Test Case 1.

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide?

Yes

All tests above were done in a sandbox vault.

Expected result

In Test Cases 1, 2 and 4 I expect to see all three base cards rendered in the PDF output as they are in the Reading View.

Actual result

As seen in the screenshots above, the base filter bars are included in the PDFs, but the actual cards seem to be blank.

Additionally, this appears in the console:

Uncaught ResizeObserver loop completed with undelivered notifications.

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
	Obsidian version: v1.9.4
	Installer version: v1.8.9
	Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 24.5.0: Tue Apr 22 19:53:27 PDT 2025; root:xnu-11417.121.6~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T6041 24.5.0
	Login status: logged in
	Language: en
	Catalyst license: insider
	Insider build toggle: on
	Live preview: on
	Base theme: adapt to system
	Community theme: none
	Snippets enabled: 0
	Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
	none

Additional information

Sorry that this is so long, but thanks for introducing Bases. I’m somewhat new to Obsidian, but a huge fan and loving this final incentive to become a Catalyst member. It looks like it’s going to make this tool even more amazing!