How to export a Pluto.jl notebook

After writing your Pluto notebook, you have a couple options to export your notebook, to share with someone else:

• Notebook file (.jl) – This is how Pluto stores your notebook file, and you can share it directly with someone else so they can run your notebook.
• Static HTML – A snapshot of your notebook with outputs in a versatile format.
• PDF – A traditional PDF document for printing.
• Recording – A special type of video!

Notebook file

Pluto notebook files are stored as .jl Julia files. This file contains:

• Code for each cell
• Special comments (start with #) that Pluto uses to understand which code belongs to which cell.
• The exact version numbers of packages that were used. This is stored at the bottom of the .jl file, the Project.toml and Manifest.toml content.

When you send your .jl notebook file to someone else, they can open the notebook in Pluto and see the same results. This concept is called reproducibility, and it is something we work very hard on at Pluto!

Step 1

Open your notebook in Pluto, and wait for all cells to finish running.

Step 2

Press the Share button in the top right.

Step 3

Choose “Notebook file”.

Notebooks as scripts

.jl notebook files can also be run as a script. Since the .jl file just contains your cell code, you can also run it with Julia:

> julia my_notebook.jl

Or inside of Julia code, can use include("my_notebook.jl") to get variables from your notebook outside of Pluto.

Export to HTML

This is a snapshot of your notebook with all outputs in a standalone HTML file. You can share this .html file via email, and other people can double-click the file to read your notebook.

For some examples of HTML export files, check out our featured notebooks.

Step 1

Open your notebook in Pluto, and wait for all cells to finish running.

Step 2

Press the Share button in the top right.

Step 3

Choose “Static HMTL”.

Reproducibility

What’s really cool about HTML export files is that they are reproducible: every HTML export file from Pluto includes the .jl source code! That means that someone who reads the notebook can also run the original code and make changes!

Every HTML export contains an Edit or run button in the top right. When you press it, you see a screen where you can:

1. Run the notebook with binder, a free service to run scientific notebooks in the cloud. This works on any browser (including mobile), without needing to install Julia or Pluto.
2. Download the .jl notebook file that was used to generate the HTML export. You can open this file with Pluto.

.html files from Pluto can also be used as web pages on your blog. Learn more

Export to PDF

If you want to print your notebook, or submit it as homework assignment, it might be useful to get a PDF file!

When possible, we recommend sharing an HTML file instead of a PDF file. HTML files are great for reproducibility!

Step 1

Open your notebook in Pluto, and wait for all cells to finish running.

Step 2

Press the Share button in the top right.

Step 3

Choose “PDF”.

Page layout

Pluto tries to make your notebook look well on paper. One challenge is where to place “page breaks”. Our goal is:

• Don’t split cells between pages, unless necessary.
• Markdown headers should be at the top of a page.

🌸 If your notebook does not look good on PDF, generate an HTML export and send it to the Pluto developers! 🌸

Make a recording (preview)

Pluto has one really cool experimental feature, and we’re curious what you think! You can make a Pluto recording, which is a bit like recording your screen to a video, but the result is an HTML web page!

That means that while you watch the video, you can pause and scroll to a different section!

Take a look at this example video

Please try it out, and let us know what you think!

Step 1

Open your notebook in Pluto, and wait for all cells to finish running.

Step 2

Press the Share button in the top right.

Step 3

Choose “Record”.

Step 4

Click to start a recording. You can choose between recording with microphone audio or without audio (screen only).

Step 5

You are now recording! You can:

• Interact with @bind elements and see your notebook update.
• Scroll through the notebook.
• Speak! Audio can be recorded.
• Make code changes (currently, individual keystrokes cannot be recorded, you need to run the cell to make changes show in the recording).

Step 6

When you are done, press “Stop recording”. After a couple seconds, you can choose a location to store the .html file.