Print PDF page ranges with curl

pageRanges counts the printed pdf pages, not screenfuls: a long report that renders to twelve A4 pages can ship as its first three plus the table on page seven. The field applies to pdf output, which is the default format, so the body below sends nothing else.

The recipe

ORIGIN="https://webcapture.io"

RECEIPT=$(curl -sS -X POST "$ORIGIN/v1/convert" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer wc_your_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com/", "pageRanges": "1-3,7"}')
echo "$RECEIPT"
# {"id": "cnv_77d1e0aa", "bytes": 41207, "attempts": 1,
#  "remaining": 48, "sourceUrl": "https://example.com/", "sourceType": "url",
#  "download": ".../v1/conversions/cnv_77d1e0aa.pdf"}

ID=$(printf '%s' "$RECEIPT" | sed -E 's/.*"id": *"([^"]+)".*/\1/')
case "$ID" in cnv_*) ;; *) echo "convert failed: $RECEIPT" >&2; exit 1 ;; esac

curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer wc_your_key" \
  -o report-excerpt.pdf \
  "$ORIGIN/v1/conversions/$ID.pdf"

The render still walks the whole page, so bytes reflects the trimmed document, not the full render. Ranges accept digits, spaces, commas, and hyphens: 1-3,7 is pages one to three plus seven, and a range past the last printed page just stops at the end.

Same-key GET: 401 without it; 404 for another key.

The fields this recipe uses

• pageRanges: digits, spaces, commas, and hyphens, for example 1-3,7; applies to pdf.

Related

• Next: Get a free key to run this curl recipe, or read the API docs.
• More recipes: curl: convert from a URL, curl: name the file, Python: convert from a URL.
• The webcapture API reference: every field the convert endpoint admits, with the response shapes and the error table.
• The recipes hub: the same endpoint in the other languages.
• Going deeper: the capability matrix marks which vendors ship page ranges and which bury them.
• The free URL to PDF tool: try the render in a browser before you wire the call.

Method

Source: convert field reference, checked 2026-10-05. Corrections.