🔗 Using PDF.js layers in Vue.js

PDF is everywhere, no matter what kind of web app you’re building, you’re bound to need a convenient PDF viewer at some point. But if you’ve ever tried to handle PDFs on the web, you know it can feel like wrestling with outdated plugins, iframe workaround or settling for awkward pop-ups.

That’s where PDF.js comes in—it's an open-source JavaScript library for rendering PDFs right in your browser. Now, if you’re like me and build apps in Vue.js, figuring out how to use PDF.js in your project can be tricky at first.

To leverage PDF.js's capabilities, it's important to understand its layered architecture. If you’ve ever wondered, “How do I enable text selection?” or “How do I handle links inside the PDF?” or even “How do I build advanced features like annotations?”, the answer usually lies in understanding these layers.

In this article, I’ll show you how PDF.js creates layers, what each layer is responsible for, and how you can apply them to your next Vue project. Let’s get going!