Make one now
- A one page dummy PDF
/pdf/Purchase+Order+8812.pdf - Ten pages of filler
/pdf/Supplier+Agreement?pages=10 - Stamped DRAFT on every page
/pdf/Q3+Forecast?pages=4&watermark=DRAFT - Downloads instead of previewing
/pdf/Remittance+Advice?download=1
When a dummy PDF is the right tool
Wiring up a document library before the documents exist
The usual problem is not one missing file, it is forty. You have a page listing annual reports back to 2011, the client will supply them in a fortnight, and you need to prove today that each row links somewhere sensible. Give every link a different title and a mis-wired one becomes obvious the moment you open it, because the document says the wrong thing on its face.
Exercising an upload or attachment flow
Anything that accepts a PDF needs a PDF to accept. A generated file is a real, valid document with a proper header, cross-reference table and font resources, so parsers, thumbnailers and virus scanners all treat it as genuine. Vary the page count with pages when you want to see how a preview pane copes.
Filling a design comp with something honest
A file list looks wrong with one item in it. Point a dozen rows at different titles and the layout gets tested against realistic filename lengths, including the awkwardly long ones that wrap.
What comes out
A single page A4 document by default, with your title set large at the top, the placeholder stamp beneath it, filler body copy, a diagonal watermark, and a footer carrying the page number and the URL that produced the file. Change the shape withpages, size, ipsum and watermark.
The stamp and the watermark are not optional. This is deliberate: a service that emits arbitrary text as a convincing document would be useful to the wrong people, so every file it produces says plainly what it is. See thefull parameter list for everything you can change.