Fix “nbconvert failed: xelatex not found on PATH” (Jupyter PDF Error)

Why Jupyter shows “nbconvert failed: xelatex not found on PATH” or “Pandoc wasn't found” when exporting to PDF, and how to fix it on Windows, Mac and Linux.

Updated 2026-11-03 · by the ipynbtopdfscanner team

Quick answer: The error means Jupyter’s PDF export needs a LaTeX program called xelatex that isn’t installed. Fix it by installing a TeX distribution (MiKTeX on Windows, MacTeX on Mac, texlive-xetex on Linux) plus pandoc and restarting Jupyter, or avoid LaTeX entirely by using WebPDF or a browser-based converter.

Why the error happens

jupyter nbconvert --to pdf (and “Download as PDF via LaTeX”) first turns the notebook into a LaTeX document, then runs xelatex to make the PDF. If no TeX distribution is installed, or it isn’t on your PATH, you see:

nbconvert failed: xelatex not found on PATH, if you have not installed xelatex you may need to do so.

A similar message, “Pandoc wasn’t found”, means pandoc is missing; it is also required.

Fix on Windows

Install MiKTeX from miktex.org and allow it to install missing packages automatically.
Install pandoc from pandoc.org.
Close and reopen your terminal and Jupyter so the new PATH is picked up.

Fix on macOS

Install MacTeX (or the smaller BasicTeX) and pandoc, for example with Homebrew:

brew install --cask mactex-no-gui
brew install pandoc

Fix on Ubuntu / Debian Linux

sudo apt-get install texlive-xetex texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-plain-generic pandoc

Avoid LaTeX completely

WebPDF: pip install "nbconvert[webpdf]", then jupyter nbconvert --to webpdf --allow-chromium-download notebook.ipynb.
Browser converter: open the notebook in ipynbtopdfscanner. No LaTeX, pandoc or Python is needed, and it works on phones too.

Skip the setup: convert your notebook to PDF in your browser, free and private.

Open the converter

Frequently asked questions

I installed MiKTeX but still get the error. What now?

Restart your computer or at least every terminal and Jupyter window, so the updated PATH is used. Then run xelatex --version in a terminal to confirm it is found.

Is LaTeX needed to make a PDF from a notebook?

Only for nbconvert’s classic PDF exporter. WebPDF and browser-based converters don’t need LaTeX.