You sent print.html, and the recipient got unstyled chapters. Treat mdBook's printable page as part of its generated book folder until you have checked and packaged the resources it references. One page of chapter content is not automatically one self-contained file.
Use a fictional two-chapter handoff: Overview says “Read the supplied workflow first,” and Verify says “Compare the output with the source record.” Both chapters belong in the printable reading. Their original Markdown remains the source of truth when a reviewer requests a correction.
Open the complete example · Download the full HTML source
Make the chapter order explicit
Put the chapters in the source directory and list them in SUMMARY.md:
# Summary
- [Overview](overview.md)
- [Verify](verify.md)
Give the book a title in book.toml, then build it with the chosen mdBook executable:
[book]
title = "Document handoff"
language = "en"
[output.html.print]
enable = true
mdbook build
The mdBook renderer configuration documents the HTML renderer and the printable-output options. The print table uses enable, not a guessed enabled key. Record the executable version and inspect the actual output of that release.
Confirm that both chapters reached the printable page
Open the generated printable page and locate Overview before Verify. Compare both original sentences with the rendered content. A successful book build does not by itself establish that every intended chapter was included in the summary.
Check the chapter list separately from the generated page. If Verify is missing from SUMMARY.md, diagnose that source inventory before trying to repair the printable HTML. A manually pasted missing chapter would hide the cause and disappear during the next build.
Keep the normal chapter pages too. They support a different reading task: moving through the book one chapter at a time. The printable view collects the book for a continuous reading or printing task; it is not evidence of a completed PDF export or of identical printer pagination on another machine.
Package resources rather than sending one filename
Inspect the stylesheet and script references in the generated page, then keep their relative locations when you package the output. Copying only the HTML while leaving its referenced resources behind changes what the recipient opens. Send the output folder as an archive when that is the delivery format.
A separate self-contained reading copy is possible for a bounded excerpt, but label it as a reading copy and retain the native book output. Do not claim that a custom wrapper is mdBook's untouched printable page. For the general distinction between a converted fragment and a complete page, see Markdown-to-HTML conversion.
Check the archive after extraction
Extract the archive into a separate review location and open its entry page. Confirm the chapter text, navigation, and styles that the recipient needs. If a feature requires a web server, disclose that boundary instead of treating a local-file reading as proof that every feature works offline.
Finish by recording the accepted chapter order and keeping the Markdown sources beside the generated book archive. A review correction belongs in those sources, followed by another build, rather than in an isolated print.html that nobody can regenerate.
Download the maintained source and actual output archive. This archive retains the supplied fixture and the original generated files beside the reading copy.