bibliottHow to Cite a PDF in APA 7th edition
Format, in-text rule, and a copy-paste example for PDFs in APA. Citing a PDF — usually a report, government document, or working paper.
APA format for PDFs
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of document [PDF]. Publisher. URL
United Nations. (2023). World happiness report 2023 [PDF]. https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2023/WHR+23.pdf
Pro tip
PDFs are usually reports, government docs, or working papers — identify the underlying type, not just "PDF".
Information you need
Before generating your APA citation, gather these details from the pdf:
Author or organization
Year
Title
Publisher
URL or DOI
[PDF] format note (some styles)
Common mistakes to avoid
✗Citing the PDF as a website without identifying the underlying source type
✗Forgetting that many PDFs are reports, not books
✗Listing google.com or scribd.com as the publisher
Other APA guides
Frequently asked questions
For a pdf in APA, you'll need: Author or organization, Year, Title, Publisher, URL or DOI, [PDF] format note (some styles). bibliott auto-detects most of these from a URL or DOI.
Citing the PDF as a website without identifying the underlying source type
Yes — the example follows the official APA 7th edition format. Replace the author, title, year and other fields with your source's data, or use the bibliott generator to do it automatically.