---
title: "Using cookies"
description: "Learn how to use cookies when converting HTML to PDF using Java and the HttpClient library. This guide offers detailed steps with code samples in Java and the HttpClient library, showing how to manage cookies during conversion."
language: 'Java'
library: 'HttpClient'
property: 'cookies'
output: 'pdf'
related: ['accessing-secured-pages', 'send-custom-http-headers']
default: false
---

In this guide, we'll show you how to use cookies when converting HTML to PDF using Java and the HttpClient library.

When converting HTML to PDF, you might need to send cookies to access authenticated content or maintain session state.

```java
import java.net.http.*;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest.BodyPublishers;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse.BodyHandlers;
import java.time.Duration;

// You can get an API key at https://pdfshift.io
String apiKey = "sk_xxxxxxxxxxxx";

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newBuilder()
    .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(10))
    .build();

HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
    .uri(URI.create("https://api.pdfshift.io/v3/convert/pdf"))
    .header("X-API-Key", apiKey)
    .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
    .POST(BodyPublishers.ofString("{\n" +
        "  \"source\": \"https://www.example.com\",\n" +
        "  \"cookies\": {\n" +
        "    \"sessionid\": \"abc123\",\n" +
        "    \"user\": \"john_doe\"\n" +
        "  }\n" +
        "}"))
    .build();

HttpResponse<byte[]> response = client.send(request, BodyHandlers.ofByteArray());

// Handle errors:
if (response.statusCode() >= 400) {
    throw new RuntimeException("Request failed with status code " + response.statusCode());
}

java.nio.file.Files.write(java.nio.file.Paths.get("result.pdf"), response.body());

System.out.println("The PDF document was generated and saved to result.pdf");
```

This allows you to maintain session state when accessing protected content.