PDF Creation and emailing from Airtable Automations

[Patrick_Baker]

I need to take the fields visible in a particular view, and convert it to a pdf that I can then send via email. Is this possible via airtable automations?

[Bill_French]

Yes - the approach you use will depend on the reporting requirements. Here’s a related post -

Automatic document creation and sharing from Airtable records Integrations

Hi Lucy! There are no such steps to make that possible (that I’m aware of). Unfortunately content in Page Designer stays in Page Designer unless you physically (and manually) use the features provided in the block to create a process with its content. There is no automation of printing, or queuing into another process for distribution. And there is no API into the content created by Page Designer. Ergo, Page Designer is a nice friendly cul-de-sac. The way I created an automated and highly v…

[kuovonne]

This is possible with Airtable automations, but probably not a as straightforward as you would like, and possibly requires multiple steps.

Step 1: Create a pdf file with field data.

Airtable automations cannot do this directly. However, you can use a script that gets the field values and then sends the data to a 3rd party service to create a pdf file.

Step 2. Where to put the pdf file

Some pdf creation services will send the actual pdf and others will provide a link to the .pdf file on their servers. If the .pdf file is on their servers, it will exist for only a limited amount of time, so you will probably need to move it to somewhere else, like in an attachment field. If the 3rd party service sends you the actual file, you will need to put the .pdf file somewhere else.

Step 3. How to send the email

If you send the email through Airtable automations, you can send either the .pdf file itself, or a link to the .pdf file. If the pdf file is stored as an attachment to the record, you can simply attach the attachment. Note that this might need to be a second automation that is triggered after the attachment is uploaded to the record.

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You might also want to investigate using Zapier or Integromat if you do not feel up to writing code or do not have the budget to hire a coder.

[Sergei_Kai]

Hi! You can automate PDF creation and emailing in Airtable using Automations and extensions like Plumsail Documents. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Install and configure the Plumsail Documents extension directly in your Airtable base to generate documents.
2. Set any action as the trigger in Automations.
3. Add an action to run a script that uses the extension to create a PDF.
4. Plumsail Documents will automatically generate the document and send it via email to the specified recipients whenever the trigger is activated, with no additional configuration needed.

Plumsail Documents supports various templates and can attach the generated document to the Airtable record. An example of how to use this extension with Automations is described in the article Create and manage documents in Airtable Interfaces and Automations.

[typeflow]

If you're looking for a solution, Typeflow can help you quickly generate PDFs from Airtable data using Google Docs templates. It's straightforward and efficient.

Feel free to give it a try, and I'd love to hear your feedback! I'm also offering a lifetime plan for early users at just $100. Ping me if you're interested or have any questions.