MAKE failed to upload attachment PDF to update a record

[Daniel_Webguy]

1. I create a GDOC with MAKE
2. I get fields from AIRTABLE and update the DOC
3. I get the DOC link and put it in a URL field in the AIRTABLE record

ALL IS OK till here

4. I am trying to get the PDF export link and upload it to the attachment field in AIRTABLE, and it doesn’t work.
   I even tried a static PDF from DRIVE and it doesn’t work.

Why?

[ScottWorld]

Your document needs to be stored in a publicly-accessible document in a publicly-accessible folder, and then you need to use Google Drive's “Get A Share Link” module in Make to get the web download link.

Hope this helps! If you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld

[Greg_F]

Also is the shared file link you are using in format like this?
https://drive.google.com/uc?id={fileID}&export=download

[Bill_French]

ScottWorld:

you need to use the “Get A Share Link” module to get the link.

Which is interesting because while Make says “share link”, it really needs the download link as mentioned by @Greg_F. I suspect Make will take the share link but likely converts it behind the curtain to a download link.

[ScottWorld]

Bill.French:

I suspect Make will take the share link but likely converts it behind the curtain to a download link.

Make is not providing the share link, Google is. But Make is just providing an easy front-end to Google’s API that provides the share link.

Here’s an example of what it might look like to use some of Make's Google Drive modules:

Hope this helps! If you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld

[Bill_French]

ScottWorld:

Make is not providing the share link, Google is

I totally get that. What I’m saying is that a Share Link is not what Make actually uses under the covers. It must be transforming the share link into a download link, otherwise, it would not be suitable for Airtable’s upsert into an attachment field.

[ScottWorld]

Sorry for confusing matters here.

I understand what you’re saying — that there is a difference between a “share link” and a “download link”

And you are absolutely 100% correct.

What I meant to say in my instructions above is that even though you use Make’s “Get a Share Link” module, that module then returns several different values in a JSON response from Google. One of these values is Google’s “Web Content Link” (which is the web content download link).

This “Web Content Link” (aka “web content download link”) is the value that you must choose to insert into Airtable’s attachment field.

Below is a sample of the JSON data that is returned by Google when using Make’s “Get A Share Link”:

[
    {
        "kind": "drive#permission",
        "id": "anyoneWithLink",
        "type": "anyone",
        "role": "reader",
        "allowFileDiscovery": false,
        "shareLink": "https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AVKCBfygmtg9WEb5sPgyJ8vVWbZTuXiO",
        "webContentLink": "https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1AVKCBfygmtg9WEb5sPgyJ8vVWbZTuXiO&export=download"
    }
]

 Hope this helps! If you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld

[typeflow]

Alternatively, you can use typeflow.us for generating pdf based on Airtable data. We offer a lifetime plan currently at 150$. This plan lets you generate as many pdf as needed.

[ScottWorld]

There are also several other ways to generate PDF files from Airtable as well. Here are some additional options:

1. DocuMint: One of the most popular and fully-featured PDF creation tools for Airtable is DocuMint. DocuMint has native Airtable support, and it also offers full Make support.

2. Another popular tool is Docs Automator, which integrates with Google Docs.

3. Other people have enjoyed using PlumSail Documents or Formstack Documents, both of which can be automated with Make.

4. However, you can choose ANY document creation app that you would like, and automate the PDF creation process by using Make. You can even use good old fashioned Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel. If you’ve never used Make before, I’ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread. For example, here is how you would instantly trigger a Make automation from Airtable.

Hope this helps! If you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with anything Airtable-related, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld