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Help with an automation

J
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Hi everyone! I am trying to automate a repetitive task to save time for my team, and I'm stuck.

Here is what I need this process to look like:

  1. Student completes post-course survey (via Airtable form)
  2. Data from form populates in Airtable base
  3. Data in base is used to create a PDF certificate using Page Designer (native Airtable extension)
  4. Automation emails PDF to student to email provided in form.

i have figured out how to do everyting above EXCEPT the last step, and I just don't know how to program an automation to send an email with an attachment from page designer based on a record.

Please note that I am using an enterprise version of Airtable and ALL third party extensions are disabled. That is non-negotiable, unfortunately.

Is there anyone who can help me figure out how to do that last step?

Thanks in advance!

Jennifer

 

ScottWorld
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Sorry, but extensions can’t be automated in any way.

You will need to manually create your PDF file and put it into an attachment field, and then your automation can send an email based on that attachment field.

Or, you will need turn to third-party apps.

You said that you can’t turn to third-party apps, but for those people reading this who can use third-party apps, there are many many different solutions for this. 

Here are just a few options:

1. Most people prefer to use Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable instead of Airtable’s native forms. Fillout is 100% free and offers HUNDREDS of features that Airtable’s native forms don’t offer, including the ability to update Airtable records from a form and the ability to email the recipient a customized PDF file of their form results.

2. The most popular and fully-featured PDF creation tools for Airtable is DocuMint.

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

4. However, you can choose ANY document creation app that you would like, and automate the PDF creation process by using Make’s automations & integrations. 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 

J
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  • jgreyber
  • New Participant
  • January 13, 2025
ScottWorld wrote:

Sorry, but extensions can’t be automated in any way.

You will need to manually create your PDF file and put it into an attachment field, and then your automation can send an email based on that attachment field.

Or, you will need turn to third-party apps.

You said that you can’t turn to third-party apps, but for those people reading this who can use third-party apps, there are many many different solutions for this. 

Here are just a few options:

1. Most people prefer to use Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable instead of Airtable’s native forms. Fillout is 100% free and offers HUNDREDS of features that Airtable’s native forms don’t offer, including the ability to update Airtable records from a form and the ability to email the recipient a customized PDF file of their form results.

2. The most popular and fully-featured PDF creation tools for Airtable is DocuMint.

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

4. However, you can choose ANY document creation app that you would like, and automate the PDF creation process by using Make’s automations & integrations. 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 


Thanks for all of that info!

 

A related question...

I want to pre-fill a column in my database with an image every time a new record is created. In other words, whenever someone submits a form, I want a column in that base to populate with an image. Can you help me do that?

Thanks,

Jennifer

ScottWorld
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Yes, check out my presentation on “global fields” in this Airtable podcast episode.

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 

TheTimeSavingCo
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I want to pre-fill a column in my database with an image every time a new record is created. In other words, whenever someone submits a form, I want a column in that base to populate with an image. Can you help me do that?

Try:
1. Create a new table to store the image


2. Create an automation that'll either:
  - Store the image in an Attachment field


  - Utilize a lookup field to display the attachment:

  

Link to base

There are pros and cons with either option.  Specifically, if you use the lookup method, any changes you make to the attachment will affect all of your historical data.  e.g. if a record was created last year and you were using Attachment 1, if you changed that to Attachment 2 now that record would show Attachment 2 in the lookup field

If you used the Attachment field method, then you might find yourself running out of attachment space, which varies according to one's plan (the Teams plan has 20gb, so if the image is small then it doesn't really matter too much!)


 

 
Adam, Consultant @ thetimesaving.company

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