Generating A PDF of Form Submission

Benjamin O'Leary · 05/08/23

Hello,

Does anyone know if it is possible automatically generate a PDF of a submitted Smartsheet form and email it to a particular user? The PDF would need to show the choices the user made when filling-out the form as well.

Ben

Paul Newcome · 05/08/23

You could use a Generate Document automation in the sheet triggered when a row is added and then use an alert automation triggered when an attachment is made.

Benjamin O'Leary · 05/08/23

@Paul Newcome it says I have to upload a fillable PDF. I'm not sure what that means.

Kelly Moore · 05/08/23

Hey @Benjamin O'Leary

I wondered if you have to have the pdf vs turning on 'allow recipient to receive a copy of form' that can be found in the Form settings? This is definitely the most straight forward option.

The fillable pdf is a requirement of the Generate Document functionality. One must use a software outside of smartsheet to generate a Fillable pdf - that is a pdf form that allows data entry into fields, then upload that pdf form template to be used as by Generate Document to produce the pdf that contains the row data.

If you must have the pdf, another approach vs Generate Document is to use Power Automate (you might have access to this depending on your microsoft subscription). You could easily set up a trigger within smartsheet to send you the email and Power Automate will automatically do the rest. You could tack on an option at the end of the Power Automate workflow to move the email to your deleted box- it would all be 'hands-free'. If interested, this workflow shows you how the Power Automate can be configured. The example workflow shows the file going to sharepoint but it is easy to change the step to instead send an email to the form submitter (assuming you captured the Created by email address)

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Save-Outlook-Email-as-PDF-and-save-it-to-Sharepoint/td-p/558935

Kelly

Paul Newcome · 05/09/23

@Benjamin O'Leary What she said... ^^^

Benjamin O'Leary · 05/09/23

I have another question regarding generating a PDF of a form submission. One of the options in the form is to add an attachment. Is it possible to, once the user submits the form with an attachment, to create a PDF of the filled-out form as well as a PDF of the attachment?

Andrée Starå · 05/10/23

Hi @Benjamin O'Leary

I hope you're well and safe!

Unfortunately, it's not possible now, but it's an excellent idea!

Please submit this as a Product Feedback or Idea (If it hasn't been added already) when you have a moment.

Here's a possible workaround or workarounds

It might be possible with the Smartsheet API or a 3rd-party service like Zapier.

Is that an option?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Benjamin O'Leary · 05/12/23

It is possible, using the Generate Document workflow, to automatically send the filled PDF to a specific email address?

Andrée Starå · 05/12/23

@Benjamin O'Leary

Yes, if you have the email or contact in a cell on the row, you can have a Workflow trigger the PDF creation, and then you'd have another trigger from the added PDF and have an Alert sent with a link to the PDF.

Would that work/help?

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Paul Newcome · 05/13/23

Yes. You could do that using the alert automation mentioned in my first post.

Generating A PDF of Form Submission

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