How to create packing lists from Notion on automation

Creating a packing list from scratch is prone to errors and requires frequently manually copy and paste to be able to setup the template for generating a PDF.

If you are using Notion to create and track your packing lists, then this becomes a repetitive process when it comes to generating a PDF which consumes a lot of time but with minimal output.

In this guide, we will learn how we can generate a professional branded looking PDF directly from Notion without any need of coding approach.

In the end, we will have a system in place that will produce Packing Lists following the process mentioned below:

• Generates professional looking branded packing list PDFs from Notion in seconds.
• Fetches the order details and items details from support of multiple databases cohesively.
• Supports production of PDFs in one-click easy process created within the Notion workspace.

But first let's understand few things…

What is Packing List document used for and why it requires automation

A Packing List is a document that accompanies a shipment being made. It includes the details of all the items being shipped.

This includes the information for:

• Product Details
• SKUs of the products
• Quantities shipped
• Shipping Details etc

Who needs a packing list document?

Packing list is required by the following people for different use cases:

• Warehouse teams use the packing list to identify the items being shipped
• Customers or the recipient use this to find out the items that have been shipped

Note : The importing and Exporting authority of the importing and exporting countries specify requirement of packing lists for shipping items internationally.

For generating the packing lists we can connect the orders database along with the line items database to be able to produce the PDFs on automation from PDFOutput.

Why to automate packing lists generation using Notion

Creating packing lists manually is a tedious process as it involves manually copying and pasting the elements one by one from the notion Database onto the template file, i.e. either a Word File or Google Document.

This can be a cause of several issues such as:

• Prone to human errors - Manual copy and paste is tedious process which is time consuming and is prone to human errors.
• Inconsistent Formatting of the document - When you generate PDFs manually there's always a high chance of not following a consistent styling and format for creating the document.
• No tracking mechanism for PDFs created - Manual form of creating the packing lists doesn't help you trace the orders which have been generated as such and becomes hard to understand the records which have been processed.
• Doesn't save time - When you are consistently generating the same type of PDFs regularly which follow the same pattern everytime but decide to do it manually it doesn't save any time at all.

Thus, automating the packing lists generation with Notion is an ideal strategy when it comes to producing PDFs to mitigate above issues.

It pulls in the right records with the right values and produces the output consistent with the data stored in the database all at once.

McKinsey has highlighted in the report that setting up digital transformation can lead to reduction of the time utilised by upto 30-50% which can eventually help to reduce costs and improve profitability.

Prerequisites for generating packing lists PDFs on automation using Notion

Here's 3 things which are necessary before we start generating PDFs on automation:

• Notion Databases - We will need the connected databases such as Packing Order Details (primary) and Line Items Database (secondary) which will help produce the PDFs on automation.
• Google account - We will need a Google account where we will create the template file that will be used to define the template for automation.
• PDFOutput account - We will need the PDFOutput account to setup the automation.

How to setup automation for packing lists in Notion?

In order to setup automation to produce packing lists in Notion, we will start with setting up Notion Database first.

Step : 1 Connecting Notion Databases

First of all, we need to create 2 databases and connect them to setup the packing lists overview.

• Packing Orders Database - This includes details such as where the order is being shipped, who is shipping the order and what's the status of the order being shipped.
• Line Items Details - This includes the details of products for each order being fulfilled which includes what is being shipped such as SKU, Name, Location of the fulfillment etc.

Packing Orders Details

In this database we will store the key information for storing packing orders related details.

Here's what the packing orders database will contain:

Field Name	Field Type	Used for
Order ID	Title type	Order identifier
Customer Name	Text type	Person receiving shipment items
Shipping Address	Address type	Delivery address of shipment
Date of Order	Date type	Order placement date
Order Status	Select type	Order fulfillment status
Products Ordered	Linked to Line Items Database	Connection with the Line Items Database

Packing Orders Line Items Database

Here's what the Line Items Database contains:

Field Name	Field Type	Used for
Product Name	Title type	Describing the name of products
SKU details	Text type	Testing unit for warehouse pricing
Quantity	Number type	Quantity of units to pack in each packing
Weight	Number type	Weight of units packed in each packing
Location	Address type	Location
Packing Orders	Linked to packing orders Database	Connection with packing orders database

Following this approach we have kept the tables clean and simple and are considering only 2 data sources to be connected to implement the packing orders workflow management.

Note : Any additional data sources that will be connected to the above setup can be connected and used in the same way as mentioned above.

How to add Notion Databases?

Click on New Automation and it will take us to the setup page.

!PDFOutput Dashboard with New Automation

Click on Connect under Notion to add Notion Databases

!Connect Notion Button

Select your desired Notion Workspace and then click on Select Pages

!Select Pages in Notion

Add the desired databases in the setup including Packing Orders, Packing Orders Line Items Databases and click the Allow Access button.

!Allow Access to Notion Databases

Once they are added it will be available for selection in step - 3 below.

Step : 2 Connecting Template Source

In this step, we need to connect a template source which will serve as a template for generating PDFs.

We can add template source in one of the following ways:

• Word File or
• Google Document or
• PDF File or
• Choosing from a template source

There are pre-defined template sources which are added beforehand for our use.

For this demonstration, we will search for "Packing Lists" and choose the template and click on Continue.

!Template Selection Options

Here we select the template from Google Document and then click the Continue Button for Next Step.

!Select Google Document Template

!Packing Order Template Loaded from Google Docs

Step : 3 Mapping the properties onto the template Source

Once the template source is added and the notion Databases are connected, it's time to map the properties of the database onto the template source.

Select the desired packing orders notion database (primary database) added earlier in step - 1 above in the select notion database shown and it will load all the properties for our use.

!Select Packing Order Database from Dropdown

From the loaded properties, we can click on Copy and use Ctrl + V / Cmd + V to paste the properties onto the template source loaded on the left.

When we copy and paste the properties, it will add the property in the form of \{\{placeholder_text\}\} into the template source which will be replaced with the values from the database.

!Mapped Placeholders on Packing Order Template

Eg: If we have a property Order ID and we copy and paste the same, it adds the property as \{\{Order ID\}\} onto the template.

This will fetch the Order ID from the Packing Orders Database and replace the same on the template source.

If we are looking to add line items for the items shipped onto the body section we can also copy the elements from the Line Items table and map the same onto the body section.

Eg: If we have Product Name, SKU, Quantity, Weight we can copy the same showing under Packing Orders Line Items Database properties and paste the same onto the body of the template.

!Line Items Properties Mapped onto Template Body

We can also add image properties which would be in the form of \{\{image_field\}\}_\{\{200*200\}\}.

Once all the properties are mapped as required, it's time to generate a Preview of the document and check the output.

Step : 4 Creating a Preview Output and setting up automation

Click on Preview Output to generate a preview output file with the mappings created.

!Click Preview Output Button

This will show the output in a preview format displaying the generated pdf for one record of data from the Packing Details Database (primary database).

!Preview of Generated Packing Order PDF

Once you are happy with the preview and want to setup automation click on Setup Automation button.

!Setup Automation Button

This will setup the automation and activate it to run forever.

How to generate packing lists in automation from Notion

We can generate the packing lists from Notion Database through these ways:

1. Batch PDFs

While generating the PDFs we also have an option to produce the PDFs in batches, click on the 3-dots and then Batch PDFs.

!Batch PDFs Option in PDFOutput Dashboard

This will produce PDFs in batches of 100 records at once and will store the PDFs back into the Notion Database.

!Batch Processing PDFs in Notion Database

!Completed Batch PDF Generation in Notion

2. One-click database automation

Once the automation is activated, we can mark the desired records as "Ready to Generate" under the GeneratePDF property.

!Mark Record as Ready to Generate in Notion

!Completed PDF Generation with One-Click in Notion

This will allow to generate the PDFs right inside the database under PDFFiles property once the automation is activated.

Pro Tip : Notion also has in-built automation setup which allows to send emails to the recipient right inside the database as well.

Key considerations while setting up Notion Automation

Here's the best practices for setting up pdf automation for packing lists document generation in PDFOutput:

Preview output before enabling pdf automation

When you preview a document generated from the automation, make sure to check for all the formatting involved to ensure the output is generated as expected.

Use consistent pdf file name across all outputs

While generating the pdf, make sure to use a consistent style of naming the pdf files. If you want to use a custom name not directly related to any field name, use a formula type property and create your custom formula defining the field name before generating pdf.

Eg: Let's say you are want to use order ID and the database name as pdf file name.

You can create another formula type property which would be like [Order ID + "Packing Delivery Details"], this will create the file name custom manner unique for each pdf generated.

This will fetch the order ID values for each row and then add the same to "Packing Delivery Details" while generating the pdf.

Use appropriate dimensions for images

PDFOutput also supports media file types in the form of png or jpg. While adding the image type placeholders add the same onto the document with the dimension in the format "\{\{imagefield\}\}_\{\{20*20\}\}".

Here the dimensions marked inside the \{\{…\}\} correspond to the size of the media files in inches and can be tested through preview to see how it fits.

Use a simple pdf template to generate reliable output

While designing the sample template source file to create the PDFs, make sure to use simple table formatting, simple font and use minimum styling effects while designing the template.

This will help prevent any errors or issues while generating the PDFs.

Use of complex formatting can sometimes cause the template to break the structure of the template and not produce consistent output as expected.

Formatting of the date field values

The PDFs are generated by default using the format of "MMMM DD, YYYY".

Eg : For the date value 11th May, 2026 it will generate the placeholder value as May 11, 2026.

If you want to generate the date in a different format, let's say in the form of 11.05.2026 then simply add another formula property in the database, let's say "Derived_Date" with the formula "[formatDate(prop("datefield"), "DD.MM.YYYY")]"

This will create the new date value in the above format of DD.MM.YYYY as required.

Map this new field "Derived_Date" onto the document instead of the date field and the output will show the date value in the above desired format of DD.MM.YYYY as required.

What are Common Problems in generating packing lists PDFs in Notion and how to fix the issues

Here's some common problems associated with generation of packing lists PDFs in Notion and ways to fix them:

Placeholders don't populate correctly onto the document

Issue : The placeholders in the template source file aren't getting replaced with the desired values from the data source.

Solution : Make sure the field mapped from data source is exactly the same field that is added onto the template source.

Eg: If the field name in the database is "Order_id" and the placeholdertext mapped to the template source is "Order_ID" then it will not be able to replace the placeholdertext correctly.

Make sure both the texts are exactly the same including the capitalisation or underscores used.

Always ensure to click on Copy and then use Ctrl + V / Cmd + V to paste the values onto the template to ensure the placeholders text are correctly added onto the template source.

Line Items added don't show any values

Issue : The placeholders used for adding line item values may not be added correctly onto the template source.

Solution : When you are adding the placeholders make sure to check the Line Items Database is properly connected and added as a Notion Database or not.

- A quick way to check the same is to head over to the Line Items Database and click on the 3-dots on the top right. - Click on Connections and check if PDFOutput is available as a connection or not in the list.

→ If PDFOutput is showing in the list refresh the databases and it will show in the list.

→ If PDFOutput is not showing in the list reconnect the database in the setup screen after signing in and it will appear in the selection list.

PDF file is not generated as per correct format

Issue : The pdf file created doesn't preserve the correct formatting of the document as expected.

Solution : This can happen if your template file has a complex layout and includes elements not supported by the Google Document on its own.

When you add elements that are not natively supported by Google Document it can lead to formatting and issues with the design and layout of the document generated.

Use a simple template and avoid using any complex layout and formatting that are not natively supported in Google Document.

Automate Packing Lists from Notion today

If you are consistently running through issues of doing things manually which takes a lot of your valuable time and is error prone it's high time to setup automation workflow to produce PDFs on demand.

Stop doing things manually including copying and pasting every element one by one, but setup an automation workflow in PDFOutput to generate professional branded packing lists PDFs that complies with industry standards and give you the best automated solution.

It takes less than 10 minutes to setup everything for once and you can enjoy the automation to run forever.

If you have any more questions, reach out to me at notionformyuse@gmail.com.

FAQ's on PDFOutput

Here's some commonly asked questions about PDFOutput:

Can I batch produce PDFs at once for the Packing Slips?

Yes, you can produce batch PDFs at once for the packing slips.

Click on the 3-dots icon next to the active automation and you will find an option Batch PDFs, click that it will produce PDFs in batches of 100 PDFs at once for your use case.

Can I add multiple line items from linked database into the primary database?

PDFOutput can dynamically handle the properties from linked database, it doesn't matter the record count used.

It can be as low as 10 records or as high as 50 records, but it can dynamically generate from the linked Packing Lists Order items table automatically depending upon the linked database used.

But, do make sure to use the right syntax formatting for this which would be useful for generating the linked items properly.

How do I add the fields from the linked database in Notion onto the report?

Simply add the field from the corresponding linked database onto the template source, it will automatically pull the respective field and replace the placeholder in the document.

Make sure to connect all the databases used, i.e. Primary Database (Packing Lists Order Table) and other linked databases such as (Packing Lists Items Database).

Are packing lists generated automatically when the documents (records) are marked as "Ready to Generate"?

Yes, when you mark a record as "Ready to Generate" inside the Packing Lists Details (primary database) table, it will automatically generate the PDF for you.

It will change the status from Ready to Generate → Processing… → Completed and generate the PDFs right into the Notion Database.

Can I include images in the packing lists that is generated?

Yes, you can add a Files and media type field in the Shipping Details Table and map the same placeholder onto the Template Source.

It will convert the placeholder added into an image and generate the PDF.

Make sure that the image file added is a PNG or JPG file and it shouldn't be a large file in terms of the size of the file.

You can adjust the dimensions of the file using the following placeholder format, eg: \{\{Field_Name\}\}_\{\{200*200\}\}

Here, \{\{200*200\}\} denotes the size in inches which can be altered to make the image fit properly as required.