Tutorials
How to Export Notion Database Entries to PDFs Using Google Docs
Learn how to convert Notion Database entries to PDF using Google Docs automatically with PDFOutput — a step-by-step guide to generating professional PDFs from Notion data using a Google Docs template.
By Sanat Biswal · 2026-07-21 · 12 min read
In this guide, we will talk about how to convert Notion Database entries to PDF using Google Docs automatically. This automation will help to convert the Notion Database entries to PDF using a pre-defined or blank template created in Google Docs.
We will use a document automation platform PDFOutput which can be setup within mins and it will help convert the Notion Database entries to PDFs with ease. Let's get started.
But, before creating the first document through automation, there's few things which are to be done in PDFOutput…
Who Requires This Automation?
Any business that uses Google Docs as its main editor source will immensely benefit from this automation, especially any teams that run on Google Docs for invoices, purchase orders, agreements, contracts, reports etc.
If your business requires PDF generation from Notion Database regularly on automation, then this automation is built out for you. It prevents the manual copy paste of the data each time and creates a well polished professional looking PDF for use.
Useful for businesses who fall in one of the following use cases:
- Businesses that already have a Google Doc template created for several deliverables such as invoices, purchase orders, reports, or other deliverables and want to auto-populate with Notion data every time instead of filling it manually.
- Businesses looking for a consistent branding and formatting setup designed with logos, headers and layout across PDFs created.
- Anyone looking for a no-code solution to bridge the gap between Notion and Google Docs without rebuilding a new tool from scratch.
- Accounting & Billing Teams — Useful for Invoices, purchase orders, receipts, and statements that needs to go out regularly in a consistent, branded format.
- Construction & Facility Management — Useful for Site inspections, safety audits, and incident reports that needs to be submitted in a standardized PDF format.
- Real Estate & Property Management Teams — Useful for Agents and property managers that use Notion to track listings, walkthroughs, and lease agreements.
- Field Services & Equipment Maintenance Teams — Useful for Technicians log service visits, repairs, and installations.
- Insurance & Claims Processing Teams — Required for adjusters document claims and case details in Notion.
- Word File or
- Google Document (Recommended) or
- PDF File or
- Notion Page
Here are some of the industries who would benefit the most from this setup:
So if the work you do involves generating documents using Notion Data, and you already have (or want) a Google Docs template available to put it into a shareable professional looking PDF then this workflow will be useful for your usecase.
In this guide, I have explained with Purchase Orders PDFs created on automation using Google Docs, but this can apply to any document that you need.
Prerequisites To Setting PDFOutput Automation
Before setting up the automation in PDFOutput, here's 3 simple things to setup at once:
1. Notion Account
First create an account in Notion, its free to start and also easy to setup. Follow the remaining steps, once Notion account is setup.
!Notion homepage — create a free account to get started
2. Google Account
Second requirement is to create a Google Account. We will use Google Docs to setup a template to generate the PDFs. So a Google Account is a must requirement for this. Create a Google Account before moving ahead.
3. PDFOutput Account
Third requirement is having an account in PDFOutput. So make sure to create an account in PDFOutput before moving ahead.
!PDFOutput homepage — create your free account
Step-by-Step Guide: Automatically Export Notion Database Entries as PDFs Using Google Docs
Here's a complete step-by-step guide to follow to export Notion Database Entries as PDFs using Google Docs:
Step 1: Preparing Notion Database with Entries
First step is to create a Notion Database that has entries with data to be exported as PDFs.
Eg: For this demonstration, I will use the following Purchase Orders Database with entries filled in that will be converted to PDFs on automation using Google Docs.
The Purchase Orders Database has 2 connected datasources in use (as shown below):
DB_PO Requests (Primary Database)
| Property | Used For |
|---|---|
| PO Reference (Title Property) | Unique purchase order identifier |
| Supplier Name (Text Property) | Name of the vendor |
| Supplier Email (Email Property) | Vendor's contact address |
| Requesting Department (Text Property) | Department raising the request |
| Raised By (Text Property) | Employee submitting the request |
| Issue Date (Date Property) | Date the PO is created |
| Expected Delivery (Date Property) | Delivery deadline |
| Payment Terms (Text Property) | Net 15, Net 30, COD, etc. |
| Ship-To Address (Text Property) | Delivery location |
| Approval Status (Status Property) | Draft, Pending, Approved, or Closed |
| Approved By (Text Property) | Manager who signed off |
| Order Items (Relation to DB_PO Items) | Links to items on the order |
| Order Total (Rollup Property) | Rolled-up total from DB_PO Items |
!DB_PO Requests Database in Notion showing Purchase Order records with properties
DB_PO Items (Secondary Database)
| Property | Used For |
|---|---|
| Item (Title Property) | Name of the product or service |
| PO Reference (Relation Property) | Connects back to DB_PO Requests |
| Qty (Number Property) | Number of units ordered |
| Price per Unit (Number Property) | Cost per unit |
| Line Total (Formula Property) | Qty × Price per Unit |
!DB_PO Items Database in Notion showing line items linked to Purchase Orders
> Note: The property names used in the database must match the exact same name used as a placeholder in the Google Doc PO template (used ahead), so make sure to follow the same. Eg: "Order Total" used as a Notion Database property must match the placeholder {{Order Total}} used in the Google Doc, any extra space or capitalization issue will not generate the PDFs as required.
> Important: Both the datasources, i.e. DB_PO Requests and DB_PO Items must be connected within PDFOutput directly; this will allow all the relation and rollup values to be pulled onto the database correctly, not just referenced.
Step 2: Prepare the Purchase Order Google Doc Template File
A template file that is created will serve how the generated Purchase Orders will look like.
A template file can be added in one of the following 4 formats:
This is also available as a template in PDFOutput, so this template can be used directly as well to generate the PDFs.
!Purchase Order template in Google Document with placeholders for automation
So before proceeding to the next step, make sure to create the template file for use to generate Purchase Order PDFs on automation.
Notice how the Google Document template being used is marked with placeholders in the form of {{placeholder_name}}, (eg {{Supplier Name}}, {{Supplier Email}}, {{Requesting Department}} etc).
These placeholders used will eventually get replaced with their corresponding values from the Purchase Orders Database when the automation starts to generate PDFs.
Eg: "Supplier Name" placeholder used in the document will be replaced with the values of the Supplier Name property used in the "DB_PO Requests" database etc.
> Note: If you are looking to convert Notion Database rows to PDFs without using a template, then check out our complete detailed guide on how to convert Notion Pages as PDFs.
Step 3: Setup PDFOutput Automation
!PDFOutput homepage — sign in to setup automation
The last step in the automation process is to setup PDFOutput automation.
In this step, both the Purchase Order Notion Database (prepared in Step 1 above) and Purchase Order template (prepared in Step 2 above) will be connected to generate the PDFs.
I already have a detailed guide on how to setup PDFOutput automation to generate Purchase Orders. Please refer to this guide which explains the step-by-step process on setting up PDFOutput automation to generate Purchase Orders with ease.
The above guide also mentions how to use the connected datasource to generate line items of Purchase Orders, i.e. line items which are added in the DB_PO Items can also be generated dynamically for each Purchase Order on automation.
So, make sure to follow the above guide thoroughly to setup the automation properly as expected.
During setting up the automation, also make sure to use Preview Document feature that will help to preview the document which are generated and once you are happy with the preview output generated, you can use the Setup Automation button to activate the automation for use.
Once automation is activated, it becomes visible in the PDFOutput dashboard (as shown below)…
!PDFOutput Dashboard showing active Purchase Orders automation
All of the above 3 steps combined process the PDFs to setup the automation correctly for use. Now its time to proceed to generate the PDFs from the Notion Database.
Step 4: Exporting PDFs from Notion Database
There are 2 ways to generate the PDFs directly from the Notion Database:
1. Use Button in Database to Create PDFs (Available for only paid users)
Using a button to generate the PDFs in Notion Database is one of the fastest ways to generate the PDFs.
With this method one can generate the PDFs directly inside the Notion Database. It requires clicking a button to create PDFs on demand. However this feature is only available for the users who are using a paid plan of Notion.
I have a detailed guide explaining how to generate PDFs in Notion using a button. Please refer to this guide to setup your automation using this feature (if required).
Here's a sample meetings database which shows how a button can be clicked to generate the PDFs.
!Notion Database with PDF Button to generate PDFs directly
2. Using GeneratePDF Property to Mark Records to Generate PDFs
This method is a bit slower but definitive process for generating PDFs inside the Notion Database.
This method is available for all types of users (free or paid users) that are looking to generate the PDFs.
In order to generate the PDFs, mark your desired record as "Ready to Generate" and then it will start generating the PDFs right inside the Notion Database.
!Purchase Orders Database with GeneratePDF and PDFFiles columns showing automation in action
So once the automation is setup properly, make sure to mark your desired records as "Ready to Generate" or you can setup a button to generate the PDFs in the Notion Database (it will work either way for your usecase).
> Note: As long as the automation is setup and is running in active status, it will be able to generate the PDFs as expected right inside the Notion Database.
Here's one of the sample PDFs generated with the help of the automation setup directly inside the Notion Database…
!Sample generated Purchase Order PDF for PO-002 showing all placeholders replaced with Notion data
This PDF generated is for the record PO-002 in the DB_PO Requests which is shown above.
Notice how the generated PDF has all the placeholders replaced as expected using the values from the DB_PO Requests and DB_PO Items datasources used together.
How to Generate PDFs in Batches from the Notion Database
In order to start generating PDFs in batches from the Notion Database, we will use the feature of Batch PDFs option.
Here's how to produce batches of PDFs at once using the Purchase Orders Database (see image below)…
!PDFOutput Dashboard showing Batch PDFs option to generate bulk PDFs
When you click on Batch PDFs, it can generate upto 100 PDFs in one attempt from the Notion Database.
This is a very powerful feature which allows generating bulk PDFs in one go!
Key Considerations Before Exporting PDFs from Notion Database
> Note: Eg: "Supplier Name" present in the Notion Database must match the same name placeholder in the template as {{Supplier Name}}, any change in text or extra space will cause issue with the mapping and thus PDF won't be generated as expected.
Conclusion
Exporting Notion Database rows as PDFs is much simpler and effective when used with PDFOutput automation tool. Besides using Google Docs, one can also use Word File, PDF File or even Notion Pages to generate the PDFs.
Using an automation tool like PDFOutput not only saves time but also makes the entire automation process truly efficient and effective to use which produces the PDFs with precision and accuracy as expected.
Ready to start automating? Sign in to PDFOutput and start exporting your Notion Database entries as PDFs using Google Docs in minutes.
FAQs on Exporting Notion Database Entries as PDFs Using Google Docs
Can I use any Google Docs template with this automation?
Yes, you can use any Google Docs template with this automation. Simply add placeholders in the form of {{placeholder_name}} in your Google Doc template, and they will be automatically replaced with corresponding values from your Notion Database when the automation generates the PDFs.
Do the placeholder names need to match exactly with Notion Database property names?
Yes, the placeholder names used in the Google Docs template must match the exact same name as the property names used in the Notion Database. Any difference in text, extra spaces, or capitalization will cause the mapping to fail and the PDF won't be generated as expected.
Can I include line items from a related database in the generated PDF?
Yes, you can include line items from a connected datasource (such as DB_PO Items related to DB_PO Requests). Both datasources must be connected within PDFOutput directly to allow all relation and rollup values to be pulled correctly.
Can I generate PDFs in bulk from my Notion Database?
Yes, you can use the Batch PDFs feature in PDFOutput to generate up to 100 PDFs in one go from your Notion Database. Simply click on the 3-dots icon next to the active automation and select Batch PDFs.
Does the automation work for free Notion users?
Yes, the GeneratePDF property method works for all users including free Notion users. However, the Button method for generating PDFs is only available for users on a paid Notion plan.
What template formats are supported besides Google Docs?
Besides Google Docs, PDFOutput also supports Word Files, PDF Files, and Notion Pages as template formats for generating PDFs from your Notion Database.
Ready to automate PDF generation from your Notion Database using Google Docs? Get started for free and create your first automation in minutes.