Tutorials
How to Export Notion Database Images to PDF Automatically
Learn how to export Notion Database Images as PDFs automatically using PDFOutput — a step-by-step guide to converting images stored in Notion databases into polished, templated PDFs.
By Sanat Biswal · 2026-07-20 · 12 min read
In this guide, we will talk about how to export Notion Database Images as PDFs automatically. This automation will help you convert Images added in the Notion Database and export it onto a PDF using a pre-defined template.
We will use a document automation platform PDFOutput which will be setup in mins that will help convert Notion Database with images as PDFs. Let's get started.
But, before we setup the automation, here's what we need to do first to setup the automation in PDFOutput…
Who Needs This Automation?
If your business needs photos to be included inside the Notion Database such as inspection shots, property images, before and after job photos, evidence of damages etc and you regularly need to hand over that data as a clean and shareable PDF, then this automation is exactly built for your use case.
Rather than manually generating the screenshot of the images everytime copying and pasting the images onto a document everytime, this workflow turns any image-based Notion database rows being used into a polished, templated PDF automatically.
Here are some of the industries where this is used most often:
- Construction & Facility Management (Safety and Compliance Teams) — Required for any site inspections being done, safety audits being done, or incident reports being generated always requires photo evidence. Teams need a standardized PDF format to submit for compliance, share with clients, or keep on file for audits, and manually assembling these reports from Notion records is slow and error-prone.
- Real Estate & Property Management Teams — Agents and property managers use Notion to track listings, walkthroughs, and move-in/move-out condition reports. Turning these records into branded PDF spec sheets or condition reports with photos attached is a common, repetitive need.
- Field Services & Equipment Maintenance Teams — Technicians log service visits, repairs, and installations with before-and-after photos as proof of work. Clients and internal teams often expect a formatted PDF report after every visit, which this automation can generate directly from the Notion record.
- Insurance & Claims Processing Teams — Adjusters document damage claims with photographic evidence stored in Notion. Standardized PDF claim reports make it easier to share findings with clients, underwriters, or during disputes, without reformatting anything by hand.
- Word File or
- Google Document (Recommended) or
- PDF File or
- Notion Pages
Thus, if your work involves regularly documenting something visually and then packaging that documentation into a shareable, professional-looking PDF, this exact workflow will apply for your use.
The Safety Inspections Report explained example below is just one version of a pattern that fits any of the use cases mentioned above.
Prerequisites Before Setting Up Automation in PDFOutput
Before setting up an automation in PDFOutput, here's 3 things to setup:
1. Notion Account
First create an account in Notion, its free to start and easy to setup. Once you create an account in Notion, follow rest of the steps mentioned below to setup other things.
!Notion homepage — create a free account to get started
2. Google Account
Second requirement is to create a Google Account. We will use Google Document to create a template that will help generate the PDFs. So create a Google Account before moving ahead.
3. PDFOutput Account
Third requirement is to setup the automation in PDFOutput, and thus we need to create 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: Complete Guide To Exporting Notion Database Images as PDFs Automatically
Here's the complete step-by-step guide on how to export Notion Database Images as PDFs:
Step 1: Prepare the Notion Database with Images to Export PDFs
First step is to create a Notion Database that has the rows of data with images to be exported as PDFs.
Eg: For this demonstration, I have created the following Safety Inspections Database with rows of data which has Images that will be converted to PDFs on automation.
The Safety Inspections Database has 2 connected datasources in use:
DB_Inspection Database
Following are some of the properties used:
| Property | Used For |
|---|---|
| ReportID (Title Type) | Define the Report ID |
| InspectionDate (Date Type) | Define the Date of Inspection |
| InspectorName (Text Type) | Define the Inspector Name |
| SiteLocation (Text Type) | Defines the Site Location |
| SiteAddress (Text Type) | Defines the Site Address |
| Department (Select Type) | Defines the Department of Inspection |
| CompanyPhone (Phone Type) | Defines the Company Phone Used |
| CompanyEmail (Email Type) | Defines the Company Email Used |
| Status (Select Type) | Defines the Inspection Status |
| Findings Summary (Text Type) | Defines the Key Findings |
| Corrective Action (Text Type) | Defines the corrective actions taken |
| Photos (Image Type) | Attach the Images for the Inspections |
| Checklist (Relation Type) | Connected to DB_ChecklistFinding Database |
!DB_Inspection Database in Notion showing Safety Inspection records with properties
DB_ChecklistFinding
| Property | Used For |
|---|---|
| Checklist (Title Type) | Defines the checklist of tasks to perform |
| Inspection (Relation Type) | Connected to DB_Inspection |
| Status (Select Type) | Defines the status of checklist |
| Observation (Text Type) | Defines the observations noted during inspection |
| Priority (Select Type) | Defines the priority of the inspections |
| Item (Text Type) | Defines the items of the inspections |
> Note: Here we have used 2 connected datasources for preparation of the Inspections Report. We will discuss ahead how these 2 datasources would be used combined together to generate the PDFs.
Step 2: Prepare the Safety Inspections Template File
A template file must be created that will serve how the generated Safety Inspections PDFs 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.
!Safety Inspections template in Google Document — top section with placeholders
So before proceeding further to the next step, make sure to prepare a template file for use to generate the site inspections with images as PDFs on automation.
Notice how the Google Document template used here is marked with placeholders in the form of {{placeholder_name}}, (eg {{ReportID}}, {{Inspection Date}}, {{Department}} etc).
These placeholders will get replaced with their corresponding values from the Site Inspections Database when the automation starts to generate PDFs and thus PDFs will be generated from Notion Database rows.
> Note: If you are looking to convert the 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 this process is to setup the PDFOutput automation.
In this step, both the Safety Inspections Notion Database (prepared in Step 1 above) and Inspections Template (prepared in Step 2 above) will be connected.
I already have a detailed guide on how to setup PDFOutput automation to generate Safety Inspections Report. Please refer to this guide which explains the step-by-step process on setting up PDFOutput automation to generate Safety Inspections with ease.
The above guide also mentions how to use the connected datasource to generate line items of checklist findings for the Inspections Report created as well. Make sure to follow the above guide for a complete walkthrough of the process.
During automation setup, make sure to use Preview Document feature which will help preview the document generated and once you are happy with the output generated, use Setup Automation button to activate the automation.
Once the automation is activated, it becomes visible in the PDFOutput dashboard (as shown below)…
!PDFOutput Dashboard showing active Safety Inspections automation
These 3 steps combined completes the process for setting up the automation.
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)
This method is the fastest way to generate the PDFs in Notion Database.
With this method you can generate the PDFs directly inside the Notion Database. It requires just click of a button. However this feature is available only for the users who are on a paid plan using 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.
Here's a sample meetings database which shows how the button can be clicked to generate the PDF.
!Notion Database with PDF Button to generate PDFs directly
2. Using GeneratePDF Property to Mark Records to Generate PDFs
This method is a slower but definitive process to generate PDFs inside the Notion Database.
Also this method is available to all types of users (free or paid users) who are looking to generate PDFs with Images, such as Site Inspections.
In order to generate the PDFs, simply mark your record as "Ready to Generate" and it will start generating the PDFs inside the Notion Database.
!Safety Inspections Database with GeneratePDF and PDFFiles columns showing automation in action
> Important: Notice how the Photos column (shown in the image attached above) includes the photos of the Site Inspections which will be exported onto PDFs generated.
So once the automation is setup make sure to mark the records as "Ready to Generate" or 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 stays active and running, it will be able to generate the PDFs right inside the Notion Database as required.
Here's one of the sample PDFs generated with the help of the automation setup right inside the Notion Database…
!Sample generated Safety Inspection PDF — Page 1 showing general information, findings, and checklist
This PDF generated is for the record RPT-2024-001 in the Safety Inspections Database which is shown above.
Notice how the generated PDF also has the site inspections image shown in the PDF generated as well fetched from the Photos column that was used earlier from the Site Inspections Database.
How to Generate PDFs in Batches from Notion Database
In order to generate PDFs in batches from the entire Notion Database, we will use the feature of Batch PDFs option.
Here's how to produce batches of PDFs at once from the Notion Database (see image below)…
!PDFOutput Dashboard showing Batch PDFs option to generate bulk PDFs
When you click on Batch PDFs, it generates upto 100 PDFs in one go from the Notion Database.
This is a very powerful feature that allows generation of bulk PDFs for users in one go!
Key Considerations Before Exporting Images as PDFs
{{Photo}}), then you can add the dimensions to this placeholder such as {{Photo}}_{{4030}} to give it length and width. Here {{4030}} serves as the dimensions for the image to be generated.> Note: Image file extensions such as HEIC are not supported and thus must be converted to either JPEG or PNG for use.
Wrapping Up
Exporting images from Notion Database as PDFs is made simpler and possible with the use of the PDFOutput automation tool which allows producing PDFs on automation directly within the Notion Database.
Using PDFOutput not only saves time but also makes the entire automation process truly efficient and effective to use.
Ready to start automating? Sign in to PDFOutput and start exporting your Notion Database images as PDFs in minutes.
FAQs on Exporting Notion Database Images as PDFs
Can I export multiple images from a single Notion record into one PDF?
Yes, you can include multiple images from a single Notion Database record. Simply add the image fields as placeholders in your template, and all images attached to that record will be included in the generated PDF.
What image formats are supported for PDF export?
PDFOutput supports PNG and JPEG image formats. If your images are in other formats like HEIC, you will need to convert them to PNG or JPEG before using them in the automation.
Is there a file size limit for images?
Yes, each image must be less than 5MB in size. Images exceeding this limit will fail to generate in the PDF output.
Can I control the size of images in the generated PDF?
Yes, you can add dimensions to image placeholder fields using the format {{Photo}}_{{4030}} where {{4030}} represents the width and height dimensions for the image in the generated PDF.
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.
Ready to automate image exports from your Notion Database? Get started for free and create your first automation in minutes.