Tutorials
How to Export Notion Database to PDFs Using Word File
Learn how to convert Notion Database entries to PDF using a Word File automatically with PDFOutput — a step-by-step guide to generating professional PDFs from Notion data using a Word File template.
By Sanat Biswal · 2026-07-24 · 12 min read
In this guide, we will discuss about how to convert Notion Database entries to PDF using Word File automatically. This automation will enable you to convert your Notion Database entries into PDFs using a predefined Word File.
We will use PDFOutput (a document automation platform to generate PDFs using a template) which can be setup within mins and once it's setup properly we can start to convert the Notion Database entries to PDFs with ease. Let's get started.
But, before we create the first document through help of automation here's few key things we need to understand about PDFOutput..
Who Requires PDFOutput Automation?
Any type of business which relies on processing documents especially through Word Files as their primary editor will benefit from the use of the automation tool.
Some of the prominent use cases of the tool includes Invoices, Receipts, Purchase Orders, Agreements, Contracts etc which are to be generated repeatedly again and again.
If your business needs to generate PDFs regularly on automation, then this is the automation exactly built out for you. It prevents the manual copy and paste of the data onto your pdf file each time to create a professional looking PDF for use.
Anyone who is looking for a no-code solution to generate PDFs would find great benefit from the use of the tool, some of the typical businesses who would require this automation would include:
- Real Estate Agencies — Real estate businesses looking to create lease agreements, property listings, and closing disclosures etc would benefit from this tool.
- Staffing/HR Consultancies — Businesses looking to generate offer letters, employment contracts or any onboarding documents requiring consistent legal terms and conditions along with e-signatures clubbed into the document.
- Freelance or Agency Service Providers — Any Proposals, Statement of Works, and Invoices that follow a constant repeatable format per client, and batch-generating the documents from the Notion database that saves the copy and paste effort entirely.
- Logistics/Small Manufacturing Operations — Any logistics or manufacturing companies which requires shipping labels, delivery notes etc that needs to be generated in bulk from order data, where Word (.docx) template is supported and line-items are also handled.
- A Word File or
- A Google Document (Recommended) or
- A PDF File or
- A Notion Page
Prerequisites To Setup PDFOutput Automation
Before we start automating PDFs in PDFOutput, here are the prerequisites to follow through before using the tool:
1. Notion Account
First requirement is to create an account in Notion, its free to start and also easy to setup an account in Notion. Follow the remaining steps ahead, once an account is setup in Notion.
!Notion homepage — create a free account to get started
2. Google Account
Second requirement is to create an account in Google. We will use Google Docs in this step to create a template to generate the PDFs. So having a Google Account is a mandatory requirement for this. Create a Google Account before moving ahead.
> Note: The Word File that will be used as the template during the setup will be eventually converted to a Google Document, so having a Google Account is necessary during the process.
3. PDFOutput Account
Third requirement is to setup an account in PDFOutput. Make sure to create an account in PDFOutput before moving ahead.
!PDFOutput homepage — create your free account
Step-by-Step Guide: How to Automatically Export Notion Database Entries Using Word File
Here's a complete step-by-step guide to follow to export Notion Database Entries as PDFs using Word File:
Step 1: Prepare Notion Database with Entries
First step is to create a Notion Database that has the required database entries that are to be exported as PDFs.
Eg: For this demonstration, I will be automating a Purchase Order Database that has entries filled to be converted to PDFs using a Word File.
The Purchase Orders Database that we will use has 2 connected datasources that will be used (as is 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 that are used in the database must match the exact same name that is used as a placeholder in the Word File to be used as template (used ahead), so make sure to follow the same. Eg: A placeholder such as "Order Total" to be used as notion database property must match the exact same placeholder value {{Order Total}} that is to be used in the Word File, any requirement of any extra space or capitalization issue will not be able to generate the PDFs as required.
> Important: Both the datasources to be used, 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 used to be pulled from the database correctly and not just referenced.
Step 2: Prepare the Word File as the Template File
A template file that is to be created will serve how the Purchase Orders generated in the process will look like.
A template file can be added in one of the following 4 formats:
The Purchase Order is also available as a template in PDFOutput, so this template can be directly used to generate the PDFs as well.
!Purchase Order template in Word File with placeholders for automation
Before proceeding to the next step, we need to make sure that the template file to be used to generate the Purchase Order PDFs on automation is ready and available for use.
In the above template being shown, notice how the Word File template being used is marked with placeholders in the form of {{placeholder_name}}, (eg {{Supplier Name}}, {{Supplier Email}}, {{Requesting Department}} etc).
These placeholders that are used will get replaced with the corresponding values that we fetch from the Purchase Orders Database when the automation starts to generate the PDFs.
Eg: The placeholder "Supplier Name" that are used in the document will get replaced with the values that we have in the Supplier Name property that is used in the "DB_PO Requests" database etc.
> Note: If you are looking to convert the Notion Database rows to PDFs without use of a template file, check out our detailed guide to convert Notion Pages as PDFs.
Step 3: Setting up PDFOutput Automation
!PDFOutput homepage — sign in to setup automation
The last step involved in the automation process is to setup the automation to generate the PDFs.
In this step, we will use both the Purchase Order Notion Database (i.e. prepared in Step 1 above) and Purchase Order template (i.e. Word File prepared in Step 2 above) that will be connected to generate the PDFs.
I have written a detailed guide on how to setup PDFOutput to generate Work Orders on automation. Please refer to this detailed automation guide that explains every step-by-step process that will be used to generate the Work Orders on automation with ease.
Notes:
Once the steps are followed thoroughly, make sure to use Preview Document feature that will help to preview the document once which is generated. Once you are happy with the preview document that is created, use the Setup Automation button to activate the automation that is setup for your use.
Once an automation is activated, it becomes visible in PDFOutput dashboard (as shown below)…
!PDFOutput Dashboard showing active Purchase Orders automation
Once a Word File is selected and uploaded as a template, it automatically gets converted onto a Google Doc which you can now edit live and make changes as you are preparing the template file.
All of the above 3 steps combined together will help setup the automation correctly for use. Its now time to proceed with generating the PDFs from the Notion Database.
Step 4: Exporting PDFs from Notion Database
There are 2 ways available to generate the PDFs directly from the Notion Database:
1. Using a Button Present in the Notion Database to Create PDFs (Feature available for only paid users)
Notion offers use of a button property which when clicked can help to generate the PDFs in Notion Database. This is the fastest way to create the PDFs directly inside Notion Database, but this feature is available only to the paid users of Notion.
Using 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 created a detailed guide explaining how to generate PDFs in Notion using a button. Refer to this guide and setup your automation using this feature (if required).
Here's a sample meetings database shown which creates the PDFs on demand when the button is clicked.
!Notion Database with PDF Button to generate PDFs directly
2. Using GeneratePDF Property in Notion Database to Mark Records for Generating PDFs
This method is a bit slower but also a 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.
!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 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
Above is a preview of how the PDF is generated for one of the records (i.e. PO-002) in the DB_PO Requests shown above.
Notice how the generated PDF has all the placeholders replaced as required from the use of the 2 databases, i.e. DB_PO Requests and DB_PO Items put together.
How to Generate Batches of PDFs from Notion Database
In order to generate PDFs in batches from the Notion Database connected, we will use Batch PDFs option available in the automation shown on the dashboard.
Here's how you can produce batches of PDFs in one go from the use of Purchase Orders Database (as shown below)…
!PDFOutput Dashboard showing Batch PDFs option to generate bulk PDFs
When you click on Batch PDFs, it can allow generating upto 100 PDFs in one attempt from the Notion Database.
This is a very powerful feature and thus allows producing the PDFs in bulk in one go!
Key Considerations for Using Notion Database
> Note: Eg: "Supplier Name" if present in the Notion Database must match the exact same name placeholder in the template as well such as {{Supplier Name}}, any change in text or any extra space added will cause an issue with the mapping and thus a PDF won't be generated as expected.
Conclusion
Exporting Notion Database rows as PDFs is much simpler and effective when it is used with PDFOutput automation tool. Besides using Word File, one can also use Google Document, PDF File or even Notion Pages to generate the PDFs.
Using an automation tool like PDFOutput not only saves you 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 Word File in minutes.
FAQs on Exporting Notion Database to PDFs Using Word File
Can I use any Word File template with this automation?
Yes, you can use any Word File (.docx) template with this automation. Simply add placeholders in the form of {{placeholder_name}} in your Word File 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 Word File 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.
Does the Word File get converted after uploading?
Yes, once a Word File is selected and uploaded as a template, it automatically gets converted onto a Google Doc which you can now edit live and make changes as you are preparing the template file.
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 Word File?
Besides Word File, PDFOutput also supports Google Documents, 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 Word File? Get started for free and create your first automation in minutes.