How to generate PDFs in Notion using a button (Step-by-step guide using PDFOutput)

Notion is a versatile tool that helps manage every aspect of a business in-house.

But one of the most commonly asked features is: how do you generate PDFs out of a Notion Database? Is there even a way to do so?

PDFOutput is exactly the solution that will help you with this — and the best part is that all PDFs can be generated simply with the click of a button in Notion!

Let's understand how this works step by step.

Requirements for using PDFOutput

PDFOutput has 3 essential requirements to automate documents for PDF generation.

1. Notion Database

A Notion Database (or datasource) is a must and must be added by the user to allow PDFOutput to generate PDFs.

PDFOutput connects with the provided database, fetches the properties of the Notion Database, and maps the placeholders onto the template source.

Users have the flexibility to add as many Notion databases as required to generate as many PDFs as they would like.

For this demonstration, we will create Invoices as PDFs on automation using a button.

The Invoices Datasource will contain the following 4 databases:

DB_Invoices - The primary database containing the invoice entries.

DB_LineItems - Contains the line items for services or products provided (secondary database connected to DB_Invoices).

DB_Clients - Contains the list of clients to whom the invoices are issued (secondary database connected to DB_Invoices).

DB_Projects - Contains the list of projects worked on for which invoices are issued (secondary database connected to DB_Invoices).

2. Google Account

A valid Google account is required for the setup. It will be used to process the template as a Google Document and generate the PDFs.

A template source can be added in one of the following 4 ways:

• Google Document
• Word File
• PDF File
• Selecting from a list of pre-added templates

Users have the flexibility to opt for any of the 4 methods above.

3. PDFOutput Account

A PDFOutput account is essential - it connects both Google Document and Notion Database together to generate the PDFs.

PDFOutput also has a free plan available that lets you test PDF generation before committing to a paid plan.

How to set up PDFOutput automation (Step-by-step guide)

Step : 1 Connecting the Notion Database (Datasource)

The very first step is to connect the Notion Database that will allow fetching the properties to convert as PDFs.

Here are the steps to follow:

• Log in to PDFOutput to get started.

!PDFOutput login screen

• Click on New Connection to set up a new connection (e.g. Invoicing Automation).

!New Connection button

• Click on Connect Notion to create a new Notion connection.

!Connect Notion button

• Click on Select Pages to select the Notion pages for adding the database.

!Select Pages option

• Search for the Invoices Database to find it in the search window.

!Searching for Invoices Database

• Click on Allow Access to grant PDFOutput access to the connected databases.

!Allow Access button

Once access is granted, it's time to connect a template source.

Step : 2 Connecting the Template Source

!Template source selection screen

A template source is added in one of the following 4 ways:

• Google Document
• Word File
• PDF File
• Selecting from a list of available templates

For this demonstration, we will choose the template from the available list of templates.

Here are the steps to add a template source:

Search for Invoice and find it among the available templates.

!Searching for Invoice template

Select the template and click Continue.

!Selecting the Invoice template

This will proceed to the Provide Data section where you can map the fields fetched from the database onto the template shown on the left.

3. Mapping Notion Properties (Provide Data)

The final step of the automation process is to map the properties live onto the template source.

When you click Continue, you land on the Provide Data step where you can map Notion properties one by one onto the template.

Here are the steps:

Select the primary database - DB_Invoices - from the list shown under the Select Database section.

!Selecting DB_Invoices as primary database

Once selected, PDFOutput will load all the properties of DB_Invoices, DB_LineItems, DB_Projects, and DB_Clients, which can be mapped to the template source.

!Properties loaded from all databases

Click Copy for each property, then use Paste (Ctrl + V / Cmd + V) to place the properties onto the template source file.

!Mapping properties onto the template

Once all properties are mapped, click the Preview Output button.

!Preview Output button

This will take you to the final step where you set up the automation.

Additional Settings

Before clicking Preview Output, you can configure a few additional settings:

!Additional settings panel

Google Drive Folder - Select a folder to automatically save generated PDFs to Google Drive.

PDF File Name - Select the field that will be used to name the PDF files.

For example: if you select Invoice Number (value: INV-001), the PDF will be saved as INV-001.pdf.

PDF Attachment Field - PDFs will be saved to this selected field in the database.

Drive Attachment Field - The Google Drive file link will be saved to this selected field in the database.

Step : 4 Setting Up the Automation (Preview Output)

!Preview Output stage

Once Preview Output is clicked in the Provide Data stage, you head over to the last step.

In this stage, you can set up the automation to run continuously.

Once the preview output is generated (it creates a preview for the first record from the database), you are ready to activate the automation.

Click on Setup Automation - this sets up the automation to trigger PDF generation indefinitely.

Once the automation is set up, it's time to generate PDFs from the Notion Database using a button.

How to generate PDFs by clicking a button in Notion

Once the automation is set up in PDFOutput, here's how to generate PDFs using a button in Notion.

!Button Automation option in dashboard

Click on the 3-dots → Button Automation for the automation saved in the dashboard. This will show all the steps for setting up the button to automate PDF generation.

Follow these steps:

Create a Button property in the Notion Database (e.g. PDF Button).

!Creating a Button property in Notion

Click on the button property and select Edit Automation.

!Edit Automation option

Scroll down and select Send webhook.

!Send webhook option

In the URL field, add the following URL depending on your requirement:

- To generate Notion Database entries as PDFs using a template:

https://uynlyrypirkwpbtqhgxq.supabase.co/functions/v1/notion-webhook?action=button-trigger

- To generate Notion Pages as PDFs:

https://uynlyrypirkwpbtqhgxq.supabase.co/functions/v1/page-trigger

Note : Click Copy in PDFOutput to copy the URL value and paste it directly into the URL field.

!Adding webhook URL

Scroll down and click on Add Custom Header.

!Add Custom Header option

Fill in the Key field with the value "Authorization".

!Filling in the Authorization key

Note : Click Copy in PDFOutput to copy the Authorization key and paste it directly.

Fill in the Value field with the value shown on your PDFOutput dashboard.

Note : Click Copy in PDFOutput to copy the Authorization value and paste it directly.

That's it - your button is now set up to generate PDFs on demand!

Other ways to generate PDFs from PDFOutput automation

Besides using a button (the recommended way), there are other ways to generate PDFs as well.

1. Using Preview Output

!Preview Output option

Click on 3-dots → Preview Output for any automation in the dashboard.

This generates a preview output for the first Notion record. It's ideal for quick testing to understand how PDFs will look before the automation runs live.

2. Using Batch PDF

!Batch PDF option

Click on 3-dots → Batch PDF for any existing automation in the dashboard.

This generates PDFs in batches of 100 files at a time - highly useful when you need to produce PDFs in bulk.

!Batch PDF results saved to database

3. Using the GeneratePDF / Generate Page Option

This option allows generating PDFs directly within the Notion Database.

!GeneratePDF property in Notion

!Generate Page option

Simply mark a record as "Ready to Generate" and PDFOutput will convert the selected template to a PDF and save it directly in the database.

!PDF saved to database

Common issues when generating PDFs in PDFOutput (and how to fix them)

Placeholders aren't populating correctly in the document

Issue : The placeholders added in the template source file don't get replaced with values from the datasource.

Solution : This happens when the field mapped doesn't exactly match the field name in the template source.

For example: if the field name in the database is “Inv_Num” but the placeholdertext in the template is “Invoice_No”, it will not replace correctly.

Always use the exact placeholder name from the database, including correct capitalisation and underscores. The safest practice is to always Copy the placeholder from PDFOutput and Paste it directly onto the template - this ensures the text is always accurate.

Secondary Database line items don't produce dynamically in the output

Issue : Secondary database items added to the template don't generate values dynamically from the connected secondary databases.

Solution : This happens when the secondary databases haven't been connected to PDFOutput.

While adding placeholder text, check that secondary databases are connected by clicking … → Connections → PDFOutput. If PDFOutput appears in the active connections, the database is properly linked.

PDF file is not produced in the desired format

Issue : The generated PDF doesn't preserve the expected formatting of the document.

Solution : This happens when the template file has a complex layout with elements that aren't natively supported by Google Document.

Always use simplistic elements that are natively supported by Google Docs. This will avoid layout or design issues during PDF generation.

Start automating PDFs from Notion using a button with PDFOutput

Setting up an automation with PDFOutput helps produce PDFs not only with speed but also with precision.

If you are still generating PDFs manually, it's time to change your system and generate PDFs completely on automation.

Set up your CRMs in Notion and use PDFOutput to enable generating PDFs right away from your Notion Database. Using a button gives you the power and flexibility to produce PDFs at your own convenience, at any time of day.

Ready to get started? Try PDFOutput for free and create your first automation in minutes.

Have any more questions, reach out to me at notionformyuse@gmail.com for assistance.

FAQ's on how to use PDFOutput

Here's some commonly asked questions about PDFOutput and its use:

Can I use PDFOutput to produce PDFs in batches at once?

Yes, you can produce batch PDFs using PDFOutput - up to 100 PDFs in one go.

To produce batch PDFs, click on 3-dots → Batch PDFs in the automation dashboard to generate PDFs in batches of 100 at once.

Can I use multiple templates on the same database to generate PDFs?

Yes, PDFOutput allows you to use multiple templates to produce PDFs from the same database.

You can create different variations of the same template and the automation will let you choose your desired template under the Choose Document field to produce the PDFs. Simply set up separate automations choosing the same database with different templates - all templates will appear within the Choose Document field in Notion.

Can I convert Notion Pages to PDFs using PDFOutput?

Yes, PDFOutput allows you to produce PDFs by converting a Notion Page directly to a PDF file.

All the principles explained above apply to the conversion of Notion Pages to PDFs. Connect your Notion Database once, set up a button, and either click it to generate PDFs or mark a record as "Generate Page" to convert a Notion Page to PDF right away.

This also works with placeholders in the form of \{\{…\}\} inside a Notion Page, which get replaced with values from the database. It can even convert normal Notion Pages (without any placeholders) to PDFs as well.