Tutorials
What is PDFOutput and How to Automate PDF Generation in Notion
A complete guide to PDFOutput — the no-code document automation platform for Notion users. Learn how to connect your Notion database, map placeholders onto a template, and generate professional branded PDFs on full automation.
By Sanat Biswal · 2026-06-03 · 15 min read
PDFOutput is a no-code document automation platform for Notion users who are looking to generate professional, branded PDFs on automation.
It easily maps the data of Notion Database properties as placeholders onto a template source in the form of \{\{placeholdertext\}\}, which then gets converted to PDFs automatically — no coding required.
Template sources can be added in one of the following 4 ways:
- Word File
- Google Document
- PDF File
- Selecting a template from a list of pre-added templates
- DB_Invoices — This contains the Invoices database (primary database).
- DB_LineItems — This contains the Line Items content, which specifies the line items of services or items provided (secondary database connected to DB_Invoices).
- DB_Clients — This provides the list of clients to whom the invoices are to be issued (secondary database connected to DB_Invoices).
- DB_Projects — This provides the list of projects for which the invoices are to be used (secondary database connected to DB_Invoices).
- Google Document
- Word File
- PDF File
- Selecting from a list of pre-added templates
Prerequisites for Using PDFOutput
PDFOutput requires 3 things to automate documents for PDF generation.
1. Notion Database
A Notion Database (or Datasource) must be added by the user to allow PDFOutput to generate PDFs within the same Notion database.
PDFOutput connects with the provided database and then fetches the properties of the Notion Database to map as placeholders in the template source.
Users can add as many Notion databases as they want to continue generating as many PDFs as they want.
For this demonstration, we will look to create Invoices as PDFs on automation using Notion.
We will connect an Invoices Datasource which will be converted as PDFs when a new invoice entry is added and is ready to be generated.
The Invoices Datasource will contain 4 databases which need to be connected:
2. Google Account
The second prerequisite is having a valid Google account. Users must have a Google account which will allow processing an added template as a Google Document to generate the PDFs.
As mentioned earlier, a user can add a template source in one of the following 4 ways:
3. PDFOutput Account
Having a PDFOutput account is a must as it allows you to connect both a Google Document and Notion Database together to generate the PDFs.
PDFOutput has a free plan which allows testing PDF generation to validate the automation process before committing to a paid plan.
How to Setup PDFOutput Automation (Step-by-Step Guide)
Here's a step-by-step guide on how PDFOutput works:
Step 1 — Connecting Notion Database (or Datasource)
The very first step to using PDFOutput is connecting the Notion Database (or Datasource) which will be used to fetch the properties for converting as PDFs.
To connect a Notion Database, follow these steps:
!New Connection button in PDFOutput
!Searching for Invoices Database
!Allow Access confirmation screen
Once access is granted, it's time to connect a template source.
Step 2 — Connecting Template Source (Select a Template)
!Template Source selection screen
Template sources can be added in one of the following 4 ways:
For this demonstration, we will add the template by selecting a template from the available list of templates.
Following are the steps to add a template source:
!Searching for Invoice template
!Selecting template and clicking Continue
It will take you to the mapping section where we will map the properties fetched from the Invoice database to generate the PDFs.
Step 3 — Mapping Notion Properties (Provide Data)
The final step of the automation process is setting up the mapping of properties onto the template source.
When we click on Continue, we proceed to the Provide data step where we are able to map the Notion properties one by one.
Following are the steps to map Notion properties and create a preview output of the document:
!Selecting DB_Invoices as primary database
!Properties loaded from all connected databases
This will proceed to the Preview Output step (final step) where we can set up the automation.
Additional Settings
Before proceeding to the Preview Output step, we have a few additional settings which can be configured for the automation:
Step 4 — Setting Up the Automation (Preview Output)
When we click on Preview Output, it takes us to the final step, where we can set up the automation to run forever.
Once the preview output is generated (created for the first record from the database only), we will be able to set up the automation for this.
Click on Setup Automation and it will set up the automation to trigger PDF generation forever.
Once the automation is set up properly, it's time to generate the PDFs from the Notion Database.
How to Generate PDFs on Automation in PDFOutput
There are several ways to generate PDFs on automation in PDFOutput from a Notion Database:
1. Using Button Automation (Recommended)
This is the recommended way to generate PDFs directly inside the Notion Database in one click of a button.
Follow the steps to set up button automation inside the Notion Database (one-time setup):
!Three-dot menu on automation card
!Button Automation setup steps
Follow the step-by-step guide displayed in the steps and set up the button automation inside the Notion Database (in this case it's the DB_Invoices primary database).
Once the setup is done correctly, clicking on the button will allow generating PDFs directly within the Notion Database.
2. Using GeneratePDF Property in Notion Database
Using this option, we can generate PDFs by marking the required records from the Notion Database.
By default, PDFOutput creates a property named GeneratePDF which helps to mark the records to be generated as PDFs.
> Note: This property can be changed to any name as per the requirement of the user.
Follow the steps below to generate PDFs directly inside the Notion Database using the GeneratePDF property:
!Clicking GeneratePDF property in Notion
!Selecting Ready to Generate option
It will change the status of the record from Ready to Generate → Processing… → Completed to mark the status of completion.
The PDFs generated will be stored in the PDFFiles (default property) field in the Notion Database.
3. Using Preview Output
If you want to just generate a preview of the output to check how the final output will look, use the Preview option.
There are 2 ways to generate a preview document:
Option A — Using the Preview button in the PDFOutput dashboard
!Three-dot menu on automation card
!Preview Output option in three-dot menu
Option B — Using Preview selection in the Notion Database
!Clicking GeneratePDF property
It will change the status of the record from Preview → Processing… → Completed to mark the status of completion.
The preview document (Google Document) generated will be stored in the PDFFiles (default property) field in the Notion Database.
4. Using Batch PDFs
PDFOutput also allows producing PDFs in batches (100 PDFs at a time).
!Three-dot menu on automation card
Common Issues for Generating PDFs in PDFOutput and How to Fix Them
Some of the most common problems associated with generating PDFs using PDFOutput:
1. Placeholders Don't Populate Correctly onto the Document
Issue: The placeholders added onto the template source file aren't replaced with the values from the data source.
Solution: This is a common problem and happens when the field that is mapped isn't exactly the same as the field added to the template source.
> Example: If the field name in the database is Invoice_Number and the placeholder text mapped onto the template source is Invoice_No, it won't replace the placeholder text correctly.
Make sure to use the exact, precise placeholder mapping as added in the database to ensure the placeholders are correctly replaced while generating the PDFs. This also includes capitalisation and underscores used in the placeholder names.
Always follow the practice of clicking Copy and then Pasting (Ctrl + V / Cmd + V) the placeholder values onto the template to ensure the placeholder text is correctly added.
2. Line Items Added Don't Generate Dynamically in the Output
Issue: Line Items that are added don't generate the values fetched from secondary databases dynamically.
Solution: This problem happens when the Line Items database (secondary database) is not connected with PDFOutput.
While adding the placeholders, always ensure to check the Line Items Database (secondary database) and ensure that it is connected.
Here's how to fix the issue:
!Three-dot menu in DB_LineItems
!Connections option in Notion database settings
!Checking PDFOutput in connections list
If PDFOutput doesn't show in the connections list, it means PDFOutput is not connected yet.
!Searching for PDFOutput in connections
Selecting PDFOutput from the list adds it to the list of Connections.
3. PDF File Is Not Generated in the Correct Format
Issue: The PDF file created doesn't preserve the correct formatting of the document as expected.
Solution: This can happen if the template file has a complex layout that includes elements not supported natively in Google Documents.
Always ensure to use simple elements which are natively supported by Google Document. This will help avoid any design or layout issues that might arise during PDF generation.
Start Automating PDFs Using PDFOutput from Today
If you generate PDFs regularly while using Notion as your CRM or project management tool, PDFOutput offers you the best solution to generate PDFs directly inside the database.
Generating PDFs manually is a time-consuming process and is prone to errors — so it's always wise to create an automation setup that can handle the process on its own.
Setting up a PDF automation workflow using a tool like PDFOutput allows you to produce PDFs on demand right inside your Notion Database with the methods explained above.
It usually takes less than 10 minutes to set everything up one time — and you will start enjoying the automation that will run forever.
If you have any questions on how to use PDFOutput, please reach out at notionformyuse@gmail.com for further assistance.
FAQs on Using PDFOutput
Can I Use PDFOutput to Produce PDFs in Batches at Once?
Yes, you can produce PDFs in batches at once using PDFOutput.
Once the automation is set up, click on the 3-dots → Batch PDFs to generate PDFs in batches of 100 PDFs at once.
Can I Use Multiple Templates on the Same Database to Generate PDFs?
Yes, you can use multiple templates to set up automation on the same Database.
It will save the automation with the new template source selected each time, and you will be able to select the template from the Choose Document field in the Notion Database.
Selecting a particular template source in the Choose Document field will automatically generate the PDF as per that template.
Can I Produce PDFs on Demand from Notion?
Yes, PDFOutput allows you to produce any documents on demand whenever required.
Simply mark your record as "Ready to Generate" under the GeneratePDF field and it will start producing the PDFs on demand directly within the Notion Database.
If you want to create a preview document before generating the final PDFs, you can choose Preview and it will create a Google Document preview inside the Notion Database as well.
Ready to automate your PDF generation? Get started for free and create your first automation in minutes.