How to Email a PDF Attachment from Airtable

You just generated a PDF for a client, and now it’s time to email it.

You open up Airtable’s automation, choose “Send email,” and write your message.

But then you pause.

How do you actually attach the PDF file?

Let me show you.

If the PDF Is in the Same Record

This is the simplest case.

In your automation’s Send email action, scroll down to the Attachments section.

Click the plus button, then choose the field that holds your PDF file.

That’s it. The file will be sent along with the email.

If the PDF Is in a Different Table

Maybe the record triggering the automation does not have the PDF. Maybe the file lives in a related table, like a “Reports” table, and your trigger is in a “Clients” table.

In that case, you need an extra step.

First, add a Find records action. Use it to look up the record that contains the PDF. You will probably want to filter by a linked record field, such as “Client is [this triggering record]”.

Then go back to your Send email action and insert the PDF field from the Find records step. When you do this, you need to choose the Flatten option. That makes sure the file is pulled in correctly and sent as an attachment.

Now your email will include the PDF even though it comes from a different table.

Want to Auto-Generate the PDF?

If you are manually uploading files to Airtable, that works.

But if you want to automatically create a PDF based on your Airtable data, you will need a document generation tool.

Tools like Fillout, DocsAutomator, or DocuMint can generate custom PDFs whenever a record is created or updated.

So instead of attaching a file someone uploaded, you are attaching a file that was generated on the fly. It is personalized, branded, and ready to send.

I have written a detailed article on the different tools available for generating PDFs and when to use each one. It is worth a read if you are looking to improve your document workflows.