3 Ways to Generate Custom PDFs from Airtable Data

If you need to turn an Airtable record into an invoice, report, certificate, or other branded PDF, the best option depends on how the document should be created.

I’ll use an invoice as the example throughout this article. The invoice has customer details, line items, totals, a logo, and a layout that needs to look the same every time.

Here is the simplest way to choose the right option:

1. Print a PDF from Airtable

If someone only needs to open an invoice and save it as a PDF, start with an Airtable Interface. Build a record detail page that shows the customer, line items, totals, and any other fields that belong on the invoice. Turn on Allow users to print, then open the invoice and choose the print option to save it as a PDF.

Airtable supports printing and saving several Interface layouts as PDFs, including record details, lists, calendars, timelines, and charts. This works well for internal reports or simple documents that do not need a separate document template.

For a more fixed page layout, use the Page Designer extension. It is available on paid plans and lets you place fields, text, images, and linked-record data exactly where you want them.

Open the invoice record in Page Designer, click Print, and choose Save as PDF in your computer’s print dialog.

Page Designer is useful when someone creates one invoice at a time. It does not automatically create a PDF from an Airtable automation, and it cannot batch-print Page Designer records.

It can print a single record across multiple pages if you increase the custom record height, but that layout needs to be tested against your longest records. For a document with changing line items or automatic generation, use the next options instead.

2. Generate the PDF from a form submission

If the invoice starts with a form submission, Fillout can keep the form and document workflow together.

For example, a customer submits an order form with their name, email address, products, and billing details. Fillout can send the submission to Airtable and create the document from the form data as part of the same workflow.

This is a good fit when the PDF is a confirmation, application, order summary, or other document created immediately after someone submits a form.

If the records already exist in Airtable, use the third option instead of adding a form just to create the PDF.

3. Generate branded PDFs automatically

For existing Airtable records, use a document generation tool such as DocuMint or DocsAutomator.

This is the better option when the invoice should be created after a status changes, when someone clicks a button, or on a schedule.

Create the invoice template in the document tool, map the Airtable fields to the template, and choose how the PDF should be generated.

For example:

Invoice status changes to Ready → PDF is generated → PDF is saved to the invoice record

This approach is useful when the invoice has a changing number of line items, several linked records, conditional sections, or more than one page. It also gives you a reusable template instead of rebuilding the layout in Page Designer for every new document.

Once the PDF is saved in an Airtable attachment field, you can email it with an Airtable automation. For the complete attachment workflow, see how to create PDFs from Airtable records and attach them back automatically.