Generate PDF from Google Sheets rows: a Zapier chain that fills a PDF template

Generate PDF from Google Sheets: who this is for and the routes

To generate a PDF from Google Sheets rows as one designed document, such as an invoice with line items, run Google's Apps Script invoice sample or pass the rows through Zapier or Make to a PDF template. This page is not about downloading the sheet itself as a PDF.

If a PDF copy of the sheet is enough, you need no tool. Google's help says to open the spreadsheet, click File, then Download, and choose a file type. Its Print help says Firefox and Safari download a PDF file automatically, while Chrome shows the print window.

Google's Apps Script sample makes and emails invoices from sheet data. It fills an invoice template sheet from other sheets, exports it to a PDF through the URL Fetch service and stores the file in a Drive folder. You copy the sheet, edit the variables under Extensions, Apps Script, and authorize the script on first run. Google labels it Beginner level and 15 minutes.

CraftMyPDF documents no direct Google Sheets connection, only the Zapier and Make routes below.

The Zapier route, step by step

CraftMyPDF's tutorial chains three kinds of step; the Zapier generate PDF page covers the action settings in detail.

1. After your trigger, add the Google Sheets action Get Many Spreadsheet Rows (Advanced), which CraftMyPDF's tutorial names with the suffix With Line Item Support. It fetches the rows for one document.
2. Add Code by Zapier with the event Run Javascript, and build the JSON string for the template from the rows.
3. Add the CraftMyPDF app and its PDF action, which CraftMyPDF's pages call Create PDF and Zapier's listing calls Generate PDF Document. Connect it with your API key, choose the template and set the payload type to JSON.
4. Use the generated PDF in the next step, for example as an email attachment.

One mistake to avoid, as Zapier documents it: if a Code step returns an array of objects, later steps run once for each object. To pass the whole array on as line items, return it under a line_items key.

What the PDF template needs

Build the template in the editor with a table for the line items, then paste sample JSON into its Data tab, the place where sample data lives so fields can be dragged into the layout.

CraftMyPDF's Zapier app, listed on every plan including Free, takes the rows as JSON in its Create PDF step and returns the finished PDF; CraftMyPDF pricing lists the six plans.

Limits and costs on both sides

• Row count: CraftMyPDF's tutorial says the Get Many Rows step retrieves at most 20 rows. Zapier's listing says the action returns up to 1,500. The two pages disagree, so size nothing on either number.
• Zapier plan: a Zap with one trigger and one action is a two-step Zap on Zapier's Free plan. This chain has several actions, which Zapier calls a multi-step Zap and lists for paid plans, or for a new account's 14-day trial.
• Zapier counts a successful action as a task, and a Code by Zapier step uses one task per run on the standard runtime.
• CraftMyPDF counts one credit per PDF whatever its page count, and its Free plan covers 50 PDFs or images a month. A stored link expires after 5 minutes by default.

Make in place of Zapier

Make is the other documented route. CraftMyPDF's Make guide says to add the CraftMyPDF app, choose Create a PDF, add your API key, then pick a template and a payload type. Make's own listing labels the app Verified and says the vendor supports and maintains it, and Make.com is listed on every CraftMyPDF plan. The guide names a submitted Google form as an example trigger; generate PDF from Google Form covers that case.