Creating PDFs is just the first step – the real impact comes when they reach the right people automatically. Imagine a client filling out your service request form and receiving a tailored proposal in their inbox right away, or your HR team instantly getting an offer PDF generated and sent to a winning candidate.
By attaching PDFs to your email notifications, you can close the loop: submissions turn into tailored documents, and documents are delivered without delay.
💡 Before you start
If you haven’t yet, check out how to create PDF templates to build customized, branded documents that pull in user input or calculated values from your form.
You can also learn how to generate PDFs from submissions – either manually, automatically, or with conditional logic.
How to send PDFs via email notifications
You can attach your generated PDFs to the emails you send out – whether to respondents (e.g., proposals, certificates) or to your team (e.g,. project briefs, summaries).
This way, every time an email is sent, the PDF goes with it. This works with:
Built-in email notifications (on each new submission, set up in the Notify tab in the form's settings),
Conditional emails (on-submit, or on-update, set up in Advanced logic).
Notifications using Default email templates
If you’re using the built-in email notifications (Notify tab → Email notifications or Respondent notifications) with a Default email template, you’ll see an additional toggle to Attach generated PDF:
Simply enable it and select the template you’d like to use – a PDF will be generated and attached to each email sent.
In-built or conditional notifications using Custom email templates
If you’re using custom email templates (either in the Notify tab, or in Advanced Logic), you’ll need to enable PDF generation directly in each email template's settings.
Step 1: Set up the regular or conditional email notifications using custom email templates:
Step 2: Go to Profile → Apps & integrations → Email templates, and edit the templates you're using. Scroll the right-hand panel to the bottom, enable the Attach PDF to email option, and pick the template you’d like to generate a PDF with:
Whenever this custom email template is triggered – whether by Notify settings or by On-submit/On-update logic rules – the PDF will be automatically generated, attached to the email, and stored in the Responses table.
Practical workflow examples
Proposals & invoices: From a client request or sales form, automatically generate a proposal or invoice PDF. You can email it to the client for confirmation and send a copy to your team for internal bookkeeping.
Quizzes & courses: In a course app, you can generate and email a completion certificate PDF when the final quiz score meets the passing threshold (e.g., ≥ 90). Or, in a personality quiz, you can generate a custom PDF with the user’s results and insights.
HR job offers: After a job application process, generate an offer PDF and send it to successful candidates, while also storing a copy for HR.
💡 You don’t have to start from scratch! Check out these ready-made templates you can enrich with PDF generation and customize to your needs:
📝 Client service request with automated PDF proposal generation – let clients request services, calculate pricing, and generate tailored proposal PDFs automatically.
🧑💻 Job applicant tracking workflow – manage incoming applications, track candidates through each stage, and automatically generate offer PDFs for successful hires.
🧠 DISC personality test – assess participants’ profiles and generate personalized result PDFs right after submission.
Key takeaways
PDF templates turn form responses into polished, reusable documents.
You can generate PDFs manually, automatically, or conditionally with logic. All PDFs are stored with timestamps and available via exports, syncs, and APIs.
Attach PDFs to notifications or keep them for record-keeping.
➡️ Want to expand your workflow beyond emails on submission? Check out how On Update logic works to automate actions not only when a response is first submitted, but also whenever it’s updated.
This way, you can keep your PDFs and notifications in sync as projects evolve – without extra manual work.