Creating pdf-file with information from SharePoint List and save to SharePoint

[MB22]

Hey guys, 

I would like to create a pdf-file (like a CV) with information from a SharePoint list. The pdf-file should be generated and saved automatically to the SharePoint list. The user has to fill in his information into the SharePoint list (and only at this place) and the file should be provided to him after inserting the information. 

Note: Im a PowerApps rookie, please keep that in mind when posting suggestions so that I can follow you. 

Thanks in advance. 

[v-bofeng-msft]

Hi @MB22 ,

If you want to create a PDF file from a SharePoint list item , you could create a Power Automate flow by these steps :

1\Navigate to Power Automate

2\Create a blank flow

3\Get items from the list.

4\Build your HTML data

5\Add the action Create file to create an .htm file in OneDrive for Business. Set its File name as ListB.htm.

6\Add the action Convert file to convert the file to pdf.

7\Last, create a .pdf file with a new name.

 Please check this link:

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Building-Flows/Generate-PDF-from-SharePoint-list-item/td-p/19596...

In addition , you could also try encodian.

Convert SharePoint List Items to PDF with Power Automate 

Best Regards,

Bof

[MB22]

Hi Bof, 

thank you for your explanations and the provided links. I already managed to create a pdf file. But I'm not really happy with the output yet as you can see on the attached screenshot. Do you have further suggestions of how to change the layout of the pdf?

And secondly: I don't want the html-file to be saved to my OneDrive, how can I solve that ?

Thank you!

[v-bofeng-msft]

Hi @MB22 ,

But I'm not really happy with the output yet as you can see on the attached screenshot. Do you have further suggestions of how to change the layout of the pdf?

I'm not an expert in this area, and I suggest you look for an expert in HTML coding for professional help. You could also check this part in this blog:

Convert SharePoint List Items to PDF with Power Automate

And secondly: I don't want the html-file to be saved to my OneDrive, how can I solve that ?

Where do you want to save? Where do you want to save the file? Just find the corresponding action?

Best Regards,

Bof

[MB22]

Hi Bof, 

thank you again. A added a further step "delete file" and this worked. 

I would preferrably save the file to the same SharePoint-list where I get the information for the pdf-file from. 

And do you know, how to make the file's name responsive? I would for example like to rename the file like CV_of_"USER".pdf

Best regards. 

[v-bofeng-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @MB22 ,

Please try:

Best Regards,

Bof

[acox]

Hello @MB22,

You can achieve full control over the layout of the resulting PDF file without using HTML by using the Plumsail Documents connector. This approach allows you to use Word or Excel document templates to automatically populate them with SharePoint data and convert to PDF.

Earlier this year, I wrote a step-by-step guide explaining how to implement this. One of your comments is also featured in it 🙂 Click here to check it out.

Note: The solution is paid, but it also offers a free 30-day trial period that you can use to try this out.

[automation_team]

I realize it's been some time since this post was originally created, but I wanted to contribute a solution here as well. It can help people looking to convert SharePoint list items to PDF files.

It's worth mentioning upfront that this solution is a paid service with a free trial available. It significantly simplifies the process, requiring only a few easy steps in Power Automate. To begin, you'll need to register for an account at Plumsail - www.plumsail.com/documents -   for their   product. This product has a 30-day free trial. Once registered, you can create a process either by using one of their templates or by uploading your own. Detailed instructions on creating a process can be found in this quick guide. 

Below, I've provided step-by-step instructions for using Power Automate if you haven't set up a flow using Plumsail Documents before. I’ve used a free Purchase order template from the Plumsail template library.  This template is in Excel format, but when creating the process you'll be able to switch the output file format to PDF, and in the delivery step you have the option to save the generated document back to your SharePoint. 

1. To begin, initiate a new Power Automate workflow. Start by navigating to My flows > + New Flow > Instant cloud flow: 

2. Next, select “Manually trigger a flow” trigger:

Alternatively, you can choose any other Power Automate trigger or create an automated cloud flow. For instance, if you want a document to be generated automatically when a SharePoint list item is created, you can select the When an item is created trigger from SharePoint

3. Next, add the "Get items" action to your workflow. Select your SharePoint site and specify the list from which you want to export data:

4. Finally, locate the Plumsail Documents action named "Start document generation process with JSON." If this is your first time connecting Plumsail Documents in Power Automate, you'll be prompted to enter an API key. You can easily generate an API key in your Plumsail account and then copy and paste it back into Power Automate. Next, select the process you've created in your Plumsail account. In our case, it's the "Purchase order" process. This process represents the template document that will be populated with data from the SharePoint list. In the "Template data" field, enter the code in JSON format as shown in the picture below. This code will establish connections between SharePoint list fields and tokens in the PDF document template:

We used the following expression to convert string into JSON, as the Products column in SharePoint contains a collection of ordered products and details about them:

json(items('Apply_to_each')?['Products'])]

This concludes the flow. There's a full article as well as a YouTube video that goes into all the details on how to set up a process and construct a Power Automate flow for converting SharePoint list items into PDF documents. I would also like to mention that I am affiliated with Plumsail. However, I want to emphasize that I genuinely recommend this product.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.