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    Formstack Documents extension
    • 23 Aug 2023
    • 2 Minutes to read
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    Contents

    Formstack Documents extension

    • Updated on 23 Aug 2023
    • 2 Minutes to read
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    • PDF
    Article Summary

    This article covers how to populate a Formstack Document with values from your records to simplify document creation for invoices, contracts, letters, and other business documents.


    Introduction

    Plan availabilityAll paid plans
    Permissions
    • Owners/Creators - Can create, delete, and modify extensions
    • Editors - Can edit the configuration of previously configured extensions
    Platform(s)Web/Browser, Mac app, and Windows app
    Related reading

    Guide: Build your own Airtable extensions

    Airtable terminology

    Extension - Extensions are modular components that add visuals or functionality to a base, and were shown in the base's dashboard. Users can create custom extensions, or they can use extensions created by Airtable or other open-source extensions.

    Create document template

    First, you will need to create a document template in Formstack. This will allow you to choose an Airtable record in your base to populate Formstack fields with your record’s value. The new PDF or Word document can be added to an attachment field automatically or viewed in your browser.

    NOTE

    Please note that you need a working Formstack API to use this extension. You can sign up for a Formstack Documents account here and read more about this extension on Formstack's site.


    Install and configure the extension

    When you first install the extension from the apps marketplace, a popup window will provide instructions on how to:

    1. Sign up for Formstack Documents
    2. Generate the Formstack API key
    3. Save that API key in the extension

    Image 2020-06-25 at 1.50.32 PM

    Note that the Formstack API key will be visible to all collaborators in your base once it's been added.


    Create Formstack documents

    Once you've finished configuring the extension you will be prompted to select a record from your table.

    Image 2020-06-25 at 1.54.28 PM

    Selecting any record will display a list of Formstack Documents you have available in the account associated with your API key. You can search for a specific document using the search field. If you do not have any Formstack Documents created for your account yet, you can log into Formstack to create one.

    Image 2020-06-25 at 4.14.09 PM

    Choosing a document brings you to the options available for the PDF file.

    Image 2020-06-25 at 4.14.59 PM

    The options are:

    • Upload the document to an attachment field. Selecting this option will prompt you for an attachment field in the same table where the generated file will be saved. Read-only collaborators cannot save to the attachment field
    • Open the document after it is created. When this option is selected, the PDF file will open in your browser. All permission levels can enable this option.

    Below the options for the PDF file will be the list of Airtable fields mapped to the tag in the Formstack document. The Airtable field name must exactly match the Formstack tag. For example, if your Formstack tag is {       name}, your Airtable field name must be “name” (i.e. case sensitive). If your Formstack tag is {   Rental_Price}, your Airtable field name must be “Rental Price”.

    Image 2020-06-25 at 4.17.39 PM


    Inserting images from Airtable into a Formstack document

    Formstack supports merges with JPEG and PNG image types. If you are inserting an image into a word document or PDF, we suggest you use {$column_name.0.url|insert_image:300:0} where you replace “column_name” with your actual column name.

    If your images require a specific height or format, you can refer to Formstack’s support articles on how to customize these tags further for Word and PDF respectively.

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