Is there a way to generate a PDF from a recurring backend workflow? I want to generate statements for users, but the PDF plug-ins I use generate PDFs off of pages and their content. But with a backend workflow there is no page to reference to generate the PDFs.
Thanks for anyone that can help with this!
Yes, PDF Potion (or whatever it’s name has been updated to) has solved for this in a super easy to use and documented way.
Try out AI OCR & Translation (Text Extract) plugin. It has a server side action that converts HTML to PDF.
Yes @1Upper instead of using PDF Potion (free, ~4.3k installs, solid docs) which already does exactly this by rendering a page URL from a backend workflow, you can switch your entire statement flow to HTML → PDF and pay for a plugin with ~5 installs.
Unless you need raw HTML rendering, that’s solving a problem you don’t actually have.
Thanks for mentioning DocuPotion (previously PDF Potion) @code-escapee!
@1Upper if you end up trying out DocuPotion and have any questions just let me know.
Yeah, this is a common Bubble limitation.
Backend workflows don’t have a page, so page-based PDF plugins won’t work directly from them. The usual way around it is to create a hidden or dedicated “PDF template” page, pass the user or statement ID to that page, and let the plugin generate the PDF from there. Your backend workflow just schedules the generation by sending the data it needs, then saves the PDF to the database or emails it.
Another option is using an API-based PDF service (like PDFMonkey, DocRaptor, or similar) from the backend workflow, since those don’t depend on Bubble pages at all and work cleanly with recurring workflows.
If you want, I can explain the cleanest setup depending on whether you’re generating monthly statements or on-demand ones.
Thanks for the suggestions on the docupotion, going to give that one a try. And I like the editor as well.
So I’m treating my own web page like an API. But then how do capture the output file from there? Or I guess I could do a constant polling until the file is generated and then send it.
I’m not so convinced that you can do it this way.. the page needs to be loaded, populated with data and then it can generate the pdf.. only from backend I don’t think it will be able to manage everything..
@1Upper no constant polling. docupotion takes care of all that and send you the file. you just create a incoming webhook / API WF with id, link and size and behind that save the file where you want and/or email it. Look at the docs / videos; they are the best I’ve seen for anything Bubble…
Of course you can do it from the back-end; thats the whole purpose of the plugin. page is loaded and populated and pdf generated, just not by a human…
This interests me because I have a function (not with a pdf) that I still do manually.. how can the page be loaded and populated? Is there an ad hoc plugin for this? Or is it part of the pdf plugin?
see above
