🧪 Launching PDF Potion: Solving the PDF Problem

[marina]

Hey @alexcooney5 , I send you an email few hours ago, but I’m really confused about the behavior of the plugin. It worked all well until this morning. Now I get blank pages downloads and I cannot figure out why. I even upgraded the subscription plan and that didn’t solve my issue… please help

[alexcooney5]

Hi @marina, thanks for using PDF Potion and sorry for this issue. I’ve seen your email and will get back to you shortly

[stuart4]

@alexcooney5 great plugin by the way matey! Couple of things

The issue for me is the RG data cuts close to the header/footer boundary… and if i add margins this throws out the rest of the document.

Example closeness in RG scenario:

Backend WF settings:

Top of cover page when i introduce a margin:

Not sure how to resolve this one… my thoughts were to create two separate pdfs for both the cover and main content with your plugin (with margins in the right places) then merge them with another plugin (PDF Merger [FREE; no external APIs] Plugin | Bubble) however, be easier if it was native, or an option to set separate header, or pages styles for covers, inserts, etc?

[alexcooney5]

Hi @stuart4, thanks for the kind words!

The solution to this is to:

• Add a top/bottom margin so that there’s a bit of room between the RG data and the header/footer
• Add the ID attribute ‘remove-margin’ to an element within the main group on the cover page (or any other page where you don’t want a margin).

This will remove the top/bottom margin from that page only.

This is kind of a hidden feature that I should document more throughly, but you for now you can see me use it at 49:58 to 53:20 of this video

Let me know if that helps!

Also, in some of the earlier PDF Potion videos I use the ‘Create PDF’ action in a backend workflow. Just wanted to note that you can also now use it in a front-end workflow if it’s easier.

[stuart4]

That makes perfect sense, ill give it a crack.
Thanks

[alexcooney5]

Perfect. Let me know how you get on!

[stuart4]

hey @alexcooney5 when i add the ‘remove-margin’ to the parent on one of the leader pages… this works to remove the preceding margin from the BE WF settings, however now seems to remove the margin from the RG. ( i tested the other way as well).

[stuart4]

alt:

[alexcooney5]

Hi @stuart4, apologies if this is in the screenshots, but what element did you put the ‘remove-margin’ ID attribute on?

I find it works best if you put it on a text element in a group on the cover page (or whatever page you’re removing the margins from).

If you can’t get it to work as expected, feel free to shoot me a private message and I can take a look at your editor setup or jump on a call to go through it with you

[stuart4]

@alexcooney5

remove-margin

Thanks @alexcooney5 it’s almost midnight (Sydney) here, so i;ll approach with fresh eyes in the morning and then come back to you and Ive just hit my limit testing … so about time for bed I think. But thank you for the awesome prompt response.

[alexcooney5]

Convert Bubble page to PDF - video tutorial
We just released a new video tutorial on converting a page of your app to a PDF with PDF Potion:

Convert Bubble.io page to PDF - tutorial

Any questions just let me know

[rocha58.pedro]

@alexcooney5 Hi!
I’m facing a problem with overlaping from some elements

Have you seen a problem like that before?
The page loads perfectly but the pdf sometimes overlaps elements. Can you help me?

[alexcooney5]

How to create a PDF in your Bubble app
Recently put together a detailed written guide on how you can create PDFs in your Bubble app with PDF Potion:

How to create a PDF in your Bubble.io app

Any questions let me know

[alexcooney5]

How to add an invoice generator to your Bubble app
We released a new written guide on the PDF Potion Blog - how to add an invoice generator to your Bubble app. Gives a very detailed guide on you can allow users to generate invoices from your app.

How to add an invoice generator to your Bubble.io app

Might be useful for some people!

[alexcooney5]

How to create a certificate generator in your Bubble app
Just released a detailed written guide on how to create a certificate generator with PDF Potion:

How to create a certificate generator in Bubble.io

It covers how to:

• Design certificates in your app
• Generate PDFs of the certs
• Provider users with a selection of certificate templates they can choose from

Any questions just let me know

[alexcooney5]

New video tutorial - How to create a certificate generator
We now have a video tutorial to go along with our detailed written guide creating a certificate generator in a Bubble app!

How to create a certificate generator in Bubble.io - tutorial

[alexcooney5]

Free Template - Certificate Generator
Bubble have just approved our Certificate Generator template! This template uses PDF Potion to allow you to create custom certs.

Useful links

• Template page in Bubble marketplace
• Demo page
• Written guide on how to add a certificate generator to your Bubble app

Any questions just let me know

[georgecollier]

I would just like to comment saying that I found PDF Potion to be very easy to set up and Alex is as always very helpful if you get stuck. It’s the only plugin that effectively handles privacy-rule sensitive / backend PDF generation and there’s minimal config required (pretty plug and play - your PDF will likely look fine without much customisation, but you have the options if necessary).

[alexcooney5]

Thanks @georgecollier! Really appreciate the kind feedback

[alexcooney5]

Authenticating the backend workflow - January-25 update
You can now enable authentication on the backend workflow you’re using to process PDFs created by PDF Potion.

Follow the steps below or see this doc for instructions on how to implement this.

Please note: This feature was originally released in version 1.11.0 of the PDF Potion plugin. However, it is since been brought to my attention that the method used in that version of the plugin was not secure. This issue has been fixed in version 1.12.0. Please use the latest version of the plugin and NOT version 1.11.0.

Instructions

1. Leave the ‘This workflow can be run without authentication’ option on the backend workflow unchecked

This means that it will only be possible to use this backend workflow with the correct authentication.

2. Generate an API Token in your Bubble editor

You can generate an API Token in the Settings → API section of your editor.

3. Add the API Token to the ‘API Token (for authenticating backend workflows)’ inputs

Navigate to Plugins → PDF Potion and add your API Token to both the dev. and live versions of the ‘API Token (for authenticating backend workflows)’ inputs:

(yes I have deleted this API token since the screenshot was taken )

It will now be possible for PDF Potion to access the backend workflow used for processing the PDFs.

Any questions just let me know!

Alex