PDF Export in Zapier

Automate HTML to PDF Conversion in Zapier

Overview

PDF Export lets you convert HTML content or web pages to PDF directly within your Zaps. No coding required - simply connect your PDFCrowd account and automate PDF generation.

Perfect for: Generating invoices, reports, receipts, contracts, and any document that needs to be created automatically from HTML templates or web page content.

Key Features

  • URL to PDF: Convert any publicly accessible web page to PDF
  • HTML to PDF: Convert raw HTML content from previous Zap steps
  • Seamless Zap integration: Use file URLs from previous steps (uploads, attachments, storage services) as input
  • Full customization: Control page size, margins, headers, footers, and more
  • File output: Get a downloadable PDF file URL to use in subsequent Zap steps

How It Works

  1. Add the "Convert HTML to PDF" action to your Zap
  2. Connect your PDFCrowd account
  3. Provide a URL or HTML content to convert
  4. Configure PDF options (optional)
  5. Use the generated PDF file in subsequent actions

View PDF Export on Zapier App Directory →

Quick Start

The following examples demonstrate how to use the PDFCrowd Zapier integration to convert HTML to PDF in your Zaps.

Note: You'll need a PDFCrowd account with API access. For testing, you can use username demo and API key demo. Sign up to get your own API credentials.

Example 1: Convert a URL to PDF

The simplest use case - convert a web page URL to PDF. This works for any publicly accessible URL.

Zap Configuration
Action: Convert HTML to PDF
URL: https://example.com/invoice/123
Output Filename: invoice.pdf

The action outputs a file URL that you can use in subsequent steps - for example, to attach to an email or upload to cloud storage.

Example 2: Convert HTML Content to PDF

Convert HTML content directly - useful when generating PDFs from templates or data from previous Zap steps.

Zap Configuration
Action: Convert HTML to PDF
HTML Content: 
<html>
<body>
  <h1>Invoice #{{invoice_number}}</h1>
  <p>Amount: ${{amount}}</p>
  <p>Date: {{date}}</p>
</body>
</html>
Output Filename: invoice-{{invoice_number}}.pdf

Use Zapier's data mapping to insert dynamic values from trigger data or previous action outputs into your HTML template.

Example 3: Customized PDF Output

Configure PDF options for professional output with custom page size, margins, and headers/footers.

Zap Configuration
Action: Convert HTML to PDF
URL: https://example.com/report
Options Mode: Expert
Page Size: Letter
Orientation: landscape
Margin Top: 1in
Margin Bottom: 1in
Footer HTML: 
<div style="text-align: center; font-size: 10px;">
  Page <span class="pdfcrowd-page-number"></span>
  of <span class="pdfcrowd-page-count"></span>
</div>

Switch to "Expert" mode in the action to access all available conversion options including headers, footers, watermarks, and advanced page setup.

Full Options Reference: For a complete list of all available conversion options, see the API Reference documentation.

Example 4: Complete Workflow

A typical workflow that generates a PDF and sends it via email:

Zap Steps
  1. Trigger: New form submission in Google Forms
  2. Action: Convert HTML to PDF
    • HTML Content: Custom HTML template with form data
    • Output Filename: submission-{{submission_id}}.pdf
  3. Action: Send Email in Gmail
    • Attachment: PDF file from step 2

The PDF file output from PDFCrowd can be used directly as an attachment in email actions, uploaded to cloud storage, or processed by other apps.

Authentication

Connecting Your PDFCrowd Account

PDF Export requires your PDFCrowd API credentials to authenticate. When you add the action to your Zap for the first time, Zapier will prompt you to connect your PDFCrowd account.

Required Credentials

Username
Your PDFCrowd username - the same username you use to log in to your PDFCrowd account.
API Key
Your PDFCrowd API key (not your account password). To get your API key, choose a license plan that includes API access.

Security Notes

  • Your API key is stored securely by Zapier and is never exposed in your Zaps.
  • You can regenerate your API key anytime from your PDFCrowd account if needed.
  • Each Zapier connection to PDFCrowd counts against your API usage limits.

Error Handling

When a conversion fails in your Zap, Zapier will show an error message from PDFCrowd explaining what went wrong.

Common Errors

401 Unauthorized
Invalid username or API key. Verify your credentials in the PDFCrowd connection settings within Zapier. Make sure you're using your API key, not your account password.
403 Forbidden
Service suspended or insufficient credits. Check your PDFCrowd account for credit balance and account status.
430 Too Many Concurrent Requests
Too many simultaneous conversions. Your plan has a limit on concurrent requests. Wait for current conversions to complete or upgrade your plan.

For more information on status codes, see our status codes reference.

Debugging Tips

  • Test URLs manually: Before using in a Zap, test your URL in our API Playground to verify it converts correctly.
  • Check Zap history: Zapier's task history shows detailed error messages and the exact input values used.
  • Simplify first: Start with minimal options and add customizations one at a time to identify problematic settings.

Error Handling in Zaps

Zapier provides built-in error handling options for your Zaps:

  • Auto-replay: Zapier can automatically retry failed tasks.
  • Paths: Use Zapier Paths to handle success and error cases differently.
  • Error notifications: Configure email alerts for failed Zap runs.

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions when using PDFCrowd with Zapier.

Connection Issues

  • Verify you're using your API key, not your account password
  • If you changed your API key in PDFCrowd, reconnect in Zapier with the new key
  • Try regenerating your API key and reconnecting

Conversion Issues

PDF looks different than expected

  • Missing styles: The page may rely on styles that don't load during conversion. Try the Content Viewport Width option to adjust rendering width.
  • Dynamic content: JavaScript-generated content may not render. Use the Wait For Element or Javascript Delay options to allow content to load.
  • Login required: Pages behind authentication require cookies to be set. Use the Cookies option to pass session cookies.

Images not appearing

  • Ensure images use absolute URLs (not relative paths)
  • Check that images are publicly accessible
  • Some images may be lazy-loaded - use Content Viewport Height set to large

Conversion is slow

  • Large pages with many images take longer to process
  • Pages with heavy JavaScript may need time to render
  • Consider using simpler HTML templates for faster conversion

Output Issues

Can't use PDF file in next step

The PDFCrowd action outputs a temporary file URL. Some Zapier apps may have limitations on accepting file URLs. In such cases:

  • Use a "Download File" action to get the file content first
  • Check if the destination app supports file URLs directly

File name incorrect

Set the Output Filename field to customize the PDF filename. You can use Zapier's data mapping to create dynamic filenames.

Getting Help

  • PDFCrowd Support: Contact us for API-related questions
  • API Playground: Test conversions in our API Playground to verify settings before using in Zapier

Zapier Reference

Refer for details to the Zapier Reference.