Document templating with PDF outputs

Ask the community
1

Hey softr community,

I wanted to know if this app concept would be a good candidate for softr and if anyone has suggestions for templating frameworks that will eventually output as paginated PDF. Considering Jinja2 or WeasyPrint.

-Data and Templates can be combined to create print-ready PDFs or images.
-Users can edit/save template in wysiwyg UI
-System can display pre-PDF-rendered thumbnails of templates with dummy data

Thanks for any help!

2

Would Airtable extensions like Documint or Docupilot work? They automatically generate PDFs that are stored in attachment fields.

3

I looked at those. Some of the pdf APIs offer iframe template editors. The pricing models are a bit funny with all the PDF API services. Templates are limited at each tier and render charges can be very high. Each services uses its own tech stack to get to data+template=PDF

I need thumbnail renders (of data+template), wysiwyg template editing for users along with PDF output.

4

Hi there, just wanted to leave my PDF generation tool here based on Google Docs → DocsAutomator

I have a lot of Airtable users generating PDFs with it and would love to give you a demo if you’re still interested :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Rupert

5

If you’re looking to automate PDF generation from Airtable, I recommend checking out Typeflow.us

It’s built for this exact use case.

Key benefits for your needs:

  • Auto-generates PDFs from your base and saves them to attachment fields

  • Works with table views and linked records

  • Fixed pricing regardless of document volume

  • Real-time sync with Airtable data

You can try it for free to see if it fits your workflow. Happy to answer any questions about implementation.

6

Look at AlfaReport – standalone command-line tool for creating PDF documents from JS-scripts. No frameworks, no dependencies — just one single binary.

7

I know this thread is a bit old, but I’m curious if anyone has explored any new tools for generating PDFs with thumbnail previews since this discussion. It seems like WYSIWYG editors are evolving quickly—have there been any improvements in capabilities or pricing that fit Softr better now? Would love to hear if anyone’s found a setup that nails it!