The PDF Generator plug-in helps employees to send e-documents across email within Forma itself.
With Forma's placeholder functions, creating just 1 e-document template will automatically customise the e-document for various, different email recipients. Find out how below:
1. Double-Click on PDF Generator Plugin
The PDF Generator plug-in is highly similar to the Notification plug-in. The main difference is that the PDF Generator plug-in has the option for you to draft PDF Content as shown below.
2. Indicate Email Recipient
As you can see, there are 2 fields for you to enter the recipient's email address. You can fill in either one or both of them.
The "To email addresses" field allows you to type in a specific email address.
The "And send to email value from field" allows you to set the email addresses as:
[submitter email] — Present by default. This is the email address that your employees use for their Forma account. It usually applies to employees in your organisation.
Email [email] — Email address submitted via the email form field in a form. In other words, you need to include the email field in your form for this option to appear. It usually applies to external individuals e.g. customers.
Tip A: Which field should I enter email address into?
If you want to be notified every time an individual submits a form, enter your email address in "To email addresses".
If you want to notify the form submitter about his/her submission, we recommend that you leave "To email addresses" blank and fill in "And send to email value from field" instead.
Tip B: Should I use Submitter Email or Email as the recipient email address?
Use Submitter Email if this process is meant for internal employees
Use Email if this process is meant for external users (e.g. customers, clients).
3. Craft Your Email Content
Fill in the subject under the Email Subject field.
The Email Body can get a little tricky with the placeholder function. Placeholders are the key to helping you automatically customise your emails for different recipients. Here's what you need to know:
[form:submitter-name] and [form:submitter-email] refers to the name and email address in a user's Forma account.
For other placeholders to appear, you need to have included their form fields in your form. For instance, this form has the fields for name, type of leave and more. So the following placeholders will also appear: [form:name], [form:type-of-leave] and so on.
4. Craft Your PDF Content
You can write your PDF content just like how you did for the email body. There's a text editor for you to align your paragraphs, change the style of your fonts, create tables and images etc.
You should also make use of placeholders to customise the PDF for different recipients as follows:
5. Publish Workflow And Test It
After publishing your workflow, try filling out your form. You should receive an email with the text crafted in step 3, along with a PDF document as follows:
