Airtable

The DocsAutomator-Airtable integration enables you to convert Airtable records into PDF documents and Google Docs, send them for signing or one-click acceptance, and save the sealed PDF back to the record. The system operates on a “primary table and linked tables” model, where documents are generated from records in your main table while data lists (“line items”) can be pulled from related tables. Documents can be generated automatically when a field changes to match a condition (Auto Creation), from a button, formula, or script inside Airtable, or manually from DocsAutomator.

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Step-by-Step Setup

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Triggering Methods

You can generate documents from Airtable three ways: automatically when a field changes, from inside Airtable with a button or script, or from DocsAutomator.

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Automatic — Auto Creation

Pick a field and a condition that should fire generation. When a record changes to match (for example, Status = Approved, or Invoice Total is greater than 5,000), DocsAutomator generates a document for that record, usually within seconds. Nothing needs to be set up inside Airtable. Open Auto Create on the automation page, turn on Auto creation, then pick the field, the condition and the value. The status line under the toggle shows when Airtable last sent an event, so you can tell at a glance that the connection is alive. Every evaluated change is visible in Documents → Logs: records that fired show as runs marked Auto, and records that did not fire show a row explaining why.

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Fields and conditions you can trigger on

Trigger field types supported:

• Single select and multiple select (multiple select fires when the chosen option is among the selected values)
• Checkbox
• Text fields: single line text, long text, email, URL, phone
• Number fields: number, currency, percent, rating
• Date and date and time
• Formula, rollup, count, and lookup fields. The conditions follow the computed result: a number formula gets number conditions, a text formula gets text conditions. These also fire on indirect changes: edit a line item, and a trigger on the invoice’s rollup total fires when the recomputed total matches. For lookups, the trigger fires when any looked-up value matches the condition.
• Attachments (empty / not empty)

Conditions match the field type and use the same vocabulary as conditional sections: equals, does not equal, contains, does not contain, is greater/less than (or equal), is empty, is not empty, is checked/unchecked, and is after/before for dates. “Is empty” and “is not empty” need no value. Records that are created already matching the condition also fire, so imports and bulk-added rows are covered. Renaming a select option in Airtable does not break the trigger, and percent conditions are entered on the normal percent scale (50 means 50%).

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How often Auto Creation fires

Auto Creation reacts to changes, and it deliberately avoids generating the same document twice:

• Only the watched field counts. The condition is evaluated when the field you picked changes. Editing other fields on a record that already matches does not generate another document.
• The same record does not fire twice within 10 minutes. If a record generated a document less than 10 minutes ago, a further matching change is skipped and logged as a suppressed refire. This prevents duplicates when a record is edited several times in a row.
• Rapid edits within 5 seconds count as one change. Airtable batches quick successive edits, and DocsAutomator collapses them into a single evaluation.
• Bulk updates log at most 25 skipped records per automation, per batch of changes. The documents still generate for every matching record; only the skip rows are capped, so the log stays readable after a mass update.

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Auto Creation limits and lifecycle

• Auto-generated documents count against your plan’s document quota, exactly like manual runs.
• Turning Auto Creation off removes the webhook from your Airtable base.
• Changing the base or table of an automation switches Auto Creation off, because the watched field no longer exists. Pick a new trigger field and switch it back on.
• Automations that use the same base share one webhook. Airtable allows an app two webhooks per base, so this stays within the limit no matter how many automations you run.
• DocsAutomator refreshes the webhook daily. Airtable expires webhooks after seven days and stops notifications after repeated delivery failures; the daily job renews them, re-enables notifications, and recreates a registration that Airtable has dropped. Missed changes are collected on the next refresh.
• Formula fields in an error state (#ERROR!, NaN) are treated as empty and never match a condition.

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Trigger from Airtable

Fire generation from inside Airtable with a button, formula, script, or the extension:

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From DocsAutomator

You can always generate documents from inside DocsAutomator. This works on every Airtable plan.

1. Click Generate manually on the automation page.
2. Pick the records. Choose Record to pick one or more records, or choose View and then a view to generate a document for every record in that view.
3. Check the line above the generate button. It shows how many documents the run uses, for example “Generates 5 documents (uses 5 of your plan).” Each record counts as one document in your plan. In test mode, test documents are free, and one run makes up to 3 documents.
4. Click the generate button.

When the run has finished, you can download the documents in two ways:

• Download with the number of documents saves every PDF in one ZIP file.
• Download as one PDF merges the documents into a single PDF, in the order of your selection or your view. One PDF holds up to 100 documents per download. A document whose signing is complete goes into the PDF as its signed version. Failed documents are left out, and the result names them. The download adds no documents to your plan usage.

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Field Type Reference

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Configuration Options

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E-Signatures

Documents generated from Airtable records can go out for signature or one-click acceptance in the same step, and the sealed PDF comes back to the record. Open the automation’s Signing & Acceptance card. Under How it completes, pick one of three options:

• Signature required: the recipients sign the document. These are legally binding e-signatures, with an audit trail and a certificate.
• Acceptance: the recipient clicks Accept, for example on a quote or a proposal. See Acceptance.
• No closing step: documents are delivered without a signing or acceptance request.

Map each signer’s email address and name to Airtable fields, for example a “Client Email” field to the signer email and a “Client Name” field to the signer name. With more than one signer, choose Sequential (signers sign in order) or Parallel (all signers get the request at the same time). Place signing tags such as {{esign.signature_1}} and {{esign.date_1}} in your template where signatures and dates should appear. The number is the signer. The E-Signature Guide lists every tag, including text and checkbox fields. Under After signing, set Save Signed PDF To to an attachment field. When the last person signs or accepts, the sealed PDF lands in that field on the record. With signing, Save Field Values To writes the text, checkbox and date values the signers enter into Airtable fields. E-signing and acceptance are included in every plan. See How e-signing and acceptance are billed.

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Frequently Asked Questions