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Submit and Get Document via Email or Website ...

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Hi all,

I am having a problem that I suspect many people have solved.  Essentially we're using FF to act as the data collection element for a number of landing pages.  Once the user has filled out the fields and submitted, we want to provide them access to a PDF document (in most cases).  Either by email, or by way of a protected download on the website.

But this is where we're having problems.  Going the email route, there doesn't seem to be the ability to add attachments to the message natively, whether via FF or O365 via Zapier.  (Gmail looks to have that capability?)

And I can't see that there's any sensible integrations with wordpress 'content protection' apps.  Have tried a couple but not really achieving what we're after.  We did try the instructions at:  https://formidableforms.com/knowledgebase/offer-protected-file-form-submission/

But the "filter entries" doesn't seem to shown File Name as a selection criteria.  So am guessing that we're doing something wrong ...

Has anyone else had a similar aim and managed to get it done?  If so, what approach(es) have worked?

Thanks

Hi,

I use this plugin to automatically email a pdf to a user of their entries when they complete an on line form and it works well.

https://www.formidablepro2pdf.com/

Hope it works for you.

Stephen

E2PDF (https://e2pdf.com/) is newer and better replacement of formidablepro2pdf developed by the same company. It has an inbuilt PDF builder and offers more features. I have used it to build a couple of large PDF reports and happy with the results.

Thanks Stephen - that looks good at what it does, but all we're really trying to do is provide a 'vanilla' PDF file to a visitor after they've shared their details.  Either by email or protected web document.

Unless I'm missing the point that plugin won't help this.  Appreciate the effort in replying though.

No worries Scott and thanks for the update Sujeevan and I will convert to that plugin which looks better.

After sharing their details Scott, then the pdf of the form with their details can be emailed to whoever.

If that is not for you then hope you find what you are looking for.

Best wishes,

Stephen

Thanks Stephen and Sujeevan.

Yep - our problem is automating the "emailed to whoever" part.  The email is easy enough - adding an attachment to the email proving challenging!

Hi Scott,
Both plugins are built for the exact problem you are trying to solve. When the user fills a form and submits, it generates a PDF and attaches it to the email.
I have not explored pro2pdf much but with e2pdf, you can use [e2pdf-attachment] shortcode.
If you like to provide a link in your website to download the PDF file, use [e2pdf-download] shortcode.
Here is the doc which explains everything - https://e2pdf.com/support/docs

There is an auto PDF feature in the e2pdf PDF builder where you can easily generate your PDF template yourselves.

Hi Sujee,

Thanks for the more detailed explanation.

I will look through the docs shortly, but my question is around whether it can attach a PDF without generating it first.  Basically we are hoping to send the same PDF to everyone, rather than append form data to it.

Hi Scott,
Looks like our discussion went sideways. Now I understand your original question. :)

In my opinion, the best approach is to follow the guide you mentioned earlier - https://formidableforms.com/knowledgebase/offer-protected-file-form-submission/
It should work. You mentioned that you don't see "File Name" in the filter. Could you double check whether you have added a text field called "File Name" in addition to the File upload field in your form?

Alternately, if you like to attach a static file to an email notification, you can use this hook - https://formidableforms.com/knowledgebase/frm_autoresponder_attachment/

Disregard earlier discussion about e2pdf or pro2pdf - they are not relevant for this use-case

Hope this helps.

Sujeevan

 

Thanks Sujeevan,

Appreciate the clarification.  I will redo the steps in the first suggestion and see where we get.

By the second method, it seems at first glance that this will send the same attachment to all landing page submissions, which is not our use case.

You are welcome.

Regarding the 2nd method, the documentation shows a basic example. If you are familiar with Formidable Hooks and PHP, you can customize the code the way you wanted. e.g. attach different static files based on a value in your form.

Discussion closed.