Dynamically generated PDFs that are personalized with the data from the corresponding row of the date source are created and sent as an attachment to an email and/or saved to your file system.

Personalized PDFs and emails

The email body and PDF attachments for the emails are generated to have the layout you specify. The content of the specific email and PDF is filled from the corresponding row in the data source. This results in personalized emails sent with personalized attachments.

For example

  • each email can refer to the recipient by name
  • the attached PDF can have individual statement information, with line items
  • each PDF can have an individual password
  • the PDFs can be named with personal information eg customer number

pdfMachine merge is extremely flexible. It can be configured in many ways, some examples are :

Read about more of the powerful features of pdfMachine merge here.

See a demo

Watch a video to see how to use it

See Examples

Features

The following features of pdfMachine merge are often best explained in an example. The full list of examples can be found here.

Settings are remembered

Multiple profiles can be created. Profile settings are saved making it easy to come back to the profile later. e.g. you might have one merge profile for a monthly statement you send out and another for an annual mail out.

Speed

pdfMachine merge is fast. Much faster than using Word to do a merge. This makes a big difference when you have a large number of emails to send.

Rows to Emails

You can configure pdfMachine merge to interpret the rows of the data source in different ways. The rows to emails method defines what the rows from the data source represent. A row of data can represent :

Read more about configuring the way rows can be used in pdfMachine merge here.

Variable number of PDF attachments

pdfMachine merge can be configured to send emails with no attachments, one attachment or multiple attachments in each email. Multiple personalized PDFs can be dynamically created and attached to a single email (See Example). Existing files can also be attached. Or a mix of existing files and generated files can be attached.

Attach existing PDFs

PDF files that you already have can also be attached to the email.

The same file can be attached to all emails by entering a direct path name(See Example).

The file can be different for each email by using a merge field to designate the file (See Example).

Existing PDFs can be password protected or have a stamp/watermark applied to them (See Example).

Different templates

You can use a different template based on a value in the merge field. To do this you use conditional attachments.

To send a different template based on a value in the merge field create a dynamic attachment for each template you have. Mark those attachments as "Enabled on condition" then set the condition using the merge field to define the condition. See an example here.

Conditional Content

You can use a condition on a merge field to use different content in the email or PDF. Text will be included or not on the content in the particular row of the data source. Liquid tags are used to achieve this. Read more here.

                    {% if bonus != 0 %}
                        You received a bonus of {{ bonus | money }}
                    {% endif %}
  • Set which email address/method is used to send the emails
  • Throttle the merge run to help meet the limitations of email servers

Personalized stamps

Each PDF can be stamped with a set text or with a unique stamp obtained from the particular row in the data source See an example.

Personalized security

PDF security can be set for both static (existing) and dynamically generated attachments. If desired, each PDF attachment can have its own security settings by using a merge field as the password. e.g. a password specific to a recipient. See an example.

Live / Test mode / Generate Documents only

pdfMachine merge has 3 modes with which you can run your merge.

Live mode

Emails are sent to the email address from the corresponding row in the data source.

By default all rows are processed, however you can limit which emails are sent by selecting a subset of rows within the Data tab.

Test mode

All emails are sent to a nominated email address from the data source.

Generated PDFs can be saved to a directory as well as emailed.

Before sending out your emails you can run in test mode. You can send some or all emails to a specific email address as a test. Note : the rows selected by checkbox in the Data tab do not apply in this mode.

Generate documents only

Dynamically generated documents are generated and saved to file. No emails are sent.

Upload email attachments to Google Drive or Broadgun Servers

Sometimes you might not want to embed the attachments in the email, just send a link. This cuts down on email size and may increase deliverability. For details, please read: Email attachment upload.

Import / Export profiles

Profiles can be exported to a zip file. Exported profiles can then be imported by pdfMachine merge. This is useful for copying profiles from one pdfMachine merge installation to another.

History

A history of merges performed is maintained - making it easy to find emails you have previously sent.

Formatting

Powerful formatting capabilities. Liquid and custom filters can be applied to format the merge fields. Conditionals and looping allow you to format based on the content of the data.

Click here for instructions.

HTML email

The email body is produced using a WYSIWYG HTML editor making it easy to create nice looking emails yet providing you with the power of HTML. Read here for more information on HTML emails.