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Coda

Prerequisites​

  • A PolyDoc account and API key — sign up for free, no credit card required. The free plan includes 150 PDF conversions per month.
  • A Coda account — sign up for free, no credit card required.

Use Case 1: Generate PDFs from Table Data​

Use a button in a Coda table to trigger an automation rule that calls PolyDoc via HTTP and writes the PDF link back to the row.
Button press → Automation rule → HTTP Pack action → PolyDoc API → Update row

Set up your table​

Create a table in your Coda doc with the columns your PDF template requires (e.g. customer_name, invoice_number, amount). Add a Button column that will trigger PDF generation, and a URL column to store the resulting PDF link.

Screenshot placeholder: /img/guides/coda/coda-uc1-table-setup.png

Create an automation rule with a button trigger​

Go to Automations and create a new rule. Set the trigger to When a button is pressed and select the button column from your table.

Screenshot placeholder: /img/guides/coda/coda-uc1-automation-rule.png

Add an HTTP action for PolyDoc​

Add an action step using the HTTP Pack (or a custom Pack). Configure:

  • URL: https://api.polydoc.tech/pdf/convert
  • Method: POST
  • Headers: Authorization = Bearer YOUR_API_KEY (get from the Dashboard), X-Sandbox = true
  • Body: JSON with formulas referencing the triggering row's columns to populate your PolyDoc template.
Screenshot placeholder: /img/guides/coda/coda-uc1-http-action.png

Add a Modify row action after the HTTP step. Write the PDF URL from the PolyDoc response into the row's URL column. Click the button on a test row to verify the link appears and the PDF downloads correctly.

Screenshot placeholder: /img/guides/coda/coda-uc1-store-link.png

Use Case 2: Automated PDF on New Row​

Automatically generate and email a PDF every time a new row is added to a Coda table.
New row added → Automation rule → HTTP request (PolyDoc) → Email

Create an automation rule with a New Row trigger​

Open Automations and create a new rule. Set the trigger to When a new row is created and select your target table.

Screenshot placeholder: /img/guides/coda/coda-uc2-new-row-trigger.png

Add an HTTP request step for PolyDoc​

Add an HTTP Pack action step. Use the same PolyDoc configuration as Use Case 1 — map the new row's columns to your template fields in the JSON body.

Screenshot placeholder: /img/guides/coda/coda-uc2-http-request.png

Add an email step​

Add a Gmail (or email Pack) action. Set the recipient to the row's email column, add a subject line, and attach the PDF binary data from the previous step.

Screenshot placeholder: /img/guides/coda/coda-uc2-email-step.png

Test with a new row​

Add a test row to the table and confirm the email arrives with the correct PDF attached. Once verified, the automation runs for every new row going forward.