Want to automate PDF generation with n8n? In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a PDF template in APITemplate, connect it to n8n, send dynamic JSON data, and generate a PDF automatically. In this video, you’ll learn how to: Create your first PDF template in APITemplate
Add HTML, CSS, and sample JSON data
Use dynamic variables and loops in your template
Find your Template ID
Set up an n8n workflow with Manual Trigger
Send data using the HTTP Request node
Authenticate with your API key
Generate a PDF and get the PDF URL back
This is a simple way to automate invoices, reports, and other documents using n8n and APITemplate.
nice tutorial. been using apiTemplate for invoice generation in a couple projects, the dynamic vars + loops handle tables well. one thing i ran into — if the source data has scanned pages mixed in, is there a fallback for that or does it only work cleanly with structured json?
Yes, APITemplate works best when you have structured JSON, since the template is designed to map dynamic fields, loops, and variables directly into the PDF.
If your source PDF has scanned pages mixed in, that usually means the data first needs to be extracted into structured JSON before APITemplate can generate a clean output. In that case, the fallback would be to run it through OCR or a document parsing step first, then pass the extracted data into APITemplate.
So in short:
structured JSON = works cleanly
scanned documents = usually needs OCR / extraction first
APITemplate itself is focused on generating the PDF, rather than reading data back out of scanned PDFs.