Save Records As PDF

Saves records to a specified PDF file.

See also 

Saving and sending records as a PDF file

Automating tasks with scripts

Options 

•Append to existing PDF appends the records being browsed, the current record, or a blank record after the last page of the specified PDF file. When you append records, the PDF Options dialog box settings in the Document and Initial View tabs are ignored, but the settings in the Security tab are maintained.

•With dialog specifies whether to display dialog boxes when the script step is performed, if a file has already been specified.

•Specify output file allows you to specify the file path. Choose the folder you want to save to, or type the file path directly into the list. Specify one path per line. FileMaker Pro Advanced uses the first path it locates. See Creating file paths.

You can select:

•Automatically open file to have the output file open with the default application

•Create email with file as attachment to display a new email message in the user’s default email application, with the output file attached

If FileMaker Pro Advanced runs a script that does not specify an absolute path, and the database file containing the script is hosted, the path is assumed to be the current user’s Documents folder.

•Specify options displays the "Save Records as PDF" Options dialog box. If you select Blank record from the Save list, the Appearance list is enabled. The Appearance list allows you to specify formatting options for fields.

Select Options to display the PDF Options dialog box.

•In the Document tab, you can specify descriptive information for the PDF file. For each of the options in the document tab, you can enter text directly, or click Specify to enter a field name or values from a calculation.

•In the Security tab, you can assign passwords to the PDF file, as well as print and edit privileges. If print and edit privileges are allowed, you can specify if copying and screen reading software are permitted.

•In the Initial View tab, you can define the initial view for the layout and magnification for the PDF file.

•Create directories specifies whether to create new directories that you specify in the output file path.

Compatibility 

Originated in 

FileMaker Pro 8.0

Description 

This script step operates in all modes except Find mode.

macOS: Save Records As PDF is not supported in runtime solutions. However, users can print the current record to PDF by choosing File menu > Print > PDF.

Notes 

•To save records as a PDF file, your privilege set must include Allow printing, or you must set the script to run with full access privileges.

•In FileMaker Go:

•The following options are not supported: Append to existing PDF, Create directories, and options in the Security tab and Initial View tab of the PDF Options dialog box.

•If you don’t specify the output file path, FileMaker Go uses the name of the window to save the PDF file.

•In FileMaker Server and FileMaker Cloud:

•The With dialog: On option is not supported.

•Server-side scripts can access only certain folders. See Paths in server-side scripts.

•In FileMaker WebDirect:

•This script step is not supported on mobile devices.

•Saved files download to the web browser’s default download location.

•The Create directories option is not supported.

•In FileMaker Server, FileMaker Cloud, and FileMaker WebDirect:

•The Automatically open file and Create email with file as attachment options are not supported.

•The Print Setup script step sets options for this script step.

•If fonts don’t display correctly in the PDF, make sure that all required fonts are installed and available to the Web Publishing Engine in your FileMaker Server deployment. See FileMaker Server Help. For a list of installed fonts for FileMaker Cloud, see FileMaker Cloud Help.

•The Append to existing PDF option is supported only when appending to PDF files that were previously created within the same script.

•If this script step performs multiple times in the same script and doesn't use Append to existing PDF, make sure each instance of this script step uses a unique filename. Otherwise, the most recently created PDF will overwrite older PDFs with the same name.

•If a file path is not specified for the PDF, the default filename is "Untitled.pdf".

•Web viewers don’t display content in PDFs.

Example 1 

Goes to the Products layout, shows all records, sorts the records, and saves the records as a PDF without prompting the user.

Example 2 

Finds all invoices with the current record's Customer ID, sorts, saves the invoices to a PDF, and appends the products purchased by the customer to the PDF.

Related topics 

Export Records script step

Import Records script step

Script steps reference (alphabetical list)

Script steps reference (category list)