If you’ve ever needed to send important documents, like contracts, event tickets, or receipts, directly to users right after they fill out a form, you might have wondered how to make it happen automatically.
I had the same issue when I first started managing forms on my site — manually sending files after each form submission was a hassle.
Being able to send PDFs to site visitors after they’ve subscribed is one of the easiest ways to deliver the lead magnet you promised in exchange for an email address.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to set it up step by step, so you can manage attachments smoothly and keep everything organized.
Send a PDF in a Form Notification
How to Send a PDF Attachment in a Form Notification Email
Whether you need to deliver downloadable guides or invoices, this method will save you time and ensure that your users instantly get the information they need. Let me show you how to set this up for your forms.
Step 1: Create a lead Magnet
The first thing you’ll need to do is create a lead magnet for your subscribe form.If you need some inspiration, you can always check out this roundup of highly effective lead magnet ideas to help you grow your email list.
Although not all of them will be PDFs you can offer, there are plenty of options to choose from. Once you’ve created your PDF lead magnet, upload it to your WordPress website.
To do this, go to Media » Add New and upload it to your site like you would an image.
If the PDF attachment you’re creating is duplicating any content that is already on your website, you might want to hide it from Google so you don’t get penalized in search rankings for having duplicate content.
You also don’t want the lead magnet to rank higher than the original piece of content. To hide your lead magnet from Google, you can use your site’s robots.txt file to make sure Google doesn’t index it.
For example, let’s say you’re offering site visitors a PDF version of a blog post and it has a URL that looks like this: http://example.com/2018/12/printable.pdf.
To hide it from search engines, here is how you’ll add this URL to your robots.txt file:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /2018/12/printable.pdf
For more help with this step, read up on how to hide pages from Google.
Step 2: Create a New WordPress Form
To create a new WordPress form, you’ll need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. For more details, see this step by step guide on how to install a plugin in WordPress.
Next, you’ll need to create a signup form. For help with this step, see our tutorial on how to create a Mailchimp subscribe form as an example to get started.
Keep in mind, you can create many types of forms with the WPForms plugin templates:
- File upload forms to gather additional information from site visitors.
- Job application forms to fill an open position that’s available.
- Survey forms to gather customer feedback about your business.
- User registration forms so people can sign up for subscriptions, services, or other plans.
- Donation forms so you can collect money for your cause or organization.
- And any number of subscribe forms using our email service provider integrations including Mailchimp, AWeber, Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, MailerLite, Drip, GetResponse, and more.
All of these forms, and the hundreds more you can create with WPForms templates, can include a signup checkbox to encourage people to subscribe to your email list in exchange for a lead magnet.
Just make sure that the form you create includes details about the lead magnet people will receive if they sign up. You can use the Content field to add a short description to your form.
Step 3: Add the PDF to Your Form’s Notification Email
To add your PDF lead magnet to your form’s notification email, first go to Media » Library and find the PDF attachment you uploaded to your website that will serve as your lead magnet.
Then, copy the lead magnet’s URL.
Next, go to Settings » Notifications in the form builder.
Then, in the Email Message section, paste this HTML, complete with the URL of your PDF and the text you want for the link:
<a href="COPIEDURL" target="_blank" >Text for link</a>
So, for our example, our notification’s message section will look like this:
Click Save.
Now, any time someone fills out your newsletter signup form and subscribes, they will receive a notification email from you that includes the lead magnet you promised them for subscribing.
If you find that your WordPress email notifications aren’t delivering the way they’re supposed to, be sure to read up on how to get WordPress from notifications using the WP Mail SMTP plugin so that you know every site visitor that subscribes to your email list gets their lead magnet.
FAQs — How to Send a PDF Attachment in a Form Notification Email
Why offer lead magnets?
Lead magnets are one of the best ways to build your email list. Lead magnets are used as an incentive to get people to subscribe, and they are pieces of high-quality content you can deliver once someone successfully signs up.
Good lead magnets are valuable enough for people to want to sign up for your email list and continue to receive marketing materials from you in the future. Some of the most common lead magnets include PDFs in the form of:
- eBooks
- Checklists
- Reports
- Case Studies
- Templates
- Resource Lists
- Guides
- Infographics
- And so much more
Email marketing is critical if you want to grow your readership or customer base. It’s the best way to communicate with people who are interested in what you have to offer.
Plus, you own your email list and have complete control over it at all times. Not to mention, email marketing is known for having the highest ROI when compared to other digital marketing strategies like SEO and advertisements.
If you want to learn how to create a lead magnet and send it in a marketing email or add it to your form’s confirmation messages, check out this helpful tutorial on how to create a simple lead magnet optin form in WordPress.
How do I send an attachment in notification?
To send an attachment in a notification with WPForms, navigate to the form builder, go to Settings and select Notifications. There, you can add a file attachment by adding the link to it.
How do I send a PDF attachment in an email?
With WPForms, you can easily send a PDF attachment in an email by adding the link to the PDF to your form. Once a user submits the form, WPForms will automatically attach the PDF to the email notification sent to you or the user. This is ideal for sending documents like tickets, invoices, or guides right after a form submission.
Next, Print Form Submissions With WPForms
And there you have it! You now know how to send a PDF attachment in a form notification email to people when they sign up for your email list. Want to save all your form entries via PDF? Check out this article on how to print your WordPress form submissions to PDF.
Create Your WordPress Form Now
Ready to build your form? Get started today with the easiest WordPress form builder plugin. WPForms Pro includes lots of free templates and offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.
If this article helped you out, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more free WordPress tutorials and guides.
Hi !
Is there a possible way to receive and send notifications (all_fields) in a .pdf format or a Carbon Copy in .pdf ?
Thank you !
Hi Greg,
We don’t have a way to do this right now, but I’ve made a note on our feature request list so we can keep it on our radar! Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
Hi Daisy, we are also looking for this functionality – have you implemented it yet?
Hi Katie! I apologize but PDF functionalities have not yet been implemented, however it is in the works! We don’t have an ETA yet, but please do check back in again in the future!
I’ve also added your details to this particular feature request, so you should receive emails about any updates on this!
If you have any further questions about this, please contact us if you have an active subscription. If you do not, don’t hesitate to drop us some questions in our support forums.
Hello, has this functionality been implemented yet? we have been waiting.
Hi Eyad,
We apologize but PDF functionalities have not yet been implemented. We don’t have an ETA yet, but please do check back in again in the future!
We’ve also added your details to this particular feature request, so you should receive emails about any updates on this!
If you have any further questions about this, please contact us if you have an active subscription. If you do not, don’t hesitate to drop us some questions in our support forums.
Is There Any Way That I Want To Send Different Pdf On Different Select Condition?
Hi Maulik,
I’d recommend checking out our guide on sending out conditional notification emails in WPForms. 🙂
Is there a way to have the PDF download upon pressing the SUBMIT button, instead of through a link?
Hi Bob,
We don’t have a way to do this right now, but I’ve made a note on our feature request list so we can keep it on our radar! Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
Have you added this yet… it really is important vs. a link
Hey John – Yes, we already have it in our feature request list so that the dev team can consider it when they decide on new features for the future.
Thanks for your patience!
Just checking to see if this option became available yet?
Hi Anzela! We haven’t released a PDF addon for the WPForms plugin yet, however it is something we’re working on to provide in an upcoming release.
We’ll be sure to announce it when it does become available, so please check in often, or sign up to our newsletters 🙂
Thanks!
Is it now available? Still need this feature very much
Hey Monique – I am afraid, it is still not available, we definitely want to have a pdf addon but we don’t have an estimated date as of now. I will upvote the request on your behalf. Thanks for your patience.
Hi we have a problem just on gmail, I mean that all the people with an email on gmail, are not getting the email. Which is the problem?
Hi Nicolas,
I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with email deliverability! I’d highly recommend checking out our article on how to fix email delivery issues with the WP Mail SMTP Plugin.
I hope this helps!
This appears to just add a link for download – is there a way to actually attach the PDF document in the email. So the lead doesn’t click a link, but rather sees a PDF file attached with the email?
Hi Jason,
WPForms doesn’t support including attaching files to emails currently. The reason is that it can often hurt email deliverability. Different email providers have different limits on the type and size of files they can accept. Sending files that don’t pass these rules most often means the email won’t get delivered or will bounce.
I’m sorry we don’t have quite what you’re looking for but I hope this helps!
Hi Daisy… The form that we are creating will allow users to upload files to send to us. We don’t want the files stored on the server and would prefer that they be attached rather than linked back to the site. How can we do this?
Hi Shomari! It seems you’ve already reached out to the Support Team, but in case you missed their response, our plugin doesn’t support including/attaching files to emails currently. The reason is that it can often hurt email deliverability. Different email providers have different limits on the type and size of files they can accept. Sending files that don’t pass these rules most often means the email won’t get delivered or will bounce.
All file uploads would also need to go to your server initially. However in the case that you’re concerned about third parties accessing the uploaded files, the plugin does add a unique hash to the end of the file name (eg: my-logo-570543445db74.png), so that the uploaded file is not easily found when searching for the file.
If you have any further questions, the Support Team would be happy to continue assisting you 🙂
Hi,
I am trying to use a link to a pdf in a notification email. But the link in the email is unclickable (so you cannot access the pdf). Other than being unclickable, it looks like a link (it is the link color and only the text meant to be shown–not the url or any code–is visible).
Hi Scott – It sounds to me like something in the HTML probably needs to be changed, but it’s hard to say for sure without a closer look. When you get a chance, could you please contact our support team with more details?
If you have a WPForms license, please submit a support ticket, otherwise we provide limited complimentary support for Lite users. Thanks! 🙂
Hello was this ever resolved? I am having the same issue.
Hey Illary – This is not a general bug, we need to check the specific site to troubleshoot it further. I would suggest contacting the support team for this.
If you have a WPForms license, you have access to our email support, so please submit a support ticket.
Otherwise, we provide limited complimentary support in the WPForms Lite WordPress.org support forum.
Thanks 🙂
I must have done something wrong or I am confused. I went through these steps, but the pdf download link was included in the email notification that I received as the administrator and not sent to the person who filled out the contact form. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi Dave!
Most probably you have included it into the wrong notification, the one that goes to the site admin.
You will have to doublecheck it.
If you have a WPForms license, you have access to our email support, so please submit a support ticket.
Otherwise, we provide limited complimentary support in the WPForms Lite WordPress.org support forum.
Have a good one 🙂
I tried to include a link to a PDF in the notification email, but the link is not clickable. If I copy the link, it looks like this: x-webdoc://630916B8-D6DE-4633-B34E-8D8570739C2A/”http://swissphotonscience.ch/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Invoice-SSPh-membership-fees-2020.pdf”.
Before the actual link, the email link contain the x-webdoc part, which is the reason that the link doesn’t work. How do I solve this?
Hi Jan — We’d be happy to help! When you get a chance, please drop us a line in support so we can assist, please submit a support ticket here.
Thanks 🙂
Hi. Did you get that issue solved?
Hey Enrique – Sorry for the trouble you are facing. Most of the time, this issue will be due to some wrong WordPress configuration or file permissions issues. Our support team will be able to help you better with this.
If you have a WPForms license, you have access to our email support, so please submit a support ticket. Otherwise, we provide limited complimentary support in the WPForms Lite WordPress.org support forum.
Thanks 🙂
It seems there is a bug in sending the link via the message section. When I open the email the desired text is not clickable and I saw this same issue in some previous tickets.
I even checked the inspect code of the page and there wasn’t any HTML tag I mean.
Could you please check and solve this problem? I really need this. Thanks in advance
I tried both versions of the HTML template and plain email. Both had the same issue.
Hey Mehran – Sorry to hear you are having trouble with file attachments. Could you please create a support ticket here so that our support team can assist further.
Thanks!
can i know does the pdf document go as a attachment to the receivers email or a link that ends up downloading the attachment on click?? also if it possible to setup the form to send the document from yourself to your friends ??
Hey Dinesh, I am sorry but it does not go as an attachment but as a link.
In regards to ” it possible to setup the form to send the document from yourself to your friends ??” question,in order to make sure we answer your question as thoroughly as possible and avoid any confusion, could you please contact our team?
If you have a WPForms license, you have access to our email support, so please submit a support ticket. Otherwise, we provide limited complimentary support in the WPForms Lite WordPress.org support forum.
Thanks.
WP-Forms is a great provider when it comes to WordPress forms. How can it be that you can’t add such a simple function like sending files with a confirmation email. The link is useless, most of my clients miss it because they assume they will receive an attachment.
Hey Siegmo, We haven’t released a PDF addon for the WPForms plugin yet, however it is something we’re working on to provide in an upcoming release.
We’ll be sure to announce it when it does become available, so please check in often, or sign up to our newsletters.
Thanks!
I’ll second the request to be able to send notifications and confirmations in PDF form. That feature would be extremely helpful.
Voted added! Thanks for sharing your interest here! 🙂
I am planning to purchase the plugin if the following points are there:
1. do you have a signature file?
2. can we send filled-up data as a pdf in the email with a signature?
Hey Pravin – Yes, we have Signature Addon available in the Pro license or higher plans!
Regarding the PDF version of the filled up form, I apologize, currently we don’t have this feature. I do agree it would be super helpful, though. I’ve made a note of the feature request and we’ll keep it on our radar as we plan out our roadmap for the future.
In the meantime, there are a couple of options you could consider, depending on your particular goals:
1) You could set up form notification emails to send an email with the content of the submitted entry. Most browsers will then let you save an email as a PDF (here’s an example for Chrome). In case it helps, here’s our tutorial on setting up notification emails.
2) You could manually create PDFs of each entry by printing. Here’s our tutorial with all the details.
3) You could attach a downloadable CSV file to the email notification that contains the information users submit through your form. This file can also include extra data points such as the entry ID, user’s IP address, and more. Here’s our tutorial with all the details.
Thanks 🙂
i have created form in wpforms i want to send all entries in table format like table tow and table head there is no option showing for that I have selected HTML template and add table tag of HTML and tried to send email notification but when I receive notification table body does not fit to start I have to scroll down to view table when I inspect element it added lots of br tag is there any solution
Hi there — We’d be happy to help! When you get a chance, please drop us a line in support so we can assist.
If you have a WPForms license, you have access to our email support, so please submit a support ticket.
Otherwise, we provide limited complimentary support in the WPForms Lite WordPress.org support forum.
Thanks 🙂
Hi,
I have a form created using WpForm and we want to send all the fields in Pdf format along with the fields in email. Is it possible using WpForms?
Hi Salman – I apologize, currently we don’t have this feature. I do agree it would be super helpful, though. I’ve made a note of the feature request and we’ll keep it on our radar as we plan out our roadmap for the future.
In the meantime, there are a couple of options you could consider, depending on your particular goals:
1) You could set up form notification emails to send an email with the content of the submitted entry. Most browsers will then let you save an email as a PDF (here’s an example for Chrome). In case it helps, here’s our tutorial on setting up notification emails.
2) You could manually create PDFs of each entry by printing. Here’s our tutorial with all the details.
3) You could attach a downloadable CSV file to the email notification that contains the information users submit through your form. This file can also include extra data points such as the entry ID, user’s IP address, and more. Here’s our tutorial with all the details.
Thanks 🙂
Hi! Do you have PDF addon already? I see users have been asking for this for more than 3 years. I’m choosing between WPForms and ContactForm7 + Ultimate addon (PDF file is included in free version). And it’s essential to have the option to send a PDF file of what was filled in in the form. Please, let me know if you have it. Thanks
Hi Michel. Thanks for your feedback! I can tell you that this feature is under active discussion. I am not able to share any more details right now, but it’s great that you commented so we can get a measure of how popular this request is. Thanks for stopping by to comment.