Services: Google Form → PDF invoice generator

Context

Solo consultant + part-time bookkeeper. 20–40 invoices per month.

Challenge

• Form responses copied into a Doc template by hand — 15+ minutes per client.
• PDFs saved to inconsistent Drive folders; bookkeeper chased missing files.
• Occasional typos in amounts pulled from the wrong row.

Approach

1. On-form-submit trigger maps response fields to a locked Docs template.
2. PDF exported to /Clients/{year}/{client}/ folder structure.
3. Gmail sends PDF to client with CC to bookkeeper.
4. Status column in tracking sheet updated to Invoiced.

Solution

Standard Form → Sheet → Script → Doc merge → PDF → Gmail pattern with error emails to admin on failure.

Outcome

• Invoice delivery dropped from ~15 minutes to under 30 seconds after submit.
• Bookkeeper finds every PDF in a predictable folder tree.
• Zero amount typos after validation rules in the script.

Technical approach

Form submit trigger → read response row → copy Doc template → replace placeholders → Drive save as PDF → Gmail attach → update Status.

Lessons learned

Validate numeric fields before merge. Use one template Doc per currency/tax regime. Test with edge-case company names (special characters).

Related on this site

• Form → PDF guide →
• Workspace automation →