ACADEMY

30-day free trial!
Install from the AppExchange and configure PDF Butler in 10 minutes. All that needs to be done to get started!

Create your first quote document in just 15 minutes. Learn the basics of selecting data, replacing mergefields and repeating rows. Use the template document as a starting point!

Use the SINGLE to do 1-on-1 replacements from SFDC Data into the document

The TITLE ConfigType manages name of the generated document. Use MergeFields to control the name.

Every Enter is a Paragraph in MS Word, also bullet-point or numbered lists are paragraphs. You can repeat these or add criteria to show or hide paragraphs.

Repeating rows in a table is key, learn how to repeat rows and give an overview of the products. You can repeat these or add criteria to show or hide rows.

Just as row, repeat entire tables. You can repeat these tables or add criteria to show or hide the table.

A table is a content container in PDF Butler. Show all contents of a table if a DataSource has records.

A row is also a content container in PDF Butler. Show all contents of a row if a DataSource has records.

Add TextArea fields from and format these as expected. TextArea Fields can have enters and parts on new lines. PDF Butler will format these perfectly

Use complex criterias to decide if you want to process records or show/hide Paragraphs, TableRows or Tables.

SINGLE ConfigTypes are great, but sometimes there is some logic involved and you need more control on which field or static text to show. Great example is if you have mulitple fields for translations of your product names or descriptions, depending on the language you want to use the correct field.

Sections in MS Word documents help to switch between Landscape and Portrait, change headers, footers, ... . With PDF Butler you can decide to show or hide these complete sections.

Dynamically load pictures from Salesforce into your documents. Linked to records, eg products. Multiple linked to a single record, eg case. And the super complex stuff to add APEX to get exactly what you want.

Product pictures (not complex):

Product Picture template

Case pictures (medium complex):

Case Pictures template

Logo pictures (very complex):

picture placeholder

Optimize your pictures for size

Emails need pictures. This will explain how to feed the URL of the pictures, coming from Salesforce FILES, to PDF Butler so the email clients will know how to show the email correctly .

Some Mergefields are only for identifying structures in the document, for instance a Table or a Row. When the document is generated, you do not want to see these anymore. So these will not be replaced via a SINGLE ConfigType.
Of course, you do not want to see these in the resulting document.
PDF Butler allows full control over your mergefields. The lesson shows how to control the removal of MergeFields.

Want to print barcodes on your documents. Use your input data to generate barcodes and QR-codes. There are many types available but the most famous ones are CODE 128 and QR.

Handle SFDC rich text fields. These fields are HTML snippets that can be compiled into the document.
This video will show how to add them to a document and how to more specifically define which styles and classes (remember it is HTML) you want to keep.

SFDC Rich Text fields can have pictures. Overall we a are not a big fan of this but we do support them.
PDF Butler might be the only solution that supports Rich Text Pictures in a robust, rock-solid way.
If you want to use Rich Text Pictures, contact support@pdfbutler.com to get our free add-on
The class to use in the Actionable: PDFButler_Actionable_RichTextPics

Via the TABLE_COLUMN_REMOVER, you can decide to show or hide certain columns in a table.
For instance, if you want to hide the Discount column when there no discounts, this is perfectly possible.
If the option is disabled, contact support to enable it for free: support@pdfbutler.com

Select exactly 1 row from SFDC. This is mostly the row related to your record you are working on: Quote, Opportunity, Case, ...!

Select multiple records. Mostly records related to the record you are working on. Eg Opportunity Products, Quote Lines, Assets, ...

Get translations on your picklists directly from the Translation Workbench

Use picture, eg logo or thumbnails, from Salesforce DOCUMENTS, FILES or ATTACHMENTS

Select your data in your complex data models. This is one of the most powerful features of PDF Butler but hard to understand. Nested DataSources, the mystery revealed ;-)

Rollup summaries in Salesforce are cool but sometimes not available or you have none left. We got you covered.

Take control over your DataSource. Write your own SOQL's and use the full power of Salesforce.com. Use GROUP BY, AVG/SUM/MIN/MAX/.., LIMIT, complex WHERE clauses, ...

Take control over your DataSource. Write your own SOQL's and use the full power of Salesforce.com. Use GROUP BY, AVG/SUM/MIN/MAX/.., LIMIT, complex WHERE clauses, ...

Download documentation here

Sometimes it is easier to re-use certain data instead of having it hardcoded in your document templates. Static values can be used for this purpose. For instance company addresses, names of persons, ... . Keep them in an easy to manage and re-usable Static datasource and use them in multiple templates.

Sometimes it is required to load a large amount of pictures. The special thing here is that the pictures are not loaded in Salesforce but directly in PDF Butler. This enables us to bypass certain Salesforce limits and to faster load these pictures when they come in large amounts (up to 300). PDF Butler will load the pictures in parallel to optimize the generation speed.

Lightning component handles your DocConfigs, your Packs, upload static files, downloads, viewer, ... all in 1 component.

Enabling with Clickjack protection:

In some cases, you want to review the document before saving, emailing, signing, ... . The previewer Lightning component shows your document and proposes the actions to take.

Enabling with Clickjack protection:

Select of FILE related to your eg Opportunity and use that emailing, signing, ... . The Lightning component shows all files and the actions, PDF Butler Packs, that are related.

Still on Classic, that happens but no worries PDF butler can be called from anywhere.

In multi-language environments, it might be required to translate the DocConfig in the language of the user. With a translation DataSource, this is perfectly possible. Via the Locale of the User, the translation will be selected for each DocConfig.

Use the Previewer in Lightning Flows, Safari Browsers, Salesforce Mobile, VisualForce, ... .

In this episode learn how easy we made it to define a specific Component that allows to configure a Quick Action.

See the full code example in the Word file you can download below.

Get the component by contacting: support@pdfbutler.com

Create a Pack and combine multiple DocConfigs. Learn how to use separately or merge.

Use your Salesforce email templates to sent out an email with your document attached.

Need a more fancy email then the one Salesforce email templates can produce or need to display data from more sObject in a complex data model? Create your email in MS Word and use all of the PDF Butler goodies to sent out an email with your document attached.

Edit your emails generated by PDF Butler before sending them out. All from Salesforce and directly from the "Send Email" Quick Action!

Class to use: cadmus_core.Actionable_EmailDocConfigQuickAction

Create your document and sent it out for digital signature via SIGN Butler for perfectly legal signatures.

Create your document and sent it out for digital signature via DocuSign.

Create your document and sent it out for digital signature via AdobeSign.

Customize the PDF Butler process directly in Salesforce. Need to retrieve data from backend, do some serious calculations, prepare variables, take custom actions when the document is generated, ... . We got you covered!

Download documentation here

Lightning Flow is a great tool to build business logic and represent it visually. You can just plug in PDF Butler in your Flow

Download documentation here

Want to handle events, use the most popular ADMIN tool on the Salesforce platform: Process builder.

Download documentation here

Lightning components or buttons, we give you the option. You can use both and have the same powerful experience for your user.

Download documentation here

You might have a use-case in which your end user needs to select data or ranges and you want to use that information to select data for PDF Butler to handle. We got you covered and you do not even have to write APEX!

Download documentation here

Automation sounds great but you are taking it to the next level... APEX!

Download documentation here

We can cover so much in our Datasources but you might have a use case that is even harder! Complex grouping, calculation, integration with backend systems, tranformation of data, ... . With an APEX Actionable, you can prepare your data in APEX before PDF Butler handles it. No need to store your transformed data, calculated Just-In-Time and passed on to PDF Butler.

Download documentation here

A permission set group streamlines permissions assignment and management. Use a permission set group to bundle permission sets together based on user job functions. Users assigned the permission set group receive the combined permissions of all the permission sets in the group. Permission set groups with PDF Butler (but also BULK, COLLABORATION and SIGN Butler) is the best way to use the permissionsets from the managed package without cloning.
Best to setup 2 types of permission set groups:

• Admin: all permission an Admin, someone who manages the templates and config, requires
• User: all permission a User, someone who only needs to create documents, requires

Salesforce documentation

Admin Permission Set Group User Permission Set Group

On any Salesforce list view, add a button to create multiple documents in 1 go.

It is not possible to configure Lighting Mass Actions yet so the only solution is an sObject specific VisualForce page. We have these for all standard sObjects like Account, Opportunity, ... . Contact support to get this add-on package or a code snippet to easily create your own: support@pdfbutler.com

Setup List View Button

When you want to take an action after the document is generated, this action can be executed from an Autolaunched Flow.

Create an Actionable in PDF Butler of recordType "Run Lightning Flow", pass on the API name of your Flow and the class: "cadmus_core.Actionable_RunAfterFlow"

Update the record Save to document to another record

Transform your view in CPQ "Edit Lines" to your document. Your customers deserve a well-structured quote document that gives a perfect overview.

Download document here

The full video:

Or in smaller chunks:

• PART 1 - Problem and solution:
• PART 2 - From scratch to our first PDF:
• PART 3 - Second level of products:
• PART 4 - Third level of products:
• PART 5 - Product logo’s:
• PART 6 - Wrapping up:

Using groups in your "Edit Lines" is very powerful. To use these groups to build a better structure and overview in your quote is even more powerful.

Download document here

Create the best looking Service Report ever.

Get our thumbnail component via: support@pdfbutler.com. This is a PDF Butler Actionable that can be easily installed as a package. Comes with comments and unit-tests.

Download document here

• PART 1 - Work Order Data:
• PART 2 - Work Order Pictures:
• PART 3 - Work Order Line Items (WOLI) Data & Pictures:
• PART 4 - Child WOLI Data & Pictures:

Deploying your PDF Butler configuration is done in 2 easy steps. You can use the principle in the example below to go in any direction and deploy between any stage.

When you have registered for PDF Butler, you can reuse the same username and passwords on every environment. PDF Butler will know which configuration you need by the Stage that is set in your Org or Sandbox. Deploying between Stages, and thus Salesforce.com Orgs is done by a few clicks (see Deployment)

• Stage PROD for your Production Org,
• Stage TEST for your Test Sandbox,
• Stage DEV1 for your Development Sandbox,
• ...

Provide common Case data and a list of Case Articles.

Download document here

You can use PDF Butler directly from your lightning community..

Common questions on using PDF Butler in a community:
1) Make sure to configure the sharing rules on the PDF Butler objects for external users. Add these objects:

• Actionable - Public Read Only
• Data Source - Public Read Only
• Doc Config - Public Read Only
• PDF Butler Pack - Public Read Only
• Pack DocConfigs - Public Read Only

For SIGN Butler:

• SignRequestQueue - Public Read/Write
• Sign request template - Public Read/Write
• Mail Template Group - Public Read Only

2) Make sure to add the System Permission "View All Custom Settings". More info here
3) Make sure the license for PDF Butler is assigned to the community user

If you have Multi-currency enabled on your ORG, you might want to show the currency on the record and format the amounts by the locale of your customer.

Start from MS Word to generate your PDF or MS Word documents.

DocConfig email

Reusable MS Word templates, keep documents like product sheets or terms&conditions separately and so much more possibilities.

Create Excel (XSLX) reports with data from Salesforce. Datadumps or complex groupings ... We got you covered.

Use Static PDF files like brochures, general conditions, ... and use them in your PDF Butler process!

Automate your process and sent mail with your documents automatically!

Auto email
DocConfig email

Re-use PDF documents from your company, affiliate or government. Prefill these PDF Documents with data in your CRM to provide the optimal user experience.

Learn how to generate "Character Separated Value" (also called "Comma Separated Value") files.

You can use this trick with any image that is inline with a paragraph (or table).

Download document here

Unchecked checkbox

Checked checkbox

Sometimes your templates require a watermark, no need to duplicate your templates. Use Criteria to make your watermark conditional.

Sometimes you have the requirement to print a section of information for several records on multiple pages. This tutorial shows you how.

Download document here

Need to show templates like product sheets or contract add-ons dynamically based on your data and selection. No problem, this tutorial shows how you can control that.

Product Sheet 1: GenWatt Diesel 10kW

Product Sheet 2: GenWatt Propane 100kW

You want to add numbering to your lists. We got you covered, learn how to use MS Word Numbered lists or PDF Butler @Number to provide what you need.
PS: You can use these numbering in different levels. For instance

• 1 Top Level
•    1.1 Sub Level

Numbering Demo Doc

Generating fully dynamic document in which content must appear or disappear depending on criteria is exactly what you want.
Introducing white-spaces and empty sections along the way is exactly what you do not want!
This video gives some ideas on how to handle this. Working with Criteria on TABLE_ROW/TABLE/PARAGRAPH ConfigTypes can also work to get you that perfect looking document.
We have a solution for every problem, so do not hesitate to contact us: support@pdfbutler.com

Want to create a document from the Home page? Sure you can do that!
In some cases you want to generated documents or reports that are not dependent on a single record. For instance a Opportunity overview document generated from the Sales Home page.

PDF/A is an ISO-standardized (ISO 19005-1) version of the Portable Document Format (PDF) specialized for use in the archiving and long-term preservation of electronic/digital documents.
When generating PDF/A compliant documents, we targeted for the full conformance level of PDF/A-1a! So this means that we are completely compliant with PDF/A-1a and PDF/A-1b (as this is a subset of PDF/A-1a).

Get all approval steps and related information. This Actionable will collect all Approval History Information and adds it to a KEYVALUE DataSource.

Class: PDFButler_Act_GetApprovalHistory

Fields for the KEYVALUE DataSource:

• ProcessInstanceId
• ProcessNodeId
• ProcessNodeName: the step name, this will be empty for the step that submitted the request
• CreatedDate
• StepStatus
• OriginalActorId
• OriginalActorName
• ActorId
• ActorName
• Comments

Contact PDF Butler support for more information: support@pdfbutler.com

The values of a MultiSelect Picklist are stored as a ";" separated text in Salesforce. That makes it difficult to handle.

This video will show how to retrieve these values in a List.

Class: PDFButler_Actionable_MultiSelect

Fields for the KEYVALUE DataSource:

• parentId
• value

Contact PDF Butler support for more information: support@pdfbutler.com

Sometimes a color says more then a thousand words. If you want to conditionally give a color to your data, this shows how.

Download document here

Provide a document to be used against the PDF Butler configuration. The document in the PDF Butler configuration will be ignored and the provided document will be used.

Class to use: PDFB_Actionable_DocConfigOverride

How to link multiple templates to the same DocConfig? And more importantly, how to use the correct template automatically?
You will learn all of this in this video.
We will start with the quote from the "Get Started" section and translate that one.

Download French document here

Download German document here

Get translations on your picklists directly from the Translation Workbench

Every country, language, and combination of both have their way of formatting dates, currencies, numbers,...
The combination of language and country is called locale. For instance, in Belgium, we speak Dutch, French, and German. Our locales are:

• Dutch Belgium: nl_BE
• French Belgium: fr_BE
• German Belgium: de_BE

For most countries, they only speak 1 main language so their locale is easier and they have only 1:

• USA: en_US
• UK: en_UK
• Germany: de_DE
• Netherlands: nl_NL

So supporting documents over multiple countries or in a country that speaks multiple languages. You will need to format the dates, currencies, numbers specifically for those countries.
PDF Butler knows how to format for every locale and will even translate your date (months and days) in the correct language.

Get translations for labels and texts in your document. Manage these translation in Salesforce. Learn how to use Custom labels in relation with your customer or users locale.

If you have Multi-currency enabled on your ORG, you might want to show the currency on the record and format the amounts by the locale of your customer.

CPQ offers powerful tools to translate your products and product information. With our "CPQ Translations" add-on, we can use those translations in your multi-language documents.
It does not matter if it is text, text-area, or rich-text fields. All are by PDF Butler supported!
Use your CPQ Localization config to translate your documents.
Request access to this free package via: support@pdfbutler.com

This error is annoying, Salesforce tells us the best practice is to use Protected Custom Settings for confidential information, then it goes and invents a new permission and then it does not allow ISV partner to add it to their permissionsets automatically. Sorry, you have to set it yourself.

Check System Permission “View all Custom Settings”

Salesforce allows for very easy management of licenses.
You can just assign them via Setup => Installed Packages => PDF Butler => Manage Licenses (Button).

PDF Butler support is all about helping! So the best way to help is to access your Org. No need to create a user, you can just allow access for a certain time. This allows us to check your question.
You need to grant login to "CloudCrossing Support", this is the name of the company that owns the PDF Butler product.

Sure it does!
There is a "but" ;-)
Generating documents is always possible but if you want to configure DocConfigs, you will need to create a password for you Scratch Org user and login via the browser

You can generate a password via: sfdx force:user:password:generate --targetusername <username>

You can see the password again by running: sfdx force:user:display -u <username>"

If you open the org via your IDE (eg VSCode), you will get the error: "Your browsing session has ended or is invalid" when opening the configpage.

Check you Cookie Settings, it might be set to "Block third-party cookies"!

Of course you can, even better, we have a component to support you. Check out the video!
Class: PDFButler_LibraryFiles

Of course we can! Shield Platform Encryption for encrypting fields on standard, custom and even managed package fields is fully supported.
Overall, you can add the encrypted fields to your PDF Butler DataSource. All security and permissions of the roaming user are checked by Salesforce before returning the data. This means when the user has access to the data, it will show unencrypted in your document .... Just as you would expect.
We fully align with the Salesforce platform, this means it capabilities and limits. See this article for more info: General Trade-Offs

PDF Butler has 2 passwords, an ADMIN password and a USER password. Both are send in the initial mail you receive when registering. The mail has subject: "PDF Butler registration completed"
When you require a new set of passwords, no problem! Just follow the video below.

Learn how to setup SIGN Butler, configure the permission sets and register. To register, make sure to have your PDF Butler username and Admin password.

After this is done make sure to contact support@pdfbutler.com to complete the registration.

Get a full overview of all config items on a template.

Get a full overview of info and actions on a request for a signature, Sign Request, directly from Salesforce.com.

Basic setup for a quote that required only 1 signer.

Download document here

Receivers keep up to date with the Sign Request. They will get notified of every action that is taken on the Sign Request.

Basic setup for a quote that required only 2 signers. We will configure 2 contacts that have to sign in sequence (1 by 1).

Download document here

Some cases you have a process that the number of signers is dynamic. For instance, depending on the amount of the opportunity, a flow, trigger or process builder will add a 2nd signer.

Important to know is that the signature placeholder numbering must start with 1 and cannot skip numbers. So use the PDF Butler magic to set the correct numbers if required. "#SIG0[[!YOUR_NUMBER!]]_200_200".

Download document here

What if your CEO has to sign every contract? You do not want to link his user to every record. No worries, in SIGN Butler you can specify multiple DataSources to get your Signers.

Want to wait for the confirmation the Sign Request is created or just fire and forget? The last one is the best for user experience, super fast and all processing happens in the background.

Launching the Sign Request via a Process Builder requires a Silent launch.

Silent: Use Actionable class "cadmus_sign.Actionable_SignButlerSilent".

Non-Silent: Use Actionable class "cadmus_sign.Actionable_SignButler".

When you sit next to your customer, you just want to launch the signing screen so your customer can immediately sign.

Use Actionable class "cadmus_sign.Actionable_SignButler".

Want to handle the updates on your Sign Request automatically to fully automate your process. Just use a trigger or Process Builder.

In this example, we will update our Opportunity to Closed Won when the document is signed.

Want to use extra fields in the mails for SIGN Butler?

In this example, we will show how you can add a DataSource to select extra data that can be used in your SIGN Butler emails.

Contact our Support department for all COLLABORATION Butler setup documentation, we will respond immediately: support@pdfbutler.com

When creating the folder for the current record. COLLABORATION Butler will create all the required sub-folders in 1 go.

If you have a Site, a Document Library or Folder per record. COLLABORATION Butler can connect to all dynamically!
Learn in this video how to control the Lightning component to connect to any place in SharePoint.

The COLLABORATION Butler Lightning component is very extensive and can be configured any way you want.

The COLLABORATION Butler Lightning component is perfectly compatible with all PDF Butler Features
Learn how to generate documents directly from the COLLABORATION Butler Lightning component and store these exactly where you want in SharePoint.

Contact our Support department for the latest FORM Butler install URL, we will respond immediately: support@pdfbutler.com

Create all datasources required for this FORM Butler Demo.

Datasources for the demo document DocConfig
Datasources for the demo Email DocConfig
Datasources for the demo Actionable

Add a lookup to the FORM Butler Request SObject to the SObject you are starting from. In our demo, this will be the Opportunity

Setup the FORM Butler document, start from a MS Word file and add your first TEXT form-field.

Add a TEXT form-field.

Add a TEXTAREA form-field.

Add a DATE form-field.

Add a CheckBoxes for PickLists and MultiSelect PickLists form-field.

Add a NUMERIC form-field.

Add a CHECKBOX form-field.

Update data in Related Lists.

To send your form via Email, create and Email DocConfig.

Create a Pack and an Actionable to launch your FORM Butler request.
The class to use in the Actionable: cadmus_form.Actionable_FormButler

If you FORM Butler documents need signoff, that is perfectly possible.
Make sure to use the picture placeholder you can download below, this has a marker so we know where to put the signature.
FYI, this is not using SIGN Butler! This signature is not a digital signature but an electronic signature.

Coming soon -