PDF Workflows
PDF work that most automation tools can't touch.
Most workflow tools can move a PDF from one place to another. Formt can read a PDF into fields your workflow acts on, fill its form fields, merge files into one packet, and produce finished documents from your data. All of it as ordinary steps in a workflow.
Four PDF capabilities
Extract, fill, merge, and generate
Two directions, one canvas: read documents into data your workflow can act on, and produce finished documents from that data. Each action is a step that connects to any other. An Extract feeds an AI step, a Generate feeds a Send Email, a Merge takes whatever came before it.
Read what's inside any PDF
Pull text and structured data out of any PDF. Automatic mode extracts all text and form-field values. Structured mode uses AI to populate fields you define from the document's content, so a contract comes back as parties, dates, and clauses rather than a wall of text.
Populate PDF form fields from workflow data
Map values from any earlier step into the form fields of a PDF template, and optionally flatten the result so it can't be edited afterwards. Built for documents where the fields change but the form never does: engagement letters, standard agreements, state transaction forms.
Combine multiple PDFs into one file
Take any number of PDFs from earlier steps (a generated cover letter, a filled form, an uploaded estimate, photo documentation) and merge them into a single document in the order you choose. For paperwork that has to travel together.
Create a styled PDF from a template
Start from a ready-made document template, like the itemized invoice, and map your workflow's fields straight into it: no layout work, no HTML. When you want full control of the design, bring your own HTML template with complete CSS layout, tables, and logos, or have AI draft the layout for you. Either way, the output is a real document you can email, store, or merge.
End-to-end example
A whole document job in one run
The four actions are strongest chained together. Here's an insurance claim packet: the narrative written and rendered, the packet assembled, held for the owner's review, and delivered, all in one workflow.
How it compares
Other tools route PDFs. They don't work with them.
Most automation tools can pass a PDF along. Everything below that, they hand off to third-party services you find, subscribe to, and wire up yourself.
| Capability | Other tools | Formt |
|---|---|---|
| Route a PDF file | Supported. Attach it to an email, save it to Drive. | Supported, same as everyone else. |
| Read what's inside | Not built in. You wire up a third-party OCR or parsing service and map its output yourself. | PDF Extract step: automatic text and form-field extraction, or AI extraction into fields you define. |
| Fill PDF form fields | Not built in. Another third-party service, another subscription. | PDF Form Fill step: map any upstream field to any form field, flatten the result. |
| Merge multiple PDFs | Not built in. | PDF Merge step: combine generated, filled, and uploaded files into one packet, in the order you set. |
| Generate a styled PDF | Not built in. Typically an external document API with its own templating language. | PDF Generate step: a ready-made document template or your own HTML layout, filled with your workflow's data. |
Use cases
Who uses PDF workflows, and for what
PDF work runs deepest in legal, real estate, and the trades, where the document isn't a byproduct of the work. It is the work.
Contract review and extraction
Extract parties, dates, values, and key clauses from incoming contracts. Feed them to AI Generate for a summary, or log them to a tracking sheet across the whole caseload.
See templateTransaction form preparation
Pull property and client details from your records, fill the relevant transaction form, and email it out for signature. One run instead of an afternoon of retyping.
See real estate workflowsInsurance claim packet
Draft the claim narrative from job data, render it to PDF, merge it with the estimate and photo documentation, and hold the finished packet for review before it goes to the adjuster.
See templateAutomated client reports
Pull the numbers, generate written commentary with AI, render a branded PDF report, and email it on a schedule. No manual formatting, no copy-paste from a spreadsheet.
See templateTry it first