In this guide you’ll learn how to automatically print documents to PDF in SharePoint using a Power Automate flow. If you are looking to automatically convert documents to PDF visit our SharePoint PDF conversion guide.

Supported document types:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• HTML / URLs
• SharePoint Pages
• SharePoint Lists
• And more

This example takes you through printing a Word document to PDF. From a high-level perspective, the workflow will look as follows:

The steps to create are as follows:

1: Create a new flow in Power Automate

Create a new Flow and use the SharePoint Online trigger ‘When an item is created or modified’. Fill out the URL for the site collection and select the relevant SharePoint list from the dropdown menu.

2: Convert to PDF in SharePoint using Power Automate

Insert Muhimbi's ‘Convert document’ action and fill it out as per the screenshot displayed below. Naturally, you will need to substitute the Source file name and Source file content with suitable values.

3: Create a file

Insert a Create File action to write the converted file back to SharePoint Online (or Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive, or send the PDF via email).

4: Publish the workflow

Publish the workflow and upload an MS Word or MS Excel file. After a few seconds, the Flow will trigger and a PDF file will be printed and saved in the target location.

Troubleshooting / Caveats

HTML is not the best format for print or PDF Conversion purposes. Depending on your exact needs and source material, you may need to experiment with various available settings. If you have any questions or require assistance please feel free to contact us.

Please consider the following when using Power Automate:

1. Modern Views: In SharePoint Online it is possible to display Lists and Libraries in Modern or Classic mode. Modern View is undergoing constant change (by Microsoft), as a result, we currently only support the conversion of pages displayed in Classic View. Some Modern View pages will convert fine while others don't.

2. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): An increasing number of SharePoint Online / Office 365 environments are secured using MFA. Although this is a positive development, it gets in the way of automated systems such as our HTML converter. If your environment uses MFA then please create an App password for HTML conversions, or disable MFA on your HTML Conversion account.

3. HTML Conversion option not displayed: The option to convert the current page to PDF is only available in Classic SharePoint pages. Modern pages currently do not provide a facility for extending the personal actions menu. We will make sure it is added as soon as Microsoft makes this functionality available.

4. PDF Layout does not match: By default, the page being converted is optimized for print / PDF output. If you prefer the PDF to look exactly like what is displayed on the screen, including user interface elements, then set the Media Type to Screen in the HTML Conversion configuration screen.

5. User-modified content is not converted: The converter does not have knowledge about the information currently displayed in the user's browser (e.g. size of the browser window, or custom data entered, but not yet submitted to the server). The converter always requests a fresh copy of the URL and converts that information to PDF.

6. User-specific information is missing: HTML Conversion is carried out in the context of the configured user account, though the system is not aware of the user carrying out the HTML conversion. Don't specify accounts that display more information than what the users need to have access to.