Email a PDF of a Google Form submission.

EmailPDFOfFormSubmission.gs

/*

PDF Create - Email on form submit
=================================

This script creates a PDF populated with the values submitted in a 
Google form.

The "on form submit" trigger needs to be manually created: 

  1. Resources > Current project's triggers
  2. Add new trigger
  3. "createPDF", "From spreadsheet", "On form submit"
  4. Set notifications to immediate, otherwise you'll only recieve 
     them once a day
  
The email can also be sent using the custom menu "Create PDF>Create PDF".
In this case the script uses the data from the active row (the one 
with a cell selected) to construct a PDF in your GDrive. The value in the 
"File Name" column is used to name the file and - if there is a 
value - it is emailed to the recipient in the "Email" column.

*/

// Config
// ------

// 1. Create a GDoc template and put the ID here
// var TEMPLATE_ID = '---- UPDATE ME -----'

var TEMPLATE_ID = '1k4M-Le05szHQcSQGaTfuIjwJSBOrxZu8GVK3T_c9Dgw' // Demo template
// Demo script - goo.gl/EISKn6

// 2. You can specify a name for the new PDF file here, or leave empty to use the 
// name of the template or specify the file name in the sheet
var PDF_FILE_NAME = ''

// 3. If an email address is specified you can email the PDF
var EMAIL_SUBJECT = '--- PUT YOUR OWN EMAIL SUBJECT HERE ---'
var EMAIL_BODY = '--- PUT YOUR OWN EMAIL BODY HERE ---'

// Constants
// ---------

// You can pull out specific columns values 
var FILE_NAME_COLUMN_NAME = 'File Name'
var EMAIL_COLUMN_NAME = 'Email'

/**
 * Eventhandler for spreadsheet opening - add a menu.
 */

function onOpen() {

  var triggerId = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().getProperty('TRIGGER_ID')

  var menu = SpreadsheetApp
    .getUi()
    .createMenu('Create PDF')
    .addItem('Create PDF (select row first)', 'createPdf')
    .addSeparator()
    
  if (triggerId) {
    menu.addItem('Disable "Create PDF" on form subimssion', 'deleteFormSubmissionTrigger')  
  } else {
    menu.addItem('Enable "Create PDF" on form subimssion', 'createFormSubmissionTrigger')
  }
    
  menu.addToUi()
}

function createFormSubmissionTrigger() {

  var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActive()
  
  var triggerId = ScriptApp
    .newTrigger('createPdf')
    .forSpreadsheet(spreadsheet)
    .onFormSubmit()
    .create()
    .getUniqueId()
    
  PropertiesService.getScriptProperties().setProperty('TRIGGER_ID', triggerId)
  onOpen()
}

function deleteFormSubmissionTrigger() {

  var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActive()
  var properties = PropertiesService.getScriptProperties()
  var triggerId = properties.getProperty('TRIGGER_ID')

  ScriptApp.getUserTriggers(spreadsheet).forEach(function(trigger) {
    if (trigger.getUniqueId() === triggerId) {
      ScriptApp.deleteTrigger(trigger)
      properties.deleteProperty('TRIGGER_ID')
    }
  })    
  
  onOpen()
}

/**  
 * Take the fields from the active row in the active sheet
 * and, using a Google Doc template, create a PDF doc with these
 * fields replacing the keys in the template. The keys are identified
 * by having a % either side, e.g. %Name%.
 *
 * @return {Object} the completed PDF file
 */

function createPdf(event) {

  if (TEMPLATE_ID === '') {  
    throw new Error('TEMPLATE_ID needs to be defined in Code.gs')
  }

  // Set up the docs and the spreadsheet access
  
  var copyFile = DriveApp.getFileById(TEMPLATE_ID).makeCopy()
  var copyId = copyFile.getId()
  var copyDoc = DocumentApp.openById(copyId)
  var copyBody = copyDoc.getActiveSection()
  
  var activeSheet
  var range
  
  if (!inTrigger()) {
      
    activeSheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet()
    
    if (activeSheet === null) {
      throw new Error('Select a cell in the row that you want to use')
    }
    
    range = activeSheet.getActiveRange()
    
    if (range === null) {
      throw new Error('Select a cell in the row that you want to use')
    }
    
  } else {
  
    // There is an event arg so function called from "on form submit" trigger  
    range = event.range
    activeSheet = range.getSheet()
  }

  var activeRowIndex = range.getRowIndex()
  var numberOfColumns = activeSheet.getLastColumn()
  var activeRow = activeSheet.getRange(activeRowIndex, 1, 1, numberOfColumns).getValues()
  var headerRow = activeSheet.getRange(1, 1, 1, numberOfColumns).getValues()
  var columnIndex = 0
  var headerValue
  var activeCell
  var ID = null
  var recipient = null
 
  // Replace the keys with the spreadsheet values and look for a couple
  // of specific values
 
  for (;columnIndex < headerRow[0].length; columnIndex++) {
    
    headerValue = headerRow[0][columnIndex]
    activeCell = activeRow[0][columnIndex]
    
    copyBody.replaceText('%' + headerValue + '%', activeCell)
    
    if (headerValue === FILE_NAME_COLUMN_NAME) {
    
      ID = activeCell
      
    } else if (headerValue === EMAIL_COLUMN_NAME) {
    
      recipient = activeCell
    }
  }
  
  // Create the PDF file, rename it if required, delete the doc copy
  // and email it
    
  copyDoc.saveAndClose()

  var newFile = DriveApp.createFile(copyFile.getAs('application/pdf'))  

  if (PDF_FILE_NAME !== '') {
  
    newFile.setName(PDF_FILE_NAME)
    
  } else if (ID !== null){

    newFile.setName(ID)
  }
  
  copyFile.setTrashed(true)
  
  if (recipient !== null) {
  
    MailApp.sendEmail(
      recipient, 
      EMAIL_SUBJECT, 
      EMAIL_BODY,
      {attachments: [newFile]})
  }

  if (!inTrigger()) {

    SpreadsheetApp
      .getUi()
      .alert(
        'New PDF file created in the root of your Google Drive ' + 
          'and emailed to ' + recipient)
  }
  
  // Private Functions
  // -----------------
  
  function inTrigger() {
    // No event arg so must have been called from custom menu
    return event !== undefined
  }
  
} // createPdf()

Are our running it from the form submission trigger or the menu?

From the menu

Hey that was very helpful. I get the error: "TypeError: Cannot read property 'range' of undefined".

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks!

There was a bug in inTrigger(), should be OK now.