Convert Microsoft Forms with attachments to PDF

When a new response is submitted

This is an Automated Cloud Flow with the trigger When a new response is submitted. If this is your first time creating a flow using Microsoft Forms, you’ll be prompted to sign into your Microsoft Forms account from Power Automate:

Get response details

Next, add a Microsoft Forms action - Get response details to use the submitted data further in the flow.

For the Form Id, select the same form as in the trigger. Regarding the Response Id, choose the Response Id available from the trigger dynamic content:

Compose

This action is necessary to get the sample JSON payload for the next step - Parse JSON. In the Inputs field, place the dynamic content representing the attachment field in the Microsoft Form. In our case, it’s Please upload a copy of your receipt:

You can delete this action once you’ve obtained the sample payload. To retrieve the payload, run the flow by submitting the Microsoft Form with attachments. After the flow runs successfully, copy the Outputs section:

Parse JSON

Now, let’s add the Parse JSON action, which has two parameters:

• Content - select the attachment output Please upload a copy of your receipt from the Get response details action.

• Schema - click Generate from sample and paste the Outputs that you copied from the Compose action. You should receive the schema similar to the example below:

{
    "type": "array",
    "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
            "name": {
                "type": "string"
            },
            "link": {
                "type": "string"
            },
            "id": {
                "type": "string"
            },
            "type": {},
            "size": {
                "type": "integer"
            },
            "referenceId": {
                "type": "string"
            },
            "driveId": {
                "type": "string"
            },
            "status": {
                "type": "integer"
            },
            "uploadSessionUrl": {}
        },
        "required": [
            "name",
            "link",
            "id",
            "type",
            "size",
            "referenceId",
            "driveId",
            "status",
            "uploadSessionUrl"
        ]
    }
}

Initialize variable

We need to build an array of files that will be included in Merge PDF action from Plumsail. This array will consist of the attachment PDF files from the Microsoft form and the Expense Report Document template populated with data from the form fields.

Enter a variable name varFiles and select the Array type for it:

Get file content

The next step is to retrieve the attachments’ content for further conversion to PDF. This involves using the Get file content action from OneDrive for Business. We are using this action because the attachments submitted with the Microsoft Form are automatically stored in OneDrive.

Add the id output from the Parse JSON action. The Apply to each loop will automatically appear:

Append to array variable - Attachments

Now, add Append to array variable action inside the Apply to each loop. In the Name field, select varFiles from the Initialize variable action, and in the Value field, select File content from the output of the previous action. The File content dynamic data represents PDF files attached to the Microsoft form:

Start document generation process

Next, we’ll use a Plumsail action, Start document generation process. This action establishes the connection between the Microsoft Form and the Document process we’ve earlier set up in the Plumsail account.

For first-time users of the Plumsail Documents connectors and trigger, Power Automate will prompt you to provide the Connection Name and API Key:

To proceed, go back to your Plumsail account and navigate to API Keys. Select Add key and provide a name for the connection, for example, ‘Plumsail Documents.’

Once the connection name is filled out, create an API key in your Plumsail account, copy it, return to Power Automate, paste it, and then click Create.

Now, let’s configure the Start document generation process action. In the Process name field, select Expense Report. The subsequent fields, as you can see, are the ones we marked with tokens. Here, select the corresponding dynamic data outputs from the Microsoft Form:

There’s also an option to switch to input the entire array by clicking on T in the upper right-hand corner.

Append to array variable - Expense Report Document

Next, locate Append to array variable action. Select varFiles, and in the Value field, choose Result file from the previous Plumsail action. The Result file represents the Expense Report Document generated from the Microsoft form:

Merge PDF

Our second-to-last action is Merge PDF from Plumsail, and it will perform the task as implied by its name. In this action, we’ll input the entire array. To do so we need to click on the T in the upper right-hand corner:

Now, delete everything from the Content field and select varFiles under Variable. This will consolidate attachments and the Expense Report document into one PDF file. We can achieve this because earlier we initialized variables and used Append to array variable action twice. The first time to gather the PDF attachments and the second time to obtain the generated PDF document:

Create file

This is the last action of our flow. We’ll save the resulting merged PDF to the SharePoint folder. You can choose to save the result file to any other storage system or, for example, send an email with the file attached.

Select the SharePoint site and folder where you’d like to save the files. In the File name field, we added dynamic content Name and Date from the Get response details action, ensuring each file name is unique. Don’t forget to include the .pdf extension in the file name.

For the File Content, select Result file from the Merge PDF action. Click Save, and the flow is complete!

Now, let’s put the flow to the test by filling out and submitting the Microsoft Form:

Let’s check the specified SharePoint folder to verify if the PDF document with attachments was successfully saved. As you can see, the receipts and the document are all consolidated into one PDF file: