Turn a quote request form into a personalized branded PDF and email it
Collect quote details on an n8n form, have OpenAI write a personalized intro and scope summary, merge everything into a Google Docs template, export it as a PDF, and email it to the client from Gmail.
What this looks like
One step on screen at a time. Read it, do it, tap Next.
Turn a quote request form into a personalized branded PDF and email it
Step 1 of 10
Add the Quotation Form trigger
Create a workflow and add a Form Trigger node named "Quotation Form" collecting the details of the quote: client name, client email, company name, service, service description, price, valid-
Checkpoint
Submitting the hosted form produces one item with all the fields you defined.
Before you begin
Tick these off as you sort them. Stopping halfway to create an account is how a fifteen-minute build becomes an hour.
0 of 8 ready
Ticks are saved on this device, so you can come back to them.
- API key
Used by the OpenAI node to write a personalized intro paragraph and scope-of-work summary from the form data.
OpenAI API keys - Account
The workflow copies a Doc, edits it, exports it as a PDF, and sends it — all under the same Google account.
- Have ready
Create a Doc containing literal placeholders like {{client_name}}, {{company_name}}, {{client_email}}, {{service}}, {{price}}, {{valid_until}}, {{notes}}, {{intro}} and {{scope_summary}}, styled the way you want the final quote to look.
- Have ready
Copy the ID out of the template Doc's URL — you'll paste it into the Copy Template node so it knows which file to duplicate per quote.
- Time
Most of the setup time goes into building the Google Docs template with the right placeholders.
The basics — ticked once, remembered everywhere
- Account
Either the hosted version or a self-hosted install. Everything here works the same on both — the only visible difference is the shape of your webhook URLs.
Create a workspace - Know-how
Adding a node, connecting two of them, and pressing Execute. If any of that is new, the free primer covers it in about ten minutes.
- Credential
You will paste at least one secret during setup. A password manager beats a notes app, and it stops you pasting a live key into a chat window by accident.
The shape of the workflow
The nodes you will end up with, left to right, in the order you add them.
4 things to set here- 1Form Trigger — the trigger — everything starts here
- 2OpenAI — Have OpenAI write the personalized intro and scope
- 3Google Drive — Copy the quotation template
- 4Google Docs — Replace the placeholders with real data
Skip the node hunting
Import a starter file with every node for this build already on the canvas, named after its step and wired in order, each one carrying a sticky note with the values to enter. You still connect your own accounts and fill the fields — that is what the walkthrough takes you through — but you never start at a blank canvas.
In n8n: Workflows → Import from file.
What you will build
Jump straight to any step, or print the list and tick it off beside your n8n tab.
- 1Add the Quotation Form trigger
- 2Have OpenAI write the personalized intro and scope
- 3Copy the quotation template
- 4Replace the placeholders with real data
- 5Export the finished Doc as a PDF
- 6Email the quotation to the client
- 7Submit a real test quote before sharing the form
- 8Submit the form with your own details
- 9Submit with a long service description and notes
- 10Leave the optional Notes field blank
If something goes wrong
Everything ready?
Start walkthrough