n8n Workflow: Google Sheets → PDF Certificates via Apify & Gmail

Automate personalized PDF certificates from Google Sheets—and email them automatically via Gmail

This n8n workflow takes participant data from Google Sheets, generates one personalized PDF certificate per participant using Apify Bulk Certificate & Diploma PDF Generator, downloads each PDF, and sends it to the matching recipient via Gmail.

What this workflow does

• Runs manually to start the certificate generation process.
• Reads participant rows from a selected Google Sheets sheet and merges them with your certificate design and text settings.
• Creates PDFs through Apify by sending prepared records to Apify’s Bulk Certificate & Diploma PDF Generator (one PDF per participant).
• Matches certificates back to recipients using the generated certificate ID mapped to each participant’s email.
• Downloads each certificate PDF from the provided Apify URL.
• Sends an email via Gmail to each participant with their certificate attached.

Use cases

• Training providers issuing certificates after workshops, bootcamps, or webinars.
• SaaS operations teams generating certificates for users completing certifications or onboarding milestones.
• Automation engineers building a reliable “Sheets → certificates → email delivery” process without manual PDF handling.

Technical details

• Google Sheets (OAuth): select the spreadsheet and sheet to read participant data.
• Apify HTTP requests: create an n8n HTTP Header Auth credential named “Apify API token” with header name Authorization and value Bearer <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>.
• Gmail (OAuth): emails certificates with the recipient matching the email column.
• Nodes used include HTTP Request, Google Sheets, Gmail, Code, and helper elements (e.g., Sticky Note and Set).

Setup requirements

Your Google Sheet should include at least name and email columns (optional fields like course and date can be referenced). Then customize certificate design/text and the Gmail email subject/sender name in the workflow’s Settings step.