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Return PDF

note

Available from the first paid AutoFlow plan onward.

Use the Return PDF step to end a PDF Print trigger flow and hand a modified PDF back to Business Central. The base64-encoded document you pass in becomes the file the user actually receives – it replaces the original output of the report.

A Return PDF step is only meaningful inside a PDF Print flow. The step terminates the flow: no further steps run after it.

Configuration​

  • Document – a base64-encoded PDF, typically supplied by a SmartField from an upstream step. Common patterns:
    • {{TriggerOutputs.DocumentStream}} – the original document, passed through unchanged. Useful for "archive but don't modify" flows where you also want a copy to land somewhere else.
    • {{HttpResponse.body}} – the response body of an HTTP Request step that called a watermarking, signing or transformation service.

Behaviour​

  • The supplied base64 is decoded and written to the BC platform's target stream. Business Central treats it as the printed document.
  • If a flow does not reach a Return PDF step before it ends – whether because it walked off the end of the flow, an earlier step errored, or the configured Timeout fired – Business Central keeps the original PDF.
  • An empty Document field is rejected at publish time. A zero-byte target would print as a corrupt document, which is almost never what the publisher wants.

What it doesn't do​

  • Return PDF cannot change a document's MIME type. The output is always a PDF; Business Central rejects mid-pipeline type changes.
  • Return PDF doesn't trigger downstream subscribers. It hands the modified PDF directly to the platform.