PDF Form and JSON in Dropbox? Power Automate Populates Them. Four Actions, That's It!

You have a fillable PDF form and data in JSON. Manually typing into each field is slow and error prone. Power Automate plus PDF4me automates it: get the template and JSON from Dropbox (or SharePoint), run Fill a PDF Form, and create the filled file. No code. Works with Microsoft 365. Connect storage, map the files, and get a populated form.

Why-Based Q&A​

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What You'll Get​

Input: A fillable PDF form and a JSON file (or JSON string) with matching field names. Output: A completed PDF with all fields populated, ready to save, email, or pass to the next action.

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What You Need​

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The Flow at a Glance​

1. Manually trigger a flow (or When a file is created for automation).
2. Get Template File (Dropbox or SharePoint) — Gets the blank fillable PDF form.
3. Get JSON data file (Dropbox or SharePoint) — Gets the JSON data to populate the form.
4. PDF4me – Fill a PDF Form — Combines template and JSON. Template File Data from step 1, Form Data (Data string) from step 2.
5. Create file (Dropbox or SharePoint) — Saves the filled PDF to your output folder.

Complete flow overview​

Five steps: Trigger, Get Template File, Get JSON data file, Fill a PDF Form, Create file. Each action shows a green checkmark when configured. The PDF and JSON from the Get file steps are passed into PDF4me; the filled PDF goes to Create file.

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Step 1: Get the Template File​

Flow so far: Trigger and Get Template File only.

1. Add Manually trigger a flow (or When a file is created in Dropbox or SharePoint for automation).
2. Add Dropbox (or SharePoint) → Get file content using path (you can name it "Get Template File" in Settings).
3. File Path — Enter the path to your fillable PDF form, e.g. /blog data/fill a pdf/sample_fill_form.pdf.
4. Infer content type — Yes (optional).
5. Run the action. The output File Content will be passed to Fill a PDF Form as Template File Data.

Get Template File: Configuration​

Get Template File: File Path set to the PDF form. The output File Content is passed to Fill a PDF Form as Template File Data.

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Step 2: Get the JSON Data File​

Flow so far: Get Template File → Get JSON data file.

1. Add Dropbox (or SharePoint) → Get file content using path (name it "Get JSON data file" in Settings).
2. File Path — Enter the path to your JSON file, e.g. /blog data/fill a pdf/sample_fill_form_data.json.
3. Infer content type — Yes (optional).
4. Run the action. The output File Content (or decoded text) will be passed to Fill a PDF Form as Form Data. Ensure JSON keys match the form field names (e.g. customerName, email, invoiceNumber).

Get JSON data file: Configuration​

Get JSON data file: File Path set to the JSON file. The file content is mapped into Fill a PDF Form as Form Data (Data string). If the connector returns base64, use base64ToString() in an expression to get the JSON text.

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Step 3: Fill the PDF Form​

Flow so far: Get Template File → Get JSON data file → Fill a PDF Form.

1. Add PDF4me → Fill a PDF Form.
2. Template File Data — Map File Content from the Get Template File action.
3. Template File Name — e.g. sample_fill_form.pdf (must include .pdf).
4. Form Data (Data string) — Map the JSON content. Use File Content from Get JSON data file. If it returns binary or base64, use an expression like base64ToString(body('Get_JSON_data_file')?['$content']) to get the JSON text.
5. Keep Pdf template Editable — No for a flattened PDF; Yes to keep fields editable.
6. Run the action. PDF4me returns Output Documents with File Content (the filled PDF).

PDF4me – Fill a PDF Form: Template, Form Data, and options​

Fill a PDF Form: Template File Data from Get Template File, Template File Name, Form Data (Data string) from Get JSON data file. Keep Pdf template Editable set to No for a flattened output. Output Documents contain the filled PDF.

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Step 4: Create the File (Save the Filled PDF)​

Flow so far: Get Template File → Get JSON data file → Fill a PDF Form → Create file.

1. Add Dropbox (or SharePoint) → Create file.
2. Folder Path — e.g. /blog data/fill a pdf/output.
3. File Name — e.g. Fill_PDF_PA.pdf.
4. File Content — Map File Content from the first item in Output Documents of the Fill a PDF Form action (e.g. body('Fill_a_PDF_Form')?['OutputDocuments']?[0]?['FileContent'] or the dynamic content picker).
5. Run the flow. The filled PDF is saved to your folder.

Create file: Save filled PDF to output folder​

Create file: Folder Path, File Name Fill_PDF_PA.pdf, File Content mapped from Fill a PDF Form Output Documents.

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Input and Output: What Goes In, What Comes Out​

Here is the JSON, the blank form, and the filled result.

Example JSON input​

Sample JSON: keys (customerName, email, phone, invoiceNumber, invoiceDate, address, amount) match the fillable form fields. Get JSON data file fetches this; Form Data passes it to Fill a PDF Form.

Blank fillable form (input)​

Blank fillable invoice form: fields correspond to the JSON keys. PDF4me populates each field from the JSON value.

Filled form (output)​

Filled invoice form: all fields populated from JSON. Output is saved via Create file or passed to the next flow action.

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Use Cases: When to Fill PDF Forms in Power Automate​

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Quick Reference: Key Settings​

For full parameter details, see Fill a PDF Form — Power Automate.

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Troubleshooting​

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What's Next?​

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