I wanted to attach an existing PDF file in a folder to the Image email output of a PDF document created in design. The document gets emailed OK, but I can't seem to get the additional pdf file to attach.

I'm trying to use a local variable to choose the correct file name to attach from the folder. The syntax that I'm trying to use to get the named file is:

='C:\\REBATES\\'+trim(%{af_ToAddress})+'.pdf'

I know the local variable works. I'm really not a programmer and syntax is something I'm just guessing at here from other posts that I've seen. What am I missing?

Tracey,

Workflow and Image don't work exactly the same way. What you wrote here would be how you'd write it in Design, but in Image's attachment tab, a different syntax is required.

All you'd have to write is:

C:\REBATES\%{af_ToAddress}.pdf

And then add it to the list of attachments. That should do the trick, you don't need double backslashes or + signs or anything.

Hope that helps!

Regards,
Raphaël Lalonde Lefebvre

I was very excited to see something so simple, but it still won't attach the pdf. I added the local variable to the body of my recipiant's email to make sure the value of the variable is correct, and it added the correct value just fine to that.
The path is correct and the name of the local variable corresponding PDF is correct in that folder. The folder is located on the 'C' drive of the Planet Press server and is a shared folder for everyone.
What am I missing??

Tracey,

Could your local variable %{af_ToAddress} already contain the file extension? That's an easy thing to miss.

I went back in and attached the actual file name and it worked perfect. I just can't get the variable named file to attach.

It shouldn't contain the extension as it only contains the exact information that we type in that field. It is used on another design in a different workflow to get an email address from the field that we are manually overwriting when we send the data to the current workflow.
is there any need to trim the data?? it doesn't look like it does.

It occurs to me you said you use this variable in another workflow. If that's the case, then it's a global variable, and therefore the notation for it should be

If that's not the case, then perhaps there's an extra space in the variable contents. If you want to trim it, you can use the Math Expression task right before sending the file to PlanetPress Image:

Let us know how it goes.

I did some further digging and found that the variable is assigned many charactor spaces longer than what information has been input into the field it is pulling data from.
I went back into the definition of the variable in the workflow and changed ',NOTRIM' TO ',TRIM' and it worked!!!

Thanks for being a sounding board as well as great support help to me!