ubject: PDF Automation Ignores “Behind text” Setting in Google Doc Template
Hello AppSheet Community,
I am building an app to generate a PDF Voter’s ID card. The goal is to have a full-page background image with voter data from my app layered on top of it in specific positions.
The Problem: No matter what I try, the final generated PDF always places the table with the voter’s data below the background image, not on top of it. The automation is behaving as if the image’s text wrapping is set to “Inline”, even though I have confirmed many times that it is set to “Behind text” in the Google Doc template.
The strange part is that in the Google Docs editor itself, the template looks perfect. I can see and move the table on top of the background image as expected. The issue only happens when AppSheet generates the file.
Troubleshooting Steps Already Taken:
I have spent a significant amount of time trying to solve this and have confirmed the following:
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Correct Template Design: The image is inserted in the Google Doc and its Text Wrapping property is correctly set to “Behind text”.
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Table for Layout: I am using a table to position the
<<Placeholders>>on top of the image. -
AppSheet Caching: I have repeatedly tried to force a refresh by making a small change in the automation’s task settings and then clicking the main “Save” button in the AppSheet editor.
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Rebuilt From Scratch: I created a brand new, blank Google Doc with a unique name to rule out file corruption. I rebuilt the template perfectly in this new file.
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Re-linked Template: I explicitly re-linked the brand new, clean template file in the automation task settings in AppSheet and saved the app.
Even after all these steps, including starting fresh with a new file and re-linking it, the generated PDF still fails to layer the elements correctly.
It seems the AppSheet automation service is not respecting the “Behind text” property of the image in my template. Could this be a deeper issue?
Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.