Inspiration
Event invitations today require too much manual work — designers spend hours editing guest names, generating QR codes, tracking RSVPs in spreadsheets, translating invites, and sending emails individually.
As the number of guests grows, the effort increases exponentially.
We wanted to bring automation + intelligence into Adobe Express to remove this repetitive work.
This inspired Intelligent Invite — a single add-on that automates the entire invitation workflow from creation to RSVP tracking.
What it does
Intelligent Invite is an Adobe Express add-on that:
- Generates personalized invitation cards directly from an Excel/CSV sheet
- Automatically inserts unique QR codes for each guest
- Translates invitations into any global language
- Tracks RSVP status in real-time through a live dashboard
- Sends invitations to all guests via email with one click
- Exports all designs for print or digital distribution
Everything happens inside Adobe Express, with no need for external tools.
How we built it
We combined frontend automation, cloud services, and Adobe Express APIs:
- Adobe Express Add-ons SDK → template editing, text replacement, exporting designs
- React + JavaScript → add-on UI and user workflow
- PapaParse → reading and processing Excel/CSV guest lists
- QRCode.js → generating unique QR codes for each guest
- Firebase Firestore → storing guest data, RSVP states, and QR scan events
- Cloud Functions → handling QR check-ins
- SendGrid API → sending email invitations
- Translation API (Google/Azure) → real-time invite translation
The system forms an end-to-end pipeline from Excel → Personalized invite → QR code → Dashboard → Email.
Challenges we ran into
- Understanding Adobe Express’s document structure and accessing layers programmatically
- Maintaining template flexibility while still automating text and image placement
- Efficiently generating QR codes and exporting many invitations at once
- Handling email delivery and rate limits
- Ensuring real-time RSVP updates in the dashboard
- Designing a simple user flow inside the limited add-on panel space
Each challenge helped us refine our design and improve the final architecture.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Designing a complete invitation automation system inside Adobe Express
- Creating a workflow that replaces hours of manual work with a single click
- Building a scalable QR-based RSVP tracking system
- Successfully integrating translation, email sending, and template automation
- Making the tool universal — works with any invitation template
Our biggest accomplishment:
Turning Adobe Express into a powerful event automation tool.
What we learned
- Deep understanding of the Adobe Express Add-ons SDK
- Working with live document manipulation (text layers, images, exports)
- Translating real-world workflows into automated systems
- Managing bulk operations, async tasks, and cloud functions
- Creating intuitive UX even inside constrained interfaces
- Coordinating backend + frontend + design workflows efficiently
Most importantly, we learned how much value automation brings to creative workflows.
What's next for Intelligent Invite
We plan to expand Intelligent Invite with:
- WhatsApp and SMS invitation sending
- AI-generated personalized messages for each guest
- A dedicated mobile check-in scanner app
- Post-event analytics and attendance insights
- Automated reminders and follow-up messages
- Calendar sync with Google and Outlook
Our long-term goal:
Build the world’s most intelligent, automated event invitation ecosystem inside Adobe Express.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.