What are Results Docs?
Results Docs create a PDF or Word document with information submitted in your form. The available formats are:
Requirements
The Results Docs features require a Pro 2 or higher service level to use the built-in Table format, and the Results Docs add-on to use the Merged PDF, Merged Word, or Custom PDF Results Docs.
1. The Built-in Table Format Results Doc
The Table format is built-in and doesn't need to be created. Anywhere you can use Results Docs (Results Export, Notifications, integrations), it will already be available in the list of Results Docs to choose from.
Use the Results Views to control what items are shown in the Table. The built in All Items view shows just the answers to the form items, and the All Items + Statistics also includes the meta information like Reference number, Start and Finish times, etc. Create custom views for hiding items like Admin or Hidden Field items from the "Results -> Results Views" page.
2. Merged PDF and Merged Word Document Results Docs
The Merged PDF and Merged Word document formats let you upload a properly-formatted template file to your account, then connect your form items to the template fields. If you do not have an existing template file, you can create one containing your form items from the "Results -> Results Docs" page, clicking the "Generate template" link, selecting the template file options, and saving the output. You can edit the template file to add images, text content, and custom styling, then upload it to your account from either the "Results -> Results Docs" page or the "User menu -> Files & Images" page.
Next, on your form's "Results -> Results Docs" page, click the "New" button and choose the Merged PDF or Word Document format, then give your Results Doc a unique name. Then select the template file and connect each form item to a field from the template. If you select a template file that was generated by our system, it will attempt to automatically map the fields for you, even if you edit the formatting and style of the file. When you're finished with the mappings, click the "Save" button.
Merged PDF Requirements
The Merged PDF feature requires a Pro 2 or higher service level and the Results Docs add-on located at the "User menu -> Billing -> Add-ons" page. To create and edit PDF templates for the Merged PDFs, you'll need a PDF editor like Acrobat or Adobe Experience Manager Forms (formerly LiveCycle Designer), or any other software or website that can edit and save PDF files will fillable form fields.
Working with the Merged PDF format
Merged PDF template files need to contain fillable form fields, which are the PDF equivalent of input fields in online forms. PDF form fields are the only spots in the PDF that can accept values from the form. There is not a way to add or modify content outside of the PDF form fields.
To get a PDF template, you can use the "Generate template" link on the "Results -> Results Docs" page to generate a template PDF file based on your form. If you have an existing PDF form you can use that, or you can create a new PDF form using a PDF editor.
Item types with special requirements or behaviors:
- Radio Button, Dropdown, and Checkbox items in the online form must match the PDF items exactly. For example, if the PDF template contains a radio button with choices "Yes" and "No", the Radio Button item on the online form must also have choices of "Yes" and "No". If the choices do not exactly match or are in a different order, the answers will not show on the final document.
- For Signature item types, you must use a text field in the PDF template file. The Signature image will display inside the dimensions of the text field, so increase the size of the text field to display the image at the size you need. A Multi-line text field is also usable.
- For File Upload item types, the link to each file will be displayed in text fields in the template. Only the link is able to be displayed, not the actual image or content of the file. To display images in the final PDF file, use the Custom PDF format instead.
Results Docs using a PDF template have an optional "Flatten" setting. This turns the outputted PDF into a read-only PDF file. When Flattening is disabled, the output file will be preserved as a PDF form that can be modified.
Merged Word Doc Requirements
The Merged Word Doc feature requires a Pro 2 or higher service level and the Results Docs add-on located at the "User menu -> Billing -> Add-ons" page. To create Word templates, you'll need to use a DOCX editor such as Microsoft Word, Wordpad, LibreOffice, OpenOffice, or Google Docs.
Working with the Merged Word document format
Merged Word document templates contain placeholders with the placeholder text between double brackets, like "{{text}}". The rest of the content in the Word document can be customized as needed, including images, page breaks, table of contents, etc. When the Results Doc is created, the result data replaces the placeholder codes in the final document.
Create your Word template using the "Generate template" link on the "Results -> Results Docs" page to generate a template based on your form. You can also use an existing document or create a new DOCX file using Word or any other DOCX editor. Note that only files saved in DOCX format will work. Results Docs will not be able to process .doc, .txt, or .odt files.
The placeholder format is "{{text}}", where "text" can be any alphanumeric value. The main requirement is the surrounding "{{" and "}}" characters. Our default item mapping codes use the format "{{item_idX}}", where "X" refers to the item's ID.
When the Results Doc is processed, it will replace the item placeholder codes in the template file with the matching values from the result, similar to a Mail Merge. For Signature items, it will replace the placeholder code with the image of the user's signature.
For File Upload items, it will insert the files' URLs and links to the uploaded files. Only the link is able to be displayed, not the actual image or content of the file. To display images in the final DOCX file, use the Custom PDF format instead.
3. Custom PDF Results Doc
The Custom PDF format provides an editor in the Formsite account to create and edit the template. This format lets form owners create document templates using custom images and text, Pipe codes to insert results answers, and Image codes to insert images uploaded to the result. This format also allows for appending the Table format to the end of the Results Doc using the content in the editor as the top of the page or even as the entire first page.
To get started with a Custom PDF, go to "Results -> Results Docs" and click the Custom PDF format, then give the Results Doc a name and start adding content. Use the editor to apply formatting for font sizes, colors, static images, and tables for layout.
Tip: Save often! Leaving the editor without saving will discard any unsaved changes.
Custom PDF Requirements
The Custom PDF feature requires a Pro 2 or higher service level and the Results Docs add-on located at the "User menu -> Billing -> Add-ons" page.
Working with the Custom PDF format
Use the table tools to build custom layouts and control positioning and alignment. Background colors and borders can be customized at the table cell level to create headers. Use the table tools to quickly add columns and/or rows, or press the Tab key to automatically insert another cell.
The vertical alignment for content within table cells is normally set to display in the middle, and can be changed by clicking the table tools button in the editor menu, choosing the "Cell -> Cell Properties" menu choice, then setting the V Align setting to Top, Middle, or Bottom. In the same menu window, H Align sets the horizontal alignment to Left, Center, or Right.
The Table Properties menu allows for setting the table attributes including alignment, border, and background colors, as do the individual Row and Cell menus.
The result data can be appended to the template by checking the box to "Include form results", or you can place Pipe Codes anywhere you'd like to include individual item values. If the form contains any File Upload items, image codes can be used where you'd like to include images uploaded to the result.
Image codes using the default code format [image:X] will place the image in the document using the default dimensions. To customize the display size, click the link to "Insert image from result" and enter the width or height. Leaving the field empty will add "auto" for that setting, so only enter a value for the dimension you need to constrain.
A maximum of 10 uploaded images can be displayed in the document, not including static images in the template or images added with the Signature item. Any uploaded files that exceed the 10-image maximum will be displayed as their link only.
Edit or Delete a Results Doc
On your form's "Results -> Results Docs" page, use the list on the left to select a Results Doc to modify any settings. When you're finished, click the "Save" button. To delete the Results Doc, click the "Delete" button.
Note: Deleting a Results Doc doesn't delete any results or template files.
PDF Editors
There are two popular Adobe PDF editors: Acrobat (Standard or Pro) and Adobe Experience Manager Forms.
Acrobat provides the simplest way to edit PDFs and add fields. Edit text using the "Tools -> Edit PDF -> Edit" menu option, or "Tools -> Advanced Editing -> TouchUp Text Tool", depending on which version of Acrobat you have. Switch to field editing mode using the "Tools -> Prepare Form", or "Forms -> Add or Edit Fields...", menu option. When you're finished, click the "Close Form Editing" button and save the PDF file.
Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Forms, formerly LiveCycle Designer, is a more advanced editor with more features. If you're importing an existing PDF, it's best to use the import option "Create an Interactive Form with a Flowable Layout". Flowable layouts allow you to edit text along with everything else, otherwise text will appear embedded into the page background and won't be easy to work with. When you're finished, save the PDF file.
Many other PDF editors are available and our PDF features should be compatible with any editor that fully follows PDF specifications. However, due to the wide range of editors that exist, we can't offer the same level of support with them as we can for Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer.
Additional Information
Results Docs are form-specific, so there isn't a way to use data from multiple forms in the same Results Doc. When you copy a form, its Results Docs settings are also copied.
