What are Results PDFs?
Results PDFs populate custom PDF files with information from your form.
Requirements
The Results PDFs feature requires a Pro 2 level or higher Formsite account.
To create custom PDFs, you'll need a PDF editor, such as Acrobat or LiveCycle Designer.
Create a New Results PDF
First, if you haven't already, upload your PDF file to your account on your account's "Files & Images" page.
On your form's "Results PDFs" page, click the "New" button and give your Results PDF a unique name. Then, select a PDF file and map each form item to a PDF field. When you're finished, click the "Save" button.
After you have a saved Results PDF, you can use it in Notifications, Exports, or Scheduled Exports.
Edit or Delete an Existing Results PDF
On your form's "Results PDFs" page, use the list on the left to select a Results PDF. Modify any settings. When you're finished, click the "Save" button. To delete the Results PDF, click the "Delete" button.
Note: Deleting a Results PDF doesn't delete the PDF file it was using.
PDF Files
PDF files need to contain fillable PDF fields, which are like the PDF equivalent of input fields in online forms. PDF fields are the only spots in the PDF that can accept form information. There's not a way to add or modify content outside of fields.
To get started, you can: use the "Generate PDF" option to generate a template PDF file based on your form, create a new PDF file from scratch in a PDF editor, or use an existing PDF file you already have.
A few form item types need special attention:
- For Radio Button item types, your PDF field values must exactly match your Radio Button choices. For example, if your PDF has radio buttons with "yes" and "no" values then the Radio Button item on your form must also have "yes" and "no". If the values are even slightly different, like "yes, I agree" instead of "yes", the PDF won't accept it.
- For Signature item types, you must have a text field in your PDF. The Signature image will be drawn inside the dimensions of the text field.
- For File Upload item types, you must have a text field in your PDF. A link to the file will be stored in the text field. Due to the wide variety of files types a form user could upload (documents, images, videos, music, etc.), it's not currently possible to store the actual file inside the PDF.
Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer
There are two popular Adobe PDF editors: Acrobat (Standard or Pro) and LiveCycle Designer.
Acrobat provides the simplest way to edit PDFs and add fields. Edit text using the "Tools -> Advanced Editing -> TouchUp Text Tool" menu option. Switch to field editing mode using the "Forms -> Add or Edit Fields..." menu option. When you're finished, click the "Close Form Editing" button and save the PDF file.
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 PDFs are form-specific, there isn't a way to use information from multiple forms in the same Results PDF. When you copy a form, its Results PDFs will be copied along with it.
