PDF Document Creator

Design contracts, letters, certificates, reports, and more right inside PlatoForms, starting from a blank canvas, a preset library, or a single sentence to the AI Assistant. When your document is ready, export it as a PDF or convert it into a fillable PDF or online form without rebuilding anything.

Recent updates to this feature (4)

• August 18, 2026 Translate PDF Document
• July 4, 2026 A redesigned Start to Build menu
• July 1, 2026 PDF Document Creator
• September 1, 2017 Create PDFs from scratch

See the full changelog

Getting started

1. From your Dashboard, click Start to build.

2. Under Design a PDF, choose PDF Document Creator.

   

3. Pick a starting point:

   • Blank document: start from a clean page.
   • Start with AI chat: describe what you need and the AI Assistant drafts it for you.
   • Start from a template: choose a ready-made document layout and customize it.

Explore the editor

The editor has three main areas:

Floating toolbar: adding content
The floating toolbar headed Drag to add contains individual component icons (Text Input, Choice, Dropdown, Signature, and more). Hover any icon to see its name. The last item, Browse all preset widgets, opens the Widgets Library of pre-styled component variants.

Canvas: the page
The canvas is your document. It shows a dot grid and ruler markings to help you align and position components. Content flows top to bottom across one or more pages.

Right panel: settings and tools
The right panel has four tabs: Chat, Theme, Layouts, and Setting. Each tab controls a different aspect of your document. When a component on the canvas is selected, the panel shows that component’s properties instead.

Add content

Using the AI Assistant

Open the Chat tab and describe what you need in plain language. For example:

“A one-page consulting agreement with a signature block”

Tips for prompting:

• To generate a full document: “Build an event registration sheet with a header and warm colors”. The result is a document; to collect submissions with it, convert it to an online form.
• To restyle: “Make it look corporate, use a minimal style”
• To add sections: “Add a contact section with name, email, and phone”
• To modify selected components: “Make these match the rest of the page”

The AI Assistant builds a complete first draft, including fields, section headers, and layout. A full document takes longer than a small change, because the Assistant works in several steps; the changes appear on the canvas as it works.

To target specific components, select them on the canvas. Selecting a component switches the right panel to its properties, so click the Chat tab (the selection is kept), then prompt the AI to modify just that piece.

Things to know about the AI Assistant:

• Each request uses AI credits: first your plan’s monthly AI allowance, then your team’s Usage credit when AI is set to Pay from balance. When nothing is left, the request is refused with “AI usage limit reached. Add credit to continue.”
• The chat is kept with the document, and every team member who opens the document sees the same conversation. Clear deletes the whole conversation of that document for everyone, without asking first; it does not change the document.
• Cmd/Ctrl + Z after a request usually undoes the whole request in one step. A request that also changed the color theme, design style or page background can need more than one; History is the reliable way back.

Dragging and clicking components

Hover any icon in the Drag to add toolbar to see what it adds, then drag it onto the canvas or click to place it. Once placed, you can:

• Move it by dragging the grid handle (blue square icon) in the top-left corner of the selected component.
• Resize it by dragging any corner or edge handle: all elements scale proportionally.
• Duplicate it with Cmd/Ctrl + D.
• Delete it with the Delete key or the trash icon in the property panel.

Using the Library

Click Browse all preset widgets, the last item of the Drag to add toolbar, to open the Widgets Library of pre-styled component variants. Components are grouped by type:

Click or drag any variant to add it to your canvas. The result matches the preview thumbnail.

Page layout

How pages work

PDF Document Creator uses soft page breaks by default: when content reaches the bottom of a page, it flows automatically onto the next page.

Insert a hard page break

To force a page to end at a specific point (for example, before a signature page or a new section):

1. Place your cursor where you want the break.

2. Click Page Break in the Drag to add toolbar and choose Add a new page after the current page or Break a new page from the current field.

   

Remove empty rows

If there is unwanted space between components, small × icons appear along the right edge of the canvas. Click any × to remove that empty row.

Headers and footers

Headers and footers are added and managed from the Layouts tab.

To add a header or footer:

1. Open the Layouts tab.

2. Under Add to Page, click + Header or + Footer.

Save and reuse layouts

1. Open the Layouts tab.

2. Click Save as layout.

3. Give the layout a name, then click Save.

   

Saved layouts appear under Saved Layouts. Click any saved layout to apply it to the current page. Use the share icon to share a layout with your team.

Document settings

Open the Setting tab to adjust document-level options: default font family and size, how font sizes are balanced across labels and input fields, page background color or image, Margins (None, 0.5 inch, 0.75 inch (default) or 1.0 inch), and Right-to-left (RTL) for languages such as Arabic or Hebrew. Clean pages removes every item on every page after a confirmation; this cannot be undone.

Version history

PDF Document Creator saves your work automatically. Press Cmd/Ctrl + S to save a named version. Click History in the top navigation bar to browse and restore previous versions. PlatoForms also records AI-generated changes in version history: each AI request that changed the document is saved as its own version, named after the request, allowing you to return to an earlier stage of the editing process when needed.

Translate

To create a version of your document in another language, click Translate in the top navigation bar.

1. Select a target language: eight languages appear directly (Deutsch, English, Español, Français, 日本語, Português, 简体中文, 繁體中文), or search for more using Select another language…

   

2. Choose how to create the translated copy:

   • AI Translate: clones the document and translates the content automatically. Review and fine-tune the result in the editor afterward.
   • Clone for manual translation: clones the document without translating, tagged with the language you selected, so you can translate it yourself directly on the canvas.

Your original document is never modified: both options always create a new, separate copy.

Export and publish

When your document is ready, you have two options from the top navigation bar:

Export PDF

Download your document as a PDF file.

Choose Read-only PDF when layout accuracy is critical.

Convert to an online form

Convert your design into an interactive form. There are two paths:

After choosing a path, you can configure each field’s properties: label, placeholder, format, required/read-only/hidden settings, input validation, and conditional logic.

The online form is a separate copy: later changes to the document do not reach it by themselves. Converting again with the same type does not make a second form. It rebuilds that form’s pages and fields from the current document, replacing field changes made in the form editor since.

On the Dashboard, the document card’s Create Online Form always makes (or rebuilds) a PDF Fillable Form. To make a Web PDF Form, use Make Online Form in the editor.

Once converted, your form is managed from Work on online forms. See:

• Manage web PDF form: for Web PDF Form
• Manage online PDF form: for PDF Fillable Form
• Configure online form: settings, notifications, logic
• Publish and share: share your form

Manage documents from the Dashboard

Your documents are on the Dashboard’s PDF Documents tab. Each card’s gear menu offers, among others:

• Export PDF: download the document as a PDF, as in the editor.
• Clone: make a full copy, named after the document followed by “-clone”, in the same folder and open it in the editor.
• Translate…: create a translated copy, as with Translate in the editor.

Keyboard shortcuts

Video Tutorial

Prefer watching a video? Check out the tutorial below.