Customize a web form's PDF
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Every submission of a Web Form (Classic or Conversational) can be opened as a PDF. A web form has no PDF of its own, so the PDF is laid out from the answers. The PDF Template decides that layout:
- Default layout: the form’s titles, questions and answers printed as a document, in the order of the form.
- Customized template: you write the PDF as rich text, for example a letter or a certificate, and insert the answers as variables. Only what you write is printed.
The PDF Template exists only for web forms. A PDF Fillable Form, Web PDF Form or Master Form fills your own PDF, so its look is set per field instead. If you need your existing PDF filled in, use one of those form types.
Where the settings live
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| The PDF Template | Web form builder > More (three dots) > PDF Template. Needs editing access to the form |
| Settings of the default layout | The form’s Submissions page > Export > PDF Export Settings tab |
Anyone with access to the form’s submissions sees the PDF Export Settings tab, but only people with editing access to the form can change it. For anyone else a change shows “Settings Save Failed” and is not kept.
The default layout
When Use Customised Template is off, the PDF prints, page by page:
- Each page’s title and help text, and each Section Break title and help text, as headings.
- Each question as its label, a colon and the answer. Fields placed side by side in the builder stay side by side. Help texts under fields are not printed.
- Description text and Decorative Image pictures.
- Choice answers as the selected option texts in one line, separated by commas.
- Signature as the signature image; Table, Repeat Field and Form Entry as their rows of answers.
- Photo as the picture with a Download link; File Upload as a Download Attachment link, not the file itself.
Left out of the default layout:
- Fields, sections and pages that are hidden on the form, or hidden or skipped by logic for that submission. Logic can also drop a single field with don’t print in PDF.
- A page break, section, Description or Decorative Image whose Print in PDF is off. For a page or section this drops only its heading; the questions under it still print.
- PayPal Payment, Embed, Video, Countdown and ReCaptcha.
PDFs are A4 portrait. With the header on, each page shows “Ref ID:” with the submission’s tracking code and the submitted date and time. With the footer on, each page shows the form name and the page number.
Change the default layout
- Open the form’s Submissions page and click Export.
- Open the PDF Export Settings tab.
- Change the settings. Each change is saved straight away; you don’t need to run an export.
| Setting | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Print Page Header | On | Ref ID and submitted date at the top of each page |
| Print Page Footer | On | Form name and page numbers at the bottom of each page |
| Label with Bold Font | On | Question labels in bold |
| Print Read-only Fields, such as Description or Title | On | Print headings, Description text and decorative pictures |
| Page Break Between Form Pages | Off | Start each page of the form on a new PDF page |
| Font Size | M | XS, S, M or L (6, 10, 12 or 14 pt) |
| Page margin | M | XS, S, M or L (0.25, 0.5, 0.75 or 1 inch) |
| Timezone for Submitted Date | The team owner’s time zone | Time zone of the date in the header |
These settings apply to every PDF made after the change, and to PDF exports.
Write a customized template
- In the web form builder, click More > PDF Template, and turn on Use Customised Template.
- Write the text under Template Content. The editor has headings, bold, italic, lists, links, pictures (for example a logo) and alignment.
- Insert answers with the Search Variables box in the toolbar. It offers the form name, form ID, submission ID, submission revision, tracking code, and the form’s fields. A field’s variable prints that submission’s answer.
- Set Print Page Header, Print Page Footer, Font Size, Page margin and Timezone for Submitted Date under the content.
- Click Preview, then Save.
A customized template prints exactly what you write. Print in PDF settings and logic do not remove anything from it: if a field’s variable is in the text, its answer is printed (empty if there is none). Leave File Upload and Photo variables out of a customized template.
When a customized template is on, the PDF Export Settings tab on the Submissions page no longer applies and says so.
Preview the PDF
Preview opens a PDF in a new browser tab. It uses the template text as it is in the window, even before saving, but the header, footer, font size, margin and time zone as last saved.
- Default layout: the preview is filled from the form’s latest submission, so it needs one. With no submission yet, it says “The preview is filled from the form’s latest submission. Submit the published form once to preview its PDF.”
- Customized template: filled from the latest submission if there is one. Without one, it shows the form name and form ID and a placeholder for each other variable.
Preview never creates a submission. The preview in Preview & Design does not produce a PDF for a web form.
To check the default layout before going live, publish the form, submit one test entry that opens every section, then use Preview or Open PDF on the Submissions page.
Save and apply the template
Clicking Save opens Save Template with Apply to published forms, ticked by default.
- Apply to published forms ticked: the published form uses the template from now on, without publishing again.
- Unticked: the template text is used from the next Publish.
The header, footer, font size, margin and time zone apply to PDFs made after the save, whatever the tick.
A PDF that was already made for a submission is kept as it was; only PDFs made after the change use the new layout. A new revision of a submission gets a new PDF. There is one PDF Template per form; there is no team-wide template.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | What to check | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Preview asks you to submit the published form once | Whether the form has a submission | Submit one test entry, or preview with a customized template |
| New header, margin or font size not in the preview | Whether the changes were saved | Save, then Preview |
| “Settings Save Failed” in PDF Export Settings | Your permissions on the form | Ask someone with editing access to the form |
| A template change is not on new PDFs | The save choice | Save again with Apply to published forms ticked, or Publish |
| Old submissions still show the old layout | Expected: PDFs already made are kept | |
| A question is missing from the PDF | Hidden fields, logic, Print in PDF, or the template text | Show the field, adjust the rule, or add the variable |
| Multiple choice answers print as one comma list | That is how choice answers print. For one line per statement with a tick, use a Table field with one column and the cells set to multiple choices | |
| Uploaded files are not in the PDF | Uploads print as download links. Send files by link in the notification email | |
| The submitted date is in the wrong time zone | Timezone for Submitted Date | Pick the time zone and save |