PDF Editor: Can a Hidden Form Field Be Shown Later on the PDF?

Is it possible to hide a field on the form but subsequently display this on the PDF?

Hi WannerooMensShed,

Thanks for reaching out to us for help. Even if a field is hidden on the form, it can still appear on the PDF. You can customize the PDF layout in the PDF Editor to include any fields you want to show, regardless of their visibility on the form.

1. In PDF Editor, on the right side of the page, click on the Gear icon.
2. Then, uncheck the Hide empty form fields option.

That's it. Hiding empty fields will be applied on print and preview mode.

Give it a try and let us know if you need any help.

Thank you for the response and, as your email suggests, I have moved fields to a new page.

The only issue that I have is that some of the fields on the new page only appear on the PDF as paragraphs and so will print even if there is no other information filled in.

If it is at all possible it would be nice to have something like a conditional block that will only appear on the PDF if any of the form fields have a value in them. In my form, I would like the final page (including the page break) to be included only if the answer to the question about purchasing on behalf of somebody else has a Yes value. Or it could be if any of the answers in the block have a value in them.

On a second point, and I can ask in a new thread if you like:

Many thanks
Laurie

Hi Laurie,

If you would like to update the content of the paragraph field based on the form questions, you can populate long text with conditional logic, and use this in the PDF. This way, the text in your PDF will be set dynamically.

If you'll be sending the PDF Documents automatically to your users, it's also possible to generate different versions of PDF Documents, and then send the correct one.

If you tell us specifically what you need, and describe your flow, we'll be able to provide you with more information on what's the best approach, and how to implement it.

Your second question has been moved to a new thread. We're working on it, and you'll receive a reply soon here.

Once we hear back from you, we'll be able to move forward with a solution.

So basically, in our form, we run off the generated PDF which is sent to our front office sales team. They will get this and print it. When the customer comes in to collect a computer, we collect their money and give them a computer.

if the person has asked that an invoice be sent to their organisation (via the question that reads "Would you would like us to send an invoice to your Organisation?"), I would like a separate page on the PDF produced so that when the person comes in to collect their computer, we can send the last page up to the treasurer so he can prepare an invoice.  On this page are all the details necessary to create and send the invoice to the correct person.  The sales team needs to physically write the amount to be invoices on this page so there are some text fields added with instructions and an Amount to be Invoiced line.

Ideally I would like this entire page to only be produced if the submitter has answered Yes (either version) to the forementioned question.  Otherwise, the page is meaningless and typically means a printed page that is put into the bin; unless the person in the sales office has the foresight to go in and only print the necessary pages.

Let me know what you think and thanks for the support

Cheers
Laurie

Hi Laurie,

I’ll need a bit of time to look into this and work out a solution. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks for your patience and understanding, we appreciate it.

Hi Laurie,

In your form, you have questions like Email for Invoice, Name or Person to refer Invoice to, and PO or Reference Number. Could you clarify where these details will be coming from? Are they supposed to be filled out by the buyer or by your relevant team?

If these fields are meant to be filled by your sales team, we can hide them from the buyer in the form. The form can remain as is, and since those fields won’t be filled by the buyer, they won’t appear in the PDF report initially. We can set up a condition to change the email recipient so that if the buyer requests an invoice, an email notification with an edit link is sent to the sales team. When the sales team accesses this edit link, they can fill in the necessary invoice details. Once submitted, those details will automatically appear in the PDF report, which can then be printed on-site. Let me show you how it's set up:

1. In the Form Builder, Hide the form fields to be completed by your Sales Team.

a. Highlight the fields, then select Hide from the options on the upper right in the Form Builder.

2. Add a new Autoresponder that will be sent to the Sales Team.

a. In Form Builder, in the orange navigation bar at the top of the page, click on Settings.

b. In the menu on the left side of the page, click on Emails.

c. Now, click on Add Email.

d. Then, select Autoresponder Email, and customize the options the way you want them.

e. On the Email Content window, click on Form Fields, and select Edit Link.

f. Customize the Edit Link the way you want, and when you're finished, click on Save on the bottom-right side of the Email Content window.

3. Since you have another Autoresponder intended to be sent to the respondents or the buyer, make sure that the When a submission is edited is off.

a. In Form Builder, in the orange navigation bar at the top of the page, click on Settings.

b. In the menu on the left side of the page, click on Emails. 

c. Now, click on the Pencil icon of your Autoresponder.

d. Go to the Advanced tab, untick When a submission is edited, then click on Save, and you’re done.

4. Add a Change Email Recipient Condition that is sent to your Sales Team when the respondents requested an invoice

a. In Form Builder, in the orange navigation bar at the top of the page, click on the Settings.

b. In the menu on the left side of the page, click on Conditions, and then select Change Email Recipient. (If you already have a condition set, first click on Add Condition, then select Change Email Recipient.)

3. Set up the conditions as you see below and click on Save:

You can also check out our guide explaining How to Send Emails Based on a User's Answer.

Give it a try and let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks again for your responses.
In reply:
In your form, you have questions like Email for Invoice, Name or Person to refer Invoice to, and PO or Reference Number. Could you clarify where these details will be coming from? Are they supposed to be filled out by the buyer or by your relevant team?
These questions are completed by the applicant only if required. We have basically two types of buyer
*
A personal buyer who just needs to order a computer for themselves. The questions above won't be relevant to them.
*
A person from a company (usually a community care group or employment agency) who wishes to order a computer on behalf of one of their clients. These may or may not wish to pay for the computer on behalf of their client.
It is the latter group that wish to pay for the computer and have an invoice sent to them that these questions are relevant and so they must complete the information.
The only items that need to be manually completed by our sales team are the actual amount to be invoiced and this is hand-written on the PDF page before passing to our accountant for invoicing. Our computer systems are not very sophisticated here ??
The option that you have given me bears some thought anyway as I might be able to have a separate form and PDF that is initiated somehow if the answer to the invoice question is yes. I will look further into that.
Leave it with me for a while to explore some options in this regard
Many thanks
Please note our sales office hours are Tuesday and Friday, 10AM - 2PM
Best regards
Wanneroo Community Men's Shed
31 Creative Street
WANGARA WA 606
Phone 0499 243 171
________________________________
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Hi Laurie,

If I understand you correctly, you want to create two separate PDFs from the same form, and one copy sent to the sales team and the other one to the filler. If so, then it's possible to create and send different PDFs to the Sales team and the Filler. You can easily change which form fields appear in your document using the PDF Editor, and those changes will reflect in the downloaded version as well. Let me show you how to add form fields:

First, you need to modify PDFs from PDF Editor:

1. In PDF Editor, click on Add Element on the upper-left side of the page.
2. Then, click on the Form Fields tab, and click on the form fields that you want to add to your PDF.

To delete fields in PDF Editor:

1. In PDF Editor, click on the form field you want to delete.
2. Then, click on the Trash Can icon under the field to delete it.

Check out the screenshot below to see how it looks in a downloaded PDF document:

You can also check out our guide about How to Create PDF Forms with PDF Editor for more information.

Second, you can create another PDF and attach the PDF to the email alerts. You can send personalized emails with different PDF attachments based on submitter responses using conditional logic. You should create specific PDF templates for each scenario. Then, set up multiple Autoresponder Emails, each linked to the appropriate PDF template. Finally, use conditional logic to send the correct email based on the submission. Check out the steps and screencast below to see how it's done:

Let’s begin by creating a PDF document: 

1. In PDF Editor, in blue navigation bar, click on the New PDF button.

2. Click on Use Default Layout and customize your document as you like.

Now, let's create Autoresponder emails and attach PDF documents:

1. In Form Builder, in the orange navigation bar at the top of the page, click on Settings.

2. In the menu on the left side of the page, click on the Emails tab.

3. Click on the Add Email button and select Autoresponder.

4. Then, click on the Advanced tab, toggle On the Attach PDF section.

5. Select the PDF document you created, then click on the Save button at the bottom-right side of the Advanced tab.

Finally, let's set the conditionals based on the submitter's answers in the form:

1. While in the Settings tab, in the menu on the left side of the page, click on Conditions.

2. Click on Add Condition and then click on Change Email Recipient.

3. Set up the conditions as you see below and click on Save:

Now, whenever a submitter selects an option, they will receive an email with the related PDF document attached. You can also check out our guides explaining How to Create PDF Forms with PDF Editor, Setting Up Autoresponder Emails, and How to Send Emails Based on a User's Answer for more information. If that’s not exactly what you’re looking for, can you explain a bit more so I can help you better?

Give it a try and let us know if you need any help.