PlatoForms User Guide
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  • Form Builder

    Creating an Online Form for an Existing PDF

  • Custom Domain

    With Builder you can build three types of forms: online web forms, online PDF forms, and master forms.

  • Master Form Builder

    you will arrive at the Form Builder. On the form Builder, there are three main sections:

Explore the form builder

Once you’ve created an online form, you can access the form builder to customize it for gathering information.

Note

Starting from Sep 21, 2023, we have introduced a new form builder for web PDF forms. For more details, check here. You can also switch back to the old version anytime.

Introduce the form builder

New form builder of web PDF form
New form buidler interface

The new form builder consists of:

  • Top Action Buttons

    These buttons assist you in performing key actions such as adding logic, previewing, sharing, and adjusting settings. You can also use the search bar to find stuff quickly.

  • Far left Toolbar

    Choose various field types to add to your form.

  • Left Field Panel

    Customize each field and how it works.

  • Right PDF Form Area

    See how your form looks as a PDF. You can change the layout by moving things around or resizing them.

Switch to old form builder

To return to the old form builder, click the Switch button in the lower right corner of the form builder interface.

Switch to the old form builder

Note

If your form contains new fields such as “Embed”, you need to remove these fields before switching back to the old form builder.

Action Buttons

Form action buttons

In the top left corner of the form builder, you’ll see action buttons that perform the following functions:

Main Functions

  • Logics: Create conditions and rules to automate actions and workflows when respondents fill out the form.
  • Preview & Design: Check how your form looks and customize its appearance.
  • Publish: Make your form available for sharing when it’s ready for submissions.

More Functions

Next to the “Main Functions” buttons, you’ll find a small ••• icon. Clicking this icon opens a dropdown menu with various form settings options, including:

More functions dropdown

  • Form Settings

    Configure form-related options like submission messages and languages.

  • Submission Notification

    Personalize email notifications for form submissions.

  • Send Invitation

    Customize form submission invitations.

  • Preview PDF

    Review how the form looks in an offline PDF version.

  • Universal Field Styles

    Customize the form’s appearance.

  • History

    Track previous form versions and revert to them if needed.

  • Reset Editing

    Reset the form to its empty or initial state.

Currently, you can use the search box to quickly locate a field by entering its label or ID.

Search box

Toolbar

The Toolbar includes frequently used form fields like Text Input and Dropdown. Click the ••• icon to see additional fields.

Field Panel

In the left Field panel, you have several options:

Rearrange fields

Change the order of fields by dragging and dropping them. This affects the sequence of fields on the online form.

Drag and Drop the field

Edit a single field

Each field is enclosed within a widget. When you hover over a specific field, the field widget will be highlighted. Here’s what you can do:

Edit a sigle field

  • Click the Field Label or Field ID to open and edit its attributes.

  • Click the X icon in the upper right corner of the widget to delete it.

  • In the lower right corner of the widget, set the field status by choosing Required, Disabled, or Hidden.

  • To clone this field, hover to the left of the Required button and click the Clone button.

PDF Form Area

In the right PDF Form Area, you can perform the following actions:

Arrange field widgets

  • Position the widget on the PDF by dragging it to your desired location.

  • Resize the widget by dragging any of its four sides or manually entering the width or height after selecting a specific field widget.

    Resize-widget

Adjust panel sizes

  • In the new form builder, you can resize the Field Panel and the PDF Form Area by clicking and dragging the horizontal divider line between them.

    Drag to resize

  • In the old form builder, you can switch view modes using these buttons from left to right:

    Switch views

    • Field Panel view

      Focus solely on editing and arranging fields.

    • Two-column view

      Edit field details and form structure simultaneously.

    • PDF Form Area View
      Manage the overall form page structure.

For form with multiple pages, you can navigate them by using the Page Toggle Located at the bottom of both the left and right panels.

  • Field Panel pages (Left) are divided using the “Page Break” field.

  • PDF Form Area pages (Right) are divided based on the actual page count of the PDF.

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