PDFs of a submission
Every submission can be downloaded as a PDF, for your records, to print, or to hand to someone who doesn't use FormsUI. The same PDF is what goes out when you send a submission for signature.
Which PDF you get depends on how the form was made.
| Form | Download button | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Built in FormsUI | Download PDF | A document generated from the form, styled with the form's appearance settings |
| Imported from a PDF | Original form (filled) | Your original document, with the answers written into its printed blanks |
| Imported from a PDF | Summary PDF | The generated document instead, for when you want the answers laid out plainly |
Both buttons are in the View dialog on the form's submissions page.
Answers on the original document
A form imported from a PDF writes its answers back onto the document you uploaded: same title, same design, answers in the printed blanks. The import recorded where each answer goes, and that is where it is written.
- Typed answers go into the blank the question sits beside. If your original was a fillable PDF, its own form fields are filled in.
- Checkboxes tick the printed box. An explicit "No" leaves it unticked.
- Dropdowns from a printed cluster of options. Where the paper form prints a square for each option (Single, Married, Divorced), choosing "Married" ticks the Married square rather than writing the word over the page.
- Repeatable sections use the extra rows the paper form prints, for as long as it has them.
The addendum page
An answer with no printed place to go is not dropped. It goes onto an addendum page added at the end, titled with the form's name and "additional answers", grouped by section and entry.
That covers:
- a question the import couldn't place on the page;
- a dropdown option added in the builder after the import, which has no printed square;
- entry 4 of a section the paper form only has room for three of.
The addendum page uses the form's accent colour and footer line.
Signature lines
If the form is set up so that submissions may be sent for e-signature, the PDF carries a signature line for each party you named in the builder ("Landlord", "Tenant 1"), captioned with that name. Name nobody and it carries a single unnamed line. An imported document usually has signature blocks of its own, and those are what a signature request uses first.
The generated PDF and its style
A form built in FormsUI, and the Summary PDF of an imported one, is generated from the form: its title, a line saying when it was submitted and by whom, then every section and answer in order, including each entry of a repeatable section.
It follows the form's appearance settings in the builder.
| Setting | Used for |
|---|---|
| Accent colour | Headings and rules |
| Header line | The line under the title. Without one, the workspace's name is used |
| Footer line | The small print at the foot of each page. Without one, it reads "Generated by FormsUI" |
A form owned by a team with branding switched on uses the team's logo, colour and wording until the form sets its own. The builder's "Use (team)'s branding" switch is what hands a form back to the team's settings.
Branding never touches the filled original. Someone who uploaded their own designed document wants that document back, so only the generated PDF, the Summary PDF and the addendum page are styled.
Sensitive answers in a PDF
A submission PDF is the whole submission, sensitive answers included. Masking applies to what you read on screen, not to the document you download. Treat a downloaded PDF the way you would treat the paper original. See sensitive fields.