It is possible to automate PDF documents in Avvoka since certain documents are required to be in a set format. For example: court documents, property documents, tax forms, etc. The PDF blueprint helps to automate standard form PDFs, and drop the answers to a questionnaire directly into the PDF instead of using an Avvoka document.

How does it work?

Select your desired PDF file and visit the Tools tab in Adobe Acrobat. Now, look for “Prepare Form” under the “Tools” category, and click on the icon. A pop-up will then appear.

Now, select the pdf file at hand.

When creating fields, Acrobat is looking for landmarks like lines of underscores, boxes and circles that might indicate fields, checkboxes and radio buttons. Additionally, the surrounding text is evaluated to give the generated fields a meaningful name.

However, the odds are good that some fields will be named or placed incorrectly, and will require manual adjustment. Review your form, delete any extra fields, and move any fields that are misplaced.

You may also want to rename a field so it matches the naming convention used for your attributes in Avvoka, double click the field (or right click and select Properties from the menu). The field name will be at the top of the properties window.

Manually placing Form Fields that can then be automated on Avvoka as Placeholders

On the lower toolbar, click on the fourth icon from the left to “Add a Text field”. This will create a blue rectangle by your cursor, which is the text field.

Now, insert a text field which is an attribute in Avvoka. For instance, it is “Company Name” in the example below. You can click and drag the blue box or handles in the frame of the field to resize it. If you click “All properties” you can customise the field further.

You can read more about Adobe Form preparation tool here.

Automate the prepared PDF on Avvoka

Now you have your PDF form ready, the next step involves logging into Avvoka to create a new template. For doing so, visit the “Templates” tab, and click on “Add new template” button to create one.

To upload the prepared pdf document onto the template, click on “Advanced” at the bottom of “Template Settings” which is present on the left side pane.

Now, scroll to Document format settings and click the Choose File button beneath “PDF blueprint”. Navigate to where your PDF form is stored, and upload it.

On the “Template Settings” toolbar on the left, click on “Document” and you will be brought to an editor with a large blank field. Type in your field names. Then, highlight each and click the placeholder buttons to turn them into Attributes.

For uploading the prepared pdf document onto the template, click on “Questionnaire” under the “Template Settings” tab and edit the question as per your preference.

Make sure you go to “Parties” and that the author only has “questionnaire” rights.

Once you create the document you will need to download it as a PDF file to get the final document (automated PDF).

PDF Editability Toggle:

By default, when clients download documents from Avvoka as a PDF with a PDF blueprint attached, the output file will be 'locked,' meaning it will not be able to be modified after download from Avvoka and form fields will be removed.

In the advance section, users can choose to uncheck the tickbox below, making PDF files editable after download by keeping all the form fields, facilitating the addition or removal of any necessary information, including placeholders that were previously added in via Avvoka.

Further Guidance: Merge exported data to a spreadsheet

If you want to compile data from Adobe forms, to then easily paste it on the Avvoka editor and automate it, use the following process.