Automating PDF documents in Avvoka allows you to insert responses from a questionnaire directly into a pre-formatted PDF, ideal for use with structured documents like court filings, property records, and tax forms.
The PDF blueprint feature helps automate standard form PDFs by inserting answers from a questionnaire directly into the PDF.
The automated template using a PDF blueprint can be used as a standalone template, with other related documents, or as a part of a template pack.
How does it work?
I. Prepare Your PDF File with Form fields
A. Open and Select the PDF File:
Select your desired PDF file and open Adobe Acrobat or similar tool with Form preparation option for PDF files. This section will outline the steps in Adobe Acrobat.
Navigate to the Tools tab and select "Prepare Form".
A pop-up will appear; choose your PDF file to prepare the form.
NOTE: Acrobat will automatically search for fields, checkboxes, and radio buttons, based on elements like underscores and boxes, and try to name them based on surrounding text. This automatic detection may not be perfect, so you’ll likely need to make adjustments.
B. Review and Adjust Existing Fields:
Acrobat’s placement may need refining; reposition or resize fields as needed.
Delete any extra fields and move misplaced ones.
Rename fields to match the naming convention used for your attributes in Avvoka by double-clicking the field or right-clicking and selecting Properties.
C. Manually Add Additional Form Fields:
Click on “Add a Text field” in the lower toolbar to create a text field.
Place the text field in the desired position.
Insert a text field corresponding to an attribute in Avvoka, such as “Company Name”.
Customise the field as needed by clicking “All properties”.
D. Adding Checkboxes and Other Components:
In the Prepare Form toolbar, scroll to "Add Form Components" and click on the "Checkbox" tool.
Place the checkbox in the desired location on your PDF.
Right-click (or cmd click on Apple devices) on the checkbox, select "Properties", rename it to match your attribute name on Avvoka.
In the "Options" section, set the "Export Value" to match with the corresponding triggered value on Avvoka (eg: if you have a condition that is triggered by a "Yes" answer, your export value should be "Yes").
You can read more about the Adobe Form preparation refer to Adobe’s official guide on the Form Preparation tool here.
II. Automate the Prepared PDF in Avvoka
A. Create a New Template:
Log in to Avvoka and go to the “Templates” tab.
Click on “Add new template.”
B. Upload the Prepared PDF:
Click on “Advanced” tab on the sidebar of the template.
In the Document format settings, click “Choose File” under “PDF blueprint” and upload your prepared PDF (check step 1).
NOTE: If users want to always have some fields filled out in a certain way, it is possible, and they can fill them out before uploading the PDF blueprint, like in the example below:
In the "Parties" tab, ensure the author is set to "Questionnaire" rights (PDF blueprints only work with this configuration; since PDF documents, don't allow manual edits).
C. Set Up the Template:
In the template body, add the field names used in the PDF setup stage. You can just type them directly.
Highlight each field name and click the placeholder buttons to turn them into Attributes.
Some users might prefer to have a PDF converted to word uploaded as a template, so users can easily see where the information is going. But this is optional, Avvoka only needs the attributes to then stamp them on the PDF blueprint.
For checkboxes, you can automate them using placeholders or conditions. The example below uses conditions:
For example, in the questionnaire you can choose "Tickbox" as the question type for your checkboxes and set the "Triggered value" to "Yes", so that it matches the Export Value you created in Adobe.
Finish amending your questions in the Questionnaire.
III. Advanced Options
A. Toggle PDF Editability
By default, downloaded PDFs from Avvoka are locked to prevent modifications, but you can change this.
Navigate to the "Advanced" section of your template.
Users can choose to keep form fields editable after download by unchecking the box in the "Advanced" section.
B. Restrict .docx download
It is advisable to restrict the .docx download, only allowing users to download the final PDF document.
You can do this by navigating to the "Advanced" tab
Then tick the box to "Restrict .docx" under "Restrict download before signature" section
C. Disable live preview
If desired, live preview can be disabled in the "Advanced" tab. This option might be preferred if only a list of attributes has been added in the template.
You can do this by navigating to the "Advanced" tab
Then in the dropdown under "Enable document live preview" choose "No roles in all parties".
This will only show the questionnaire when users create the document
NOTE: You can also add explanatory text to your questionnaire with further instructions to the end users, for example guiding them to download the PDF document to see the final output.
IV. Create your document in Avvoka
After your template is ready you can test it by creating a document. Users will fill out the questionnaire as they would normally do.
The final output will only show when they download the PDF.
The PDF document will be stamped with the questionnaire answers in the different Form fields, preserving the PDF Format.
V. Further Guidance: Merge PDF 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:
Do one of the following:
On the Edit menu, choose Form Options > Merge Data Files Into Spreadsheet.
Choose Tools > Prepare Form. In the right hand pane, choose More > Merge Data Files Into Spreadsheet.
In the Export Data From Multiple Forms dialog box, click Add Files.
In the Select file Containing Form Data dialog box, select a file format option in File Of Type option (Acrobat Form Data Files or All Files). Then locate the form files that you want to merge into the spreadsheet, select them, and click Open.
Repeat the previous step to add form data files that are in other locations, as needed.
Click Export. Then select a folder and filename for the spreadsheet, and click Save.
In the Export Progress dialog box, click either View File Now to open the spreadsheet file or Close Dialog to return to Acrobat.
Now you can easily get those attributes into your Avvoka file and make them placeholders.