Tip of the fortnight 2 - Acknowledge customers with a PDF copy of their submitted form

Tip of the fortnight 2 - Acknowledge customers with a PDF copy of their submitted form

Hello fellow form builders, 

I believe the previous tip gave you insights on the different ways of form redirection. Today I've come up with a tip that aims to help your respondents be aware of the data they enter! 

Have you come across a circumstance where you need to give away the form along with the entire response and the answer choices being entered? Well, rather than consuming time to send the raw form submission through manual emails, you can do it in a much simpler way. Yes! The form submissions can be delivered in an organised way, as a PDF. 



Unlike a copy of the form responses that gets submitted in the form, the PDF of the form submission is a copy of the entire form along with the answer choices and the responses that gets filled in. Regardless of the type of business forms you create, you can set up the PDF's page properties to complement it. 


Let's get started with the PDF customization. First things first; Build your form, and finish designing it. Whatsoever theme you've applied for your form will be reflected in the PDF as well. Now, in your form's Settings >> PDF Settings , click Customize and start customizing your PDF. 

Choose a Relevant Title

Inside the PDF editor, start-off by personalizing the name of the PDF. Enter a name or set a custom name by including the field responses that fall in your form. If you need to label the PDF explicitly, add the Unique ID field to it (the field must be added prior in the form).

Customize Appearances

Under the Page setting, quickly pick out from Portrait or Landscape orientation based on how you want to display the page.

Depending on the nature of the form, say for an Order Invoice , Course Application Form , or a Sales Contract , choose the size of the page accordingly. Altering this, maintains the proportions of the entire form by correspondingly scaling the contents. Next up, choose the Margin from the pre-defined values, or set up the page with no margins (choose "0" from the dropdown).



Another significant option is the Exclude Empty Fields . Whenever the respondent has not filled any fields in your form, instead of showing those fields empty, you can delete them from displaying inside the PDF. This sure helps you to generate a sophisticated PDF.


Reveal the unique ID

Another useful field you can add to your PDF is the Include Unique ID field. For example, you've created a Membership Application   Form , and have added a unique ID field (get to know more about Unique ID in this post ) that generates the Applicant Number. When the customers fill out the form, the generated unique ID will not be displayed. However, the Unique ID will be displayed in the PDF when you download it. This ensures your respondents are familiarized with their Applicant Number. Once you are done with fine-tuning your PDF, hit Save .


There are two super-quick ways you can let your customers find and download the PDF. One is that, you can give the PDF's link in the Thank You  Page that gets displayed after the submission. For this, permit to display the link under the PDF Settings. Or, attach the PDF in an email and automate the emails (we will discuss on automating emails in our upcoming series).


And, that's a wrap! Put your forms out there and watch the PDFs generated for every submission. Comment your thoughts below - we'd love to hear from you.

Until next fortnight, 
Prasana.



    Access your files securely from anywhere

        Zoho Developer Community




                                  Zoho Desk Resources

                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                  • Digest


                                  • Functions


                                  • Meetups


                                  • Kbase


                                  • Resources


                                  • Glossary


                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                  • MVP Corner


                                  • Word of the Day



                                      Zoho Marketing Automation
                                              • Sticky Posts

                                              • Tip #8: Pass Adwords data (GCLID) and UTM parameters to Zoho CRM using forms

                                                When you are using forms to capture leads, you may wonder: " How did they find me? Which marketing campaign worked best?"  You can answer this question by capturing the Google Adwords data (GCLID) or the UTM parameter details in your CRM using forms. This can be a great way to gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns and identify the most effective ways to capture leads.  Capturing GCLID parameters How it works If a person finds your form by clicking an ad, a GCLID gets created. When they fill out
                                              • ZUG (Zoho User Group) In-person Meetups - Maximize Data Efficiency with Zoho Forms & Beyond

                                                Hello Zoho Community, Join us for our upcoming meetups in ANZ, where we'll dive into seamless data handling and maximizing efficiency through Zoho Forms and beyond. Explore the potential of Zoho Forms customization and integration, from mastering the
                                              • Tip #9: Modify deal properties in Zoho CRM using form responses

                                                How to modify deal properties of Zoho CRM records using form responses? Deal properties in Zoho CRM records are constantly modified based on the status of the deal. You can automatically modify deal properties (like the deal closing date, or deal name) and even update the deal stage, using form inputs. This can drastically reduce the work your team would otherwise do to search and change individual record details manually. How it works This works by integrating the form with the Deals module of Zoho
                                              • Tip #2: Prefill forms automatically with existing Zoho CRM data

                                                How to automatically prefill a form with existing Zoho CRM data? Prefilled forms can be useful when you want your prospects to view and confirm their data, and in a wide range of other situations. In Zoho Forms, we prefill the fields with the values from Zoho CRM using the Zoho CRM field. What is a Zoho CRM field? A Zoho CRM field acts as a two-way communication channel, by sending data to Zoho CRM from forms and fetching information from CRM into Forms. The field will look up data from your CRM
                                              • Tip #4: Add related lists to Zoho CRM records using form responses

                                                How to add a related list to new or existing CRM records using forms? Related lists in CRM ensures that all the data that is related is connected and easily accessible. For example a contact may have notes, attachments, activities, products, and other items associated with it. These make up a related list.   You can set up an integration to get this data using forms and automatically add it to the related list for a CRM record. There are two broad scenarios when you may need to do this: Adding a


                                              Manage your brands on social media



                                                    Zoho TeamInbox Resources

                                                      Zoho DataPrep Resources



                                                        Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                          Zoho Books Resources


                                                            Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                              Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                  Qntrl Resources


                                                                    Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                        Zoho Campaigns Resources


                                                                          Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                            CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                          • Kaizen

                                                                            Kaizen

                                                                          • Functions

                                                                            Functions

                                                                          • Meetups

                                                                            Meetups

                                                                          • Kbase

                                                                            Kbase

                                                                          • Resources

                                                                            Resources

                                                                          • Digest

                                                                            Digest

                                                                          • CRM Marketplace

                                                                            CRM Marketplace

                                                                          • MVP Corner

                                                                            MVP Corner





                                                                              Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                              Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                              Get Started Now