Forms & PDFs

How to generate a PDF from every form submission

A form collects answers; the people downstream often want a document — a quote on your letterhead, a completed application, a certificate, the official form a regulator expects. Here are the four ways to produce a PDF from each submission, what each is good at, and how to keep the result exactly on the layout you need.

By the Faldaro team · Published September 25, 2026

First, decide what the PDF is for

The right approach depends on who reads the document:

A record for your own files — a copy of the answers, dated and filed. Almost any form tool’s built-in export does this.
A document you send — a quote, a confirmation letter, a certificate — on your branding, with only some of the answers, in sentences rather than a list.
An existing form filled in — the carrier’s application, the government form, the supplier set-up sheet — whose layout is not yours to change.

Option 1: the form builder’s built-in PDF

Many form builders can download or email a PDF of each submission, usually with a choice of layouts and a logo. It is quick and needs no set-up. Its limits are layout control — the document follows the form’s structure, not the one your reader expects — and automation: check whether the PDF can be generated at a particular moment, such as when a submission is approved, rather than only on arrival.

Option 2: a document-generation service

Dedicated document-automation tools take a template — a Word document, an HTML page or a fillable PDF with named fields — and merge data into it, usually connected to your form through an integration platform. They are flexible and good at documents with many variants. The costs are a second product to pay for, an integration to maintain, and a PDF that lives in a different system from the submission it came from.

Option 3: WordPress plugins

If your forms run on WordPress, several form plugins and add-ons generate PDFs from entries, often with a visual template editor. They suit sites already built on WordPress, and inherit its hosting, updates and plugin compatibility along with the feature.

Option 4: code

Developers can fill a fillable PDF’s fields with a PDF library, or render HTML to PDF with a headless browser. It is fully controllable and costs nothing per document; you own every edge case — fonts, long values, page breaks, and keeping the template in step with the form as either changes.

A checklist for any approach

Long answers: test with the longest realistic value. Does it wrap, shrink, overflow or vanish?
Repeating items: line items, dependants, vehicles — can the template repeat a row per item, and what happens past the page?
Conditional content: can a paragraph or clause appear only when an answer calls for it?
Formatting: currency, dates and numbers formatted for the reader, not as stored.
Timing: generated at the right moment — on approval, not on arrival — and never twice.
Versioning: when the template changes, documents already produced stay exactly as they were.
Where it lands: attached to the submission it came from, so the record and its paperwork stay together.

How Faldaro generates documents

In Faldaro a document template belongs to the same platform as the form, and a generated PDF attaches to the submission it came from:

Reproduce the PDF you already use. The facsimile engine turns a PDF’s own pages into the template, line for line: text stays editable, rules and boxes stay sharp, logos become images. You bind the form on top — click a line to merge a field into it, give an element a condition, repeat a row per list item. Converting is plain computation, not AI, and costs no credits.
Or build from blocks — headings, paragraphs, tables, images, page breaks — with merged values, conditional blocks and repeating rows, for documents that are yours to design.
Long values are typeset, not cropped. A bound area wraps inside its column and grows its row, pushing what follows down; growth is capped by the page so a footer is never pushed off.
Generated on the right step. A workflow move or a rule produces the document — “when the claim reaches Approved, generate the settlement letter” — after the move commits, and the PDF is listed on the submission.
Templates are versioned. Publishing freezes a version; a document renders through the version that was live for it, so editing the template changes nothing already produced.
Signing follows naturally. A workflow can request an e-signature on the generated document, frozen and fingerprinted before the signer sees it (Team plan and above).

Honest edges, reported when a PDF is converted rather than discovered later: gradients and fill patterns are left out, and a repeated row stops at the limit you set instead of flowing onto continuation pages. The documents guide covers the details, and generated PDFs are on every plan, including Free.

Questions

Can I fill my existing PDF with each form submission?

Yes, in two ways. If the PDF is a fillable one, its form fields can be filled by a PDF library or a document-automation service that maps your answers onto them. If it is a flat PDF — a scan or a designed document with no fields — you need a tool that turns its pages into a template you can bind answers to, which is what Faldaro’s facsimile engine does.

Why not just print the submission to PDF?

For internal records that is often enough. It fails when the PDF goes to someone outside — a client, a regulator, a carrier — who expects your letterhead, a fixed layout, or the official form they already know, rather than a list of questions and answers.

What happens when an answer is too long for the space on the page?

It depends on the tool. Many fill a fixed box and either shrink the text until it is unreadable or cut it off. Faldaro wraps a long value inside its column and grows the row, pushing the content below down; if that would push the footer off the page, the text compresses slightly instead.

Can the generated PDF be signed?

In Faldaro, yes: a workflow can request an e-signature on the generated document. The document is frozen and fingerprinted before it is shown to the signer, and the signed copy carries a certificate page. E-signatures are on the Team plan and above.