Producing a editable pdf in Xara. Possible?

[bwood]

A shot in the dark on this one.
I have several PDFs on a website for registrations and such. Viewers are instructed to download a pdf, then print, and mail but the process is convoluted and not all folks can do that. I can make a editable pdf with the Adobe program, or a third party program for signing purposes. Jotform seems to be the solution.

I’m wondering if one could make an editable pdf in Xara? I rather think not.

My thanks
~Bill

[Acorn]

Bill, I have never seen a Xara solution to handling editable PDF forms.

I feel you ought to be looking at Google Forms instead. Fairly quick to build and add in with the Widget.
GF is free; JotForms could end up requiring a paid version.

Acorn

[MB365]

Both requests, creating editable PDF forms and a native web form, are both features that have been/are being worked on. But I have no release date. For a web form, would a simple email with the contents of a submission be good enough for an initial release? Or would submissions need to be linked to an Excel/Google sheet?

[Chris M]

For a web form, would a simple email with the contents of a submission be good enough for an initial release?

Being totally selfish, emailing the contents is all I use anyway. Some form of anti-spam bot would be an essential though.

[bwood]

Both requests, creating editable PDF forms and a native web form, are both features that have been/are being worked on. But I have no release date. For a web form, would a simple email with the contents of a submission be good enough for an initial release? Or would submissions need to be linked to an Excel/Google sheet?

Thank You. Very good to know. I’ve never thought of a simple email form, and I may. There would have to be a depository for the information gathered from an email. Great food for thought. For interests sake I use a non editable pdf for things that require a hard copy of a receipt for example. I’ll use a jotform for straight informational purposes such as a volunteer registration.
I’ve found that using a jotform for anything that involves payment is dodgey. With the free version you can only send the jotform to one email.
Regarding a pdf you can send the viewer to a third party for editing, but that’s too much to ask.

If Xara is working on an editable pdf I’m fine with that. Thanks again.

[Acorn]

For a web form, would a simple email with the contents of a submission be good enough for an initial release? Or would submissions need to be linked to an Excel/Google sheet?

Matt, it is perfectly possible to create a Web Form that emails the completed entries.

Here is one I worked on today: HTML - emailing form data.xar
I just lifted some ideas from W3 Schools.

If you intend to deliver similar you will need to:

• Prime To/Cc/Bcc entries and the Recipient email; easy enough to do so as a JSON object or other JavaScript construct.
• To present entries (with Headings) as TSV. CSV would be problematic.
• To include validation and to unescape HTML constructs.
• To use CSS Variables aligned with Theme Colour values would be perfect in so many ways.

Acorn

[Acorn]

@Bill, I've just started playing with https://www.pdfgear.com, which is free.
It allows you to add Form Fields to an existing document. So at a basic level you could publish such a PDF form and your responders would input and save and return their completed form.
I have not seen any method to extract form data but still early days.

Acorn

[Egg Bramhill]

I'd use Google Forms here. The form can be linked to a spreadsheet of responses. Feel free to fill in and submit.

DEMO

[bwood]

I'd use Google Forms here. The form can be linked to a spreadsheet of responses. Feel free to fill in and submit.

DEMO

Thanks Egg. That certainly does work!
-Bill