Gravity Forms to PDF: The Complete Guide to Fillable PDFs

CosmicGiant  •    —   7 min read Gravity Forms to PDF

Learning how to export Gravity Forms to PDF can be a huge timesaver. Rather than having to manually fill out PDF documents or collect information directly from your website’s visitors, you can set up a data collection form and automatically generate PDFs a  from Gravity Forms submissions.

This PDF can be shared with users on form completion and used for documentation purposes while serving as proof of data for cross-checking.

Gravity Forms to PDF

While there are plenty of potential use cases, exporting Gravity Forms to PDF is especially helpful for…

It will not only save you time, but will also create a better user experience for your visitors, who will have a much more streamlined way to provide their information to you.

In this post, you’ll learn how to export Gravity Forms to PDF in a visual, privacy-friendly manner. You can take a form like this:

Gravity Forms to PDF example of the form

And automatically turn all the entry data into a signed PDF like this:

Gravity Forms to PDF example

You won’t need to create your own form PDF template using HTML and PHP. Instead, you just upload your fillable PDF document and visually map Gravity Forms fields to fillable fields in that PDF.

You’ll be able to preserve the existing style of your PDF file, and you’ll also be able to include digital signatures directly in the PDF, which is great for generating contracts.

Important Considerations for Exporting Gravity Forms to PDF

When you export Gravity Forms to PDF, there are a few important considerations to keep in mind:

How to Use Fillable PDFs to Export Gravity Forms to PDF

Since there are many tools and WordPress plugins that claim to help you with exporting Gravity Forms to PDFs, it’s important that you choose a plugin that ticks all the boxes. 

The Fillable PDFs plugin from CosmicGiant helps you export Gravity Forms to PDF with a visual, privacy-friendly approach. You’ll be able to upload a fillable PDF file and visually map form fields to that PDF – no need to code a template from scratch.

Once a user submits a form, Fillable PDFs will auto-fill that information into your PDF, which you can include as a download link in confirmation messages or as an attachment to an email notification for users to download PDF documents.

Why you should use the Fillable PDFs WordPress plugin

The Fillable PDFs WordPress plugin comes with a whole suite of features that you can use for additional form to pdf functionality. Here’s a few that stand out: 

Here’s your step-by-step guide to export Gravity Forms to PDF using Fillable PDFs…

1. Create a Fillable PDF File

Rather than forcing you to create your own custom PDF templates with HTML, CSS, and PHP, the Fillable PDFs plugin lets you map Gravity Forms fields to the existing fillable fields in a PDF file.

If you don’t already have a fillable PDF form, you can create a new one using Microsoft Word or Google Docs (or any other PDF creation tool). Then, you can use Adobe Acrobat to turn those forms into fillable PDFs using the Prepare Form option in the Tools tab. You can also configure other details, like paper size and RTL text.

You can find more detailed instructions for using Adobe Acrobat here.

Another option is to use an online tool to create fillable PDFs – JotForm has a good free tool that works great for simple PDF forms that don’t require custom styling:

Create a Fillable PDF with JotForm

PDFescape also has an online tool that makes a great option for quickly creating a simple fillable PDF form, though it’s not quite as user-friendly as JotForm.

2. Add Your Gravity Forms PDF Template in WordPress

Once you’ve generated your fillable PDF file, the next step is to set it up as a Gravity Forms PDF template in your WordPress dashboard:

  1. Go to Forms → Fillable PDFs
  2. Select the Templates tab
  3. Click the Add New button

Add a new PDF template

Then:

  1. Use the file picker to select the PDF file you created in step one
  2. Click the Create Template button to upload your Gravity Forms PDF template

Upload fillable PDF file to add template

3. Map Fields in Gravity Forms to PDF

Once you’ve added your template, you’re ready to map it to the fields in Gravity Forms.

To get started, edit the existing form you want to add a Gravity PDF to or create a new form with Gravity Forms.

Then, go to the Settings tab for your form and select the Fillable PDFs tab from the sidebar. Then, click Add New.

To map your form fields to the fillable PDF fields, select the template you uploaded in step two from the drop-down and click Open Mapper:

Assign PDF template to a form

Then, you’ll see a visual preview of your PDF form, with all of the fillable fields highlighted. To map a Gravity Forms field to one of those fillable PDF fields, all you need to do is click on the field on the live preview of your PDF form.

That will open a popover where you can select which Gravity Forms field to map to that PDF field, as you can see in the screenshot below. You can also map Gravity Forms entry meta or a custom value with merge tags:

Map Gravity Forms to PDF fields

In addition to mapping basic entry fields, including checkboxes and radio buttons, you can also embed a signature using an electronic signature plugin or the Gravity Forms Signature add-on, which is especially helpful if you’re generating contracts, like wills or trusts.

4. Configure Advanced Permissions

Depending on what type of data you’re exporting from Gravity Forms to PDF, you might want to add access restrictions to control who can download and view the PDF file.

For example, you might not want a generated contract floating around unprotected.

To configure these security settings, go to the Advanced tab of the Fillable PDFs settings. There, you can control:

PDF form access restrictions

5. Include Links to PDF in Confirmations or Notifications

If you want to give people a copy of the Gravity Forms PDF file after form submission, Fillable PDFs gives you three merge tags that you can include in your Gravity Forms confirmations or notifications:

  1. PDF filename
  2. URL to download the PDF file
  3. Clickable link to the PDF file on your server

You can insert these merge tags like you would any other Gravity Forms merge tag.

For email notifications, Fillable PDFs also gives you the option of attaching the PDF file directly to the email (rather than having users click a link to download it).

To set this up:

  1. Go to the Settings tab in your form
  2. Select the Fillable PDFs tab from the sidebar
  3. Use the Notifications field to choose which notifications to attach the PDF file to

Attach PDF form to email

Start Exporting Gravity Forms to PDF Today

If you’re building a WordPress site to work with contracts or applications, generating PDFs with Gravity Forms is a great way to streamline your workflows and create a more user-friendly experience for your visitors.

The Fillable PDFs WordPress plugin from CosmicGiant gives you a privacy-friendly way to export Gravity Forms to PDF. Rather than coding a template from scratch, all you need to do is upload a PDF file with fillable fields and then map your form data to generate the Gravity Forms PDF.

Your PDF file will retain its original styling, custom fonts, and so on, and you’ll also be able to include signatures directly in your PDF:

Gravity Forms to PDF example

If you’re creating contracts, applications, or anything else where you need to map form fields to PDFs on a one-to-one basis, Fillable PDFs from CosmicGiant will have you up and running in no time.

To get started, purchase Fillable PDFs today.

All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Fillable PDFs is an add-on for Gravity Forms, so you’ll also need an active Gravity Forms license to ensure you’re always using the latest version.