Looking to export form entries to a PDF with an E2PDF WordPress plugin? Well, we have the solution for you! With E2PDF, exporting your form entries is easy!
Do you just want to share form entries with someone simply? Say, for example, a PDF. Doing that isn’t so simple in WordPress.
You have to use a plugin to do it.
But, no worries there. We’ve got you covered. This post will show you how to simply export your form entries into a PDF with E2PDF.
So, let’s get started.
Why would I use E2PDF on my website?
This is a great question, and the better question is, how could PDFs help your business?
First, think of all the forms you use on your WordPress site.
Order, survey, contact, payment, calculator, and other tools.
How great would it be to have a clean, documented record of your visitor/customer entries?
Imagine a customer comes to your website.
They place an order, and you want a simple way to document that for your paper records. Nothing beats the old-fashioned way, right?
With a plugin, you can create a new template for your orders, then have it generate a PDF using those entries.
No need to get some coder to make you something.
Now, think about this with the rest of your website. Contact information, survey answers, payment verifications.
All in one little plugin.
Now, we don’t know about you. But, we think there’s one plugin that does this (and more) the best: Formidable Forms.
How do I make a PDF form in WordPress?
So, there are two methods you can use: Formidable or Formidable with E2PDF.
With E2PDF, you must pair it with a form builder (like Formidable Forms) to work.
But that seems a bit complicated, right? Pairing two plugins together seems like using your car for your house's electricity. Something is bound to go wrong.
So, why not just cut out the middleman?
With Formidable Forms, you can build your forms and export the entries from one plugin with our PDF add-on.
Let us explain.
Wait, why do I need Formidable Forms?
E2PDF is a plugin that integrates with other builders, like Formidable Forms, Gravity Forms, Contact Forms 7, and more.
You can’t get form entries through E2PDF alone if you don't have a builder.
So, enter Formidable Forms.
E2PDF and Formidable Forms already play well together. The two plugins have been creating PDF forms together since high school.
So, it’s already a safe bet to use Formidable + E2PDF to export your entries to PDF.
But, wait, why do that? There’s an even simpler way to do it.
Just use the Formidable PDF add-on, and you’re set!
With our add-on, converting to PDF is as simple as a few button clicks. You’re already designing a form.
Choose what fields go into it, how it looks, and what happens after a visitor submits the form.
This allows you to create the appearance of a static or dynamic PDF.
Then, choose if you want to export the entries as a PDF file, add the PDF to an email, or display it with a shortcode.
And, we’ll let you in on the worst-kept secret: you get much more than that.
The PDF add-on is a part of our Business Plan, so you get everything mentioned above, plus:
- Our drag-and-drop builder
- 150+ templates
- Calculators
- Conversational Forms
- PayPal integration (plus over 30 others)
- And much more
So, why use two plugins when one does the job (and much more)?
But, this leads us to a question you may have.
But is E2PDF free?
Technically, yes. But, you only get access to one template on one page and don’t get premium support.
To get more, you have to pay more for E2PDF Pro. So, you get the E2PDF WordPress community, but that’s a community with a cost.
With Formidable Forms, you pay, get E2PDF-like abilities, and way more.
Collecting email addresses, creating backups, adjusting field IDs, exporting to a PDF document viewer, or even creating and displaying your terms of service?
It’s all in one plugin, and that’s Formidable Forms.
But let’s look at how to export your entries to a PDF with E2PDF and let you think about it.
How do I use E2PDF in WordPress?
If you want to use E2PDF, you’ll still need to download the Formidable free version. You’ll also have to install E2PDF if you haven’t already.
There are three steps to do this:
- Create a form to display with Formidable Forms
- Create a template for your WordPress form entries to PDF
- Add the shortcode to the form submission settings
Let’s jump into it.
Step 1. Create a form to display with Formidable Forms
Once you’ve installed and activated the plugin, go to Formidable → Forms and click Add New.
Choose Blank Form, give it a name, and a description, then click Create.
Here, you’ll find our drag-and-drop builder. Simply select the field you want from the left panel, and drag it to the canvas.
You can customize any form fields you use as well. Colors, size, thickness, text, it’s all here.
Once you’ve created it, select Update and save.
? Want a better way to generate and customize PDFs?: How To Use a PDF Editor in WordPress [Design Your PDFs!]
Step 2. Create a template for your WordPress form entries to PDF
In your WordPress dashboard, go to E2PDF → Templates. Choose Add New.
Inside the template editor, fill in your title, size, and font options. Under Extension, select Formidable Forms.
Next, for Item, select the form you created in step one.
Then, click Auto PDF to create the PDF automatically.
Step 3. Add the shortcode to the form submission settings
Next, go to E2PDF → Export and select your template and the dataset you want to export.
Under the Shortcodes list, you’ll see various options: download or view.
For example, if you want to show a downloadable form after submission, copy the download shortcode.
Then, go to the Formidable and go to the form you created. In Settings → General → Messages, you can add the E2PDF shortcode to the On Submit field.
No messy options here.
This provides your business with a cost-free method of creating dynamic pdf documents without programming or coding with one simple shortcode.
Conclusion
And that’s it! It’s that easy to export your entries using E2PDF.
But remember, there’s an even easier way to do it, and you’re already using it with E2PDF.
And that’s Formidable Forms.
This post taught you how to use Formidable with E2PDF to export entries, giving you the full power of your forms.
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Just wanted to say that I've used E2PDF a lot and I love it!! It's an extremely useful addition to Formidable Forms and the developer is very responsive. Thanks for highlighting E2PDF, I think more people should know about it!
Just seconding that E2PDF is awesome. One thing that really makes it useful is the ability to include HTML styling in the special E2PDF HTML boxes, and also the ability to use Formidable Forms Conditional statements in the form boxes - allowing the outputted PDF reports to do all sorts of tricks. https://formidableforms.com/knowledgebase/conditionals/
The other gem I'd like to share is the new function to split text across pages - only shared in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZNxz_JZ3d0
I think the documentation for E2PDF is still being developed so these abilities are not immediately obvious.
The combination of Formidable and E2PDF is just great. It works absolutely perfect. Thanks to all developers, it makes the life of a web designer incredibly comfortable.
This functionality sounds great. I wasn't previously aware of E2PDF.
For those who have used E2PDF in conjunction with Formidable Forms, is it possible to automatically create the PDF on submit and email it to an address that has been captured in the form itself?
Yes. You can conditionally email to multiple email addresses, including those collected through the form itself.
how to send pdf in email Im trying a lot but didn't get result
First time I have come across E2PF and it looks great but could I add a download pdf link to a detail section of a form - I' have a summary of all entries then click through to the detail of an individual entry and I'd like to add an iption to download the pdf version.
The only concern I have with E2PDF is that it generates the PDF files on its own servers, and not on your own. This is the quote from their WordPress plugin page:
"Due to the complex nature of the PDF file format, dynamic PDF documents are generating remotely with the E2Pdf API at E2Pdf.com. PRIVACY POLICY: We do not collect or store any web form submitted user private data that is sent to the API."
Wow - that is huge. Anything I create has to be 100% on secure servers - not sending data back and forth to other non-secure ones. Is this day and age how is that still a good idea? Looks like I'll be looking for a better. actually secure solution for my clients.
What a shame.
If you need a local PDF Generation on your own system, you can use formidablepro2pdf plugin.
Created from the same developers - we use it in different projects for many years, to create a PDF on the system wich was directly send to Mail and it works without any problem.
On the page you find also a Comparision between E2Pdf & PRO2PDF!
The other downside to E2PDF that you have to renew your license in order for the plugin to work at all (because they generate PDFs on their servers). I really miss something like the free and awesome Gravity PDF here. On the other hand I really don't like Gravity Forms. Stuck ?
Hey Kuba, totally understand. I wonder if a Chrome browser extension like "FireShot" might work for you? It would take some extra work and it might be slower overall, but it would be free 🙂
Hello, is there a possibility to align automatically section height which contains repeater fields depending on the number of rows which varies for different entries of the form?
Hi there, thanks for your question. We can't offer support in our Blog comments, so I would ask that you create a new ticket for our support team on our support page. They should be able to get the information needed and help point you in the right direction.