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Kyle Cash / Last Updated March 21, 2023

How To Use a PDF Editor in WordPress [Design Your PDFs!]

Want to create and edit PDF forms right from your WordPress dashboard? This post will show you how to use a PDF editor in WordPress using Formidable Forms.

How To Use a PDF Editor in WordPress

Approximate read time: 6 minutes

Looking for a PDF editor in WordPress?

Whether creating certificates, displaying a menu, or customizing PDF invoice packing slips, an editable PDF in WordPress saves you time.

This post will show you how to design your PDF using the best PDF editor WordPress plugin for your WordPress site, Formidable Forms. You’ll learn how to create a form to enter the information you need and display it in a PDF you designed. 

Formidable Forms is the best WordPress Form Builder plugin. Get it for free!

So, let’s get started.

  • Why should you use a PDF editor in WordPress?
  • How to use a PDF editor in WordPress
    • 1. Install the Views and PDF add-on
    • 2. Create your form
    • 3. Create a View
    • 4. Customize the PDF
    • 5. Publish the PDF download link

    Why should you use a PDF editor in WordPress?

    There are plenty of reasons to use a WordPress PDF editor plugin.

    Whether you want to create a beautiful PDF template, make it easier for people to view PDFs on your website, or have gated content people have to sign up for.

    Either way, having control over the design and publishing of your PDF means you get to decide what goes on your website.

    And there are a few different people who could find this useful. Here are a few:

    1. Business Professionals - If you’re regularly creating PDFs for customers or clients to download, then having a way to create your own makes your life easier.
    2. Marketers - PDFs are one of the most common ways to give out content or marketing materials. And having a way to design them yourself means you get complete control.
    3. Freelancers - Do you send out invoices via PDF? Then ditch your PDF software and create your own!
    4. Teachers - You can even create lesson plans and other educational materials using your own PDF editor!
    5. Restaurants - Want to customize your own menu and display it on your website? A PDF editor is perfect for that.
    Example Menu PDF

    Now, there are plenty of edit PDF WordPress plugins (like Gravity Forms and Gravity PDF), but they don’t offer the flexibility and power of the option we recommend.

    And that’s Formidable Forms.

    How to use a PDF editor in WordPress

    To get started, you’ll need to download Formidable Forms to start generating PDFs.

    Formidable is the most advanced and user-friendly WordPress plugin for forms and also to embed a PDF document for download.

    Subscribe on YouTube

    With this tutorial, you’ll also need access to Formidable Views and the PDF add-on, which will help you design and publish your PDF.

    If you don’t know what Formidable Views is, don’t worry. It’s simply a powerful way to take form entries and show them in any way you want — PDFs, as their own page, or even as an Instagram-like feed!

    You can use the free version of Formidable Forms to test out the plugin, but both add-ons are included in the premium version of Formidable Forms in its Business Plan. 

     Get Your PDF Editor Today!!

    So, pick up a license for all the plugin offers, get it installed and activated, and then it’s five simple steps:

    1. Install the Views and PDF add-on
    2. Create your form and submit a test entry
    3. Create a View
    4. Customize the PDF design
    5. Publish the PDF download link

    For our example, we’ll show you how to customize a certificate PDF, perfect for any course creators or educational businesses.

    Step 1: Install the Views and PDF add-on

    In your WordPress dashboard, go to Formidable → Add-Ons.

    Formidable add-ons

    We must install and activate two plugins: Visual Views and PDFs.

    You can scroll to find them or use the search bar to search for them.

    Once they’re activated, we’ll create the form to enter the information to show on the PDF.

    Step 2: Create your form

    First, go to Formidable → Forms and click Add New to create a new form.

    With Formidable’s business plan, you can access many different pre-built templates. So, if you know what you’re looking for, try searching for a template to match it.

    If not, you can choose Blank Form to start creating one from scratch using Formidable’s drag and drop builder.

    Once you choose the form type, click Create.

    Using Formidable’s form builder, you can add any fields you need based on the information you need to collect. For example, we’re creating PDF certificates for anyone who completes one of our courses.

    Formidable's drag and drop builder

    So, we’ll add a Name, Date, Dropdown, and Paragraph field to customize some of the text on the certificate.

    Feel free to customize your own based on what you need to display.

    Once you’re finished, click Update to save your changes.

    The next step will be easier if we have a test entry as we design the View. So, click Entries at the top of the page and Add New to submit a test entry.

    Example form entry

    It will also give you an idea of what your form looks like to anyone who fills it out. Simply type in any name you want, then hit Submit, and you’ll have the entry ready for the next step.

    Now, we’ll create a View to display the information how we want.

    Step 3: Create a View

    Inside your form builder, select the Views tab, then click Add New to start.

    You can choose whichever View type you want, but we’ll use a Grid type for our example.

    Grid View type

    Next, give your view a name and click Create a view.

    You will begin on the Listing Page. This is where you can show a collection of entries (like menu items, names, etc.).

    You also have the Detail Page. This is for viewing specific entries in more detail.

    For our example, we’ll keep the Listing Page simple with only the person's name and a link to the detail page.

    The Detail Page will show the customized PDF we’ve come up with.

    Then, click the Layout Builder button, and begin designing your layout. Like the form builder, the Layout Builder is also drag and drop.

    Drag and drop layout builder

    We’ll drag a single block using the Layout Builder. Next, click the column, and it’ll show you the Visual/Text Builder. Here, you can customize your listing page how you’d like.

    For our example, we’ll keep it simple by including the [detaillink] inside a piece of link HTML, and we’ll also add the shortcode for the user’s name to make it easy to identify. So, it’ll come out looking something like this:

    Example HTML for listing page

    That will show the name, so we'll see the PDF when we click the link.

    Step 4: Customize the PDF

    Next, we’ll click the Details Page and customize our PDF.

    Like the Listing Page, we’ll click the Layout Builder for the Details Page.

    For our example, we’ll drag a column of three, with a single column beneath it, then another three columns beneath that one.

    Layout Builder view

    You can design yours however you like, but click Save Layout when finished.

    Now we can start customizing the different columns. So, we want our View to look like a certificate you’d see.

    We’ll click on each column and use the Text editor to add code to customize it exactly how we want. You don’t have to use code to make something beautiful. Just click the column you want to edit and select the Visual editor.

    You can even add pictures using WordPress’ media library.

    You’ll notice you can use different shortcodes as you edit your View. If you put these into the editor, the information from that field will automatically be inserted into the area.

    For example, using our test entry earlier and the certificate we designed, ours would look something like this:

    Example certificate

    So, play with your own View and see what you can develop!

    If you'd like to start using a template, then you'll love our Certificate Template!

    But you’ll have a general idea of what your PDF will look like here.

    Now we want to get the ID of your View before we publish the link. So, on the left side of your View, find the shortcode with:

    [display-frm-data id=]

    The number after ID is your form ID.

    Keep it for the next step.

    Step 5: Publish the PDF download link

    We need to add a shortcode to your page or post to upload the PDF to your site.

    So, head to the post or page where you want the link, and type the following code:

    [frm-pdf view=”*YOUR VIEW ID*” entry="*ENTRY NUMBER OF DETAIL*" public=”1”]

    Next, update your page, click preview, and you’ll see the download link.

    Example PDF view

    When you click the download button, you’ll see your PDF file open in a new window in a PDF reader or PDF viewer! 

    Since it's a certificate, we'd like it to show up in landscape mode. So, all we have to do is add orientation="landscape" to the shortcode.

    So it will look like this:

    [frm-pdf view="119" entry="10" orientation="landscape" public="1"]

    The 119 is the ID of our View, 10 is the entry detail we want, orientation helps us show it correctly, and public makes sure it's visible.

    If you're having trouble or want more information, check out our Knowledge Base docs!

    Then, it’s as simple as downloading the PDF!

     Get Your PDF Editor Today!

    Ready to make a PDF editable in WordPress?

    And just like that, you have a form builder, PDF generator, and a PDF embedder all in one.

    This post showed how to use Formidable Forms as a WordPress editable PDF plugin to customize your PDF needs. Using one plugin, you can turn information from contact forms, order forms, and more into a PDF form you designed that works with any theme (including WordPress Elementor).

    So, don’t wait any longer! Start customizing your PDF today with Formidable Forms.

    And follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for more tips and tricks.

    Read more: PDFs with Formidable!

    • How to Use a WordPress PDF Certificate Generator How to Use a WordPress PDF Certificate Generator
      Read More
      Formidable PDF: Custom WordPress PDF Generator Plugin
      Read More
      The Best Alternative to Gravity PDF WordPress Plugin The Best Alternative to the Gravity PDF WordPress Plugin
      Read More

    Did you know that Formidable Forms is one of the fastest WordPress form builder plugins available today? If you're not already using it, get started with our free plugin or the full-featured pro version!

    Using WordPress and want to get Formidable Forms for free?

    Get Formidable Forms Lite Now

    This article may contain affiliate links. Once in a while, we earn commissions from those links. But we only recommend products we like, with or without commissions.

    Comments

    1. İbrahim Öztürk says

      March 16, 2023 at 8:54 am

      I have done all the steps completely, but the view does not show in the pdf.

      Reply
      • srwells says

        March 16, 2023 at 7:41 pm

        Can you reach out to our support team so they can help you get this working?

        Reply
    2. Mel says

      March 16, 2023 at 9:57 am

      Can you choose to only display certain fields from the form on the pdf or does all the information collected have to appear?

      Reply
      • Kyle Cash says

        March 16, 2023 at 3:55 pm

        Thanks for the comment, Mel.

        You can choose which field information you want to display on the PDF by using the shortcode for that field in the Visual/Text Editor in Views.

        Hope this answers your question!

        Reply
    3. [email protected] says

      March 16, 2023 at 12:37 pm

      Amazing new functionality.

      How can we add a background image for the PDF?

      Reply
      • Gabriel Lionhearted says

        March 16, 2023 at 5:17 pm

        I second this request.

        Reply
      • srwells says

        March 17, 2023 at 3:41 pm

        It is possible to add a background image currently, but it requires the use of CSS in the before content section. To see this in action, you can look at our new "Certificate" application and see how we added a background image to the before content section.

        The code we used is: .frm-certificate{ background: center / 69% no-repeat url('http://sandbox.formidableforms.com/demos/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2023/03/certificate-bg.jpg');}

        Reply

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