How to Change the PDF Format with Settings in the PDF Designer

With the PDF Designer you can adjust rich text formatting, page layout, and add color, size, borders, and more to your output.

Formatting in the PDF Designer

Once inside the PDF Designer, locate the settings by selecting the gear icon. Global Settings will apply properties to all fields and tables in the design. Field Settings allow you to give fields unique properties different from the global settings. Column Settings allow you to control the style of the columns or sections you add to the PDF. Loop Settings are where Global Settings can be turned off and manipulated to the specific loop.

Global Settings

Global Settings are settings that you can apply across the whole PDF to save you time and ensure consistent formatting. They can be turned off at the field, column, or table level.

Global settings are divided into five sections: General, Fields, Loops, Table Rows, and Padding. 

General

Page Orientation

Determines the directional layout of the page, either Portrait or Landscape.

Font

Arial, Courier, Helvetica, and Times New Roman are the four fonts available.

Text Color

Select the colored block to launch the color picker. Alternatively, type or copy and paste hexadecimal codes to the right of the color picker to more specifically edit the text color.

Text Size

Drag the selector to the right for larger text and to the left for smaller text. The minimum text size is 7px and the maximum size is 42px. 16px is comparable to the common 12pt font.

Vertical Spacing

Drag the selector to the right for wider spacing between fields or to the left for less spacing between fields. Vertical space can be reduced to minimum of 0px or increased to a maximum of 20px.

Snap Column

Borders

Toggle this on to make it easy to align column borders with the columns that are in the sections directly above or directly below the column you are manipulating.

Page Number

Toggle on to display page numbers in the lower right corner of every page of the PDF output.

Fields

Borders

Defaulted to no borders, you can add borders to all fields in your design by selecting any of the three border options, which will turn blue when selected.

Show Labels

Field labels are all visible by default and toggling this setting off will remove them from the PDF.

Loops

Header Color

Select the colored block to launch the color picker. Alternatively, type or copy and paste hexadecimal codes to the right of the color picker to more specifically edit the header color.

Header Borders

Defaulted to all header borders turned on, you can remove borders to the header cells by deselecting any of the three border options, which will turn white when deselected.

Header Alignment

The Header text defaults to a center alignment but you can choose to align the cells to the left or to the right by selecting the square, which will be blue when selected.

Table Rows

Row Color

Select the colored block to launch the color picker. Alternatively, type or copy and paste hexadecimal codes to the right of the color picker to more specifically edit the row color.

Row Borders

Defaulted to all row borders turned on, you can remove borders to the table cells by deselecting any of the three border options, which will turn white when deselected.

Row Alignment

The row text defaults to a left alignment but you can choose to align the cells to the center or to the right by selecting the square, which will be blue when selected.

Padding

Padding

Similar to margins in other word processing software, padding is the space that surrounds an object in the PDF Design, i.e. fields and columns. Padding is defaulted to 8px all around.

Field Settings

To see individual field settings, select a field in your design. When selected, a blue box will appear around the field and field settings will automatically open in the left panel. The field label will also be listed at the top of the panel, i.e. "Total Amount Owed."

By default, the checkbox by Use Global Settings will be checked and those settings will be greyed out. Simply uncheck the box to change those settings separately from the rest of the PDF.

Style

Add bold, italic, or underline emphasis to an individual field. Each option will turn blue when selected.

Alignment

The text defaults to a left alignment in the field space but you can choose to align the text to the center or to the right by selecting the square, which will be blue when selected.

Column Settings

Column settings will appear when you have highlighted a column in your design to edit. If no columns exist in the section, these settings will apply to the entire section.

Background

Add a background color to a column or section using the color picker or a hexadecimal code.

Border Style

Add borders to a column or section, either to individual sides or the entire column or section. Change the width up to 10px, change the style to one of four options, shown below in 5px, and change the color of the border using the color picker or hexadecimal code. Note that all borders need to be more than 0px and the Double border style is only negligible when larger than 1px.

Padding

The spacing between field values and their column borders.

Loops Settings

Loop settings will appear when you have highlighted a table in your design to edit. Check the boxes by Use Global Settings to manipulate this table's header or row settings.

The unique setting is the checkbox Apply to all. Alignment does not apply to number, calculation, and checkbox field types unless the checkbox is checked.