You are viewing limited content. For full access, please sign in.

Question

Question

Fill Out PDF Form creates an empty file but not selected master PDF form

asked on March 29, 2018 Show version history

I selected an master PDF from in list resides 'Form Content', also assigned value to select fields in the master PDF form. This workflow created an empty file in Laserfiche Repository. Does anyone know why this workflow can't create an PDF in Repository? Thank you!

0 0

Answer

SELECTED ANSWER
replied on April 3, 2018

No. You should be pointing to OutputEntry, but your previous screenshots indicate that you are pointing to Destination, which is the folder path. If this is not the case, please provide updates on your configuration.

0 0

Replies

replied on March 29, 2018 Show version history

You will need to use the Attach Electronic Document Activity to attach your pdf to your Created entry

1 0
replied on April 2, 2018

Thank you.

 

I added the 'Attach Electronic Document', then ran the workflow. I got these errors:

0 0
replied on April 2, 2018

Hi Alice,

I'd double check that both your Attach Electronic Document and Fill Out PDF activities are both pointed to the OutputEntry instead of Destination as in this example:

0 0
replied on April 3, 2018

Thank you.

Is pointing to OutoutEntry a problem?

0 0
SELECTED ANSWER
replied on April 3, 2018

No. You should be pointing to OutputEntry, but your previous screenshots indicate that you are pointing to Destination, which is the folder path. If this is not the case, please provide updates on your configuration.

0 0
replied on April 3, 2018

I see. So, in what circumstance, I should point to Destination?

0 0
replied on April 3, 2018

Selecting which entry to act on is a common step in many Workflow activities. It's up to you to provide the logic that the workflow needs in order to take action on the right Laserfiche document or folder. 

When you carry out an activity, it will unlock even more options that you can use on your workflow, depending on which activities you have used in the workflow previously. In this example, we've talked about Output Entry and Destination. Those are all different Laserfiche entries that you can then use later on in your workflow. In this workflow, you were trying to modify that entry that you created. That's why you want the output of the Create Entry activity. When choosing Destination, you're indicating that you want your activities to act upon the location in the folder structure where the entry was created, which in most cases is a folder.

That's not the correct entry for the current workflow you're trying to build, but it could be useful in other workflows. It's hard to say when you should point to Destination specifically--it would depend on what you're trying to do. For more information on selecting entries for activities, I'd recommend checking out this help file.

0 0
replied on March 29, 2018

Hi Alice,

Can you provide a screenshot of how your workflow is configured? 

0 0
replied on March 29, 2018

0 0
replied on March 29, 2018 Show version history

You will need to use the Attach Electronic Document Activity to attach your filled out pdf to your Created entry

replied on March 29, 2018

Hi Alice,

As Stephen mentions below, you're going to need the Attach Electronic Document activity, but you'll actually use this to attach the empty PDF template to the entry you've created before you fill it out. You can select the same server attachment in the "File to Attach" section as you have chosen in your Fill Out PDF Form activity. Make sure that you select your "Create Entry-Test" Output Entry when you are attaching the file as well. 

This is also true for your Fill Out PDF Form activity--you want to switch that PDF section at the very bottom to Entry: OutputEntry instead of Destination. This is where you're telling it where to find the template PDF, so you want to point it to the entry that you have created. 

0 0
replied on March 29, 2018

Is see on your screenshot that you have empty Thumbnails and Image panes.  Did you check to see if there is an electronic component to the file?

0 0
replied on March 29, 2018

The Electronic File Pane shows 'This document does not contain an electronic file'.

0 0
replied on May 19, 2021

I am also having this problem and do not see that the directions you provide resolve it.  When adding an entry for a PDF document that may or may not already exist, the attached document activity attaches as blank PDF and then the Fill PDF activity saves a new completed version.  The empty PDF version is not a version that should be retained or even appear in the document history.

Where or where is the good comprehensive documentation for how all these activity work together.  We spend enormous amounts of time fussing over the stupidest minor details of activity use in workflows and almost none of the problems we resolve are addressed in the product documentation.

0 0
You are not allowed to follow up in this post.

Sign in to reply to this post.