Question

Trying to use a LF form to Fill out of PDF Form

Workflow Forms Version 10 How To

Updated October 20, 2021

asked on October 13, 2021

I am trying to fill out a PDF form with Workflow Designer. I have created a LF form. I want to use that data to populate a PDF form and email the PDF. This is my first LF project and I am totally frustrated.

Any suggestions? It is emailing a copy of the LF form in PDF. I need WF to email and save the PDF form.

Workflow.PNG (17.91 KB)

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LF form diagram.PNG (19.43 KB)

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replied on October 14, 2021

Hello Nancy,

I would remove the email steps from the Forms process design and would rely on the workflow (started by forms) to email the acceptance (and completed pdf). Right click in the white space of your workflow and go to "View Properties".

Make sure your workflow is set to be started by Laserfiche Forms.

You can add an attachment to your email, and it could be the output from the "Fill Out PDF form" process. Make sure to set the properties on the attachment to pdf or it will email a link to the doc instead of the pdf.

Also, you can save a copy of a workflow to troubleshoot with. That way you preserve the original (just in case you want to go back to what you had). Same with Forms.

Christine

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replied on October 13, 2021

You can't do this in one single workflow. Invoke Business Process will start the Forms process and then it's done. The next activity happens immediately after that, before the user has a chance to fill out their form and do reviews and whatnot.

You should separate the rest of activities into their own workflow and have that started from the Forms process when you have collected the information you need and are ready to send the email.

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replied on October 13, 2021

I am still confused... Do I need two Workflow designs? Are saying the LF form has to be submitted and approve before the "invoke business process" WF starts?

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replied on October 13, 2021

It's not clear to me why you had Invoke Business Process, but it was not going to work with one single workflow.

How does this whole scenario starts? Are you in Workflow and need more information, so you send out a form to users to fill out? Or are your users submitting forms and you just take that data and make a PDF? That would indicate whether you need the Invoke Business Process or not.

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replied on October 13, 2021

Starts with an online submission of the LF form. I am emailing the LF online form (link) to the user. They are filling out the online form. In-house Staff reviews and approve/reject the form. Then I need to take approved forms data and place it in fillable PDF form. Yes, I am using Workflow Designer and LF 10.4.

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replied on October 13, 2021

Alrighty, then you don't need an Invoke Business Process. After the Forms task where your in-house staff approves the submission, you would have the Workflow Service task. Then in Workflow, you have Retrieve Business Process Variables and all that other PDF stuff AND an email activity that will have the document attached.

This is because Forms does not have access to repository documents directly. So you want to "outsource" making the PDF and emailing it out to Workflow.

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replied on October 13, 2021

That's current LF process. I will try to change the WF. See attached process diagram and WF design.

LF form diagram.PNG (19.43 KB)

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new Workflow.PNG (9.34 KB)

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replied on October 14, 2021

If you click over to the Messages tab, you can see what warnings and errors your activities reported. I am guessing you ran this workflow from the Designer?

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replied on October 18, 2021

I still can not figure this out. Please help. I am gathering data from a online LF submission form. I need to use that data to populate a fillable PDF and email the PDF.

ProcessDiagram1.PNG (29.65 KB)

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WorkFD1.PNG (61.5 KB)

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WorkFD2.PNG (76.39 KB)

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replied on October 18, 2021 • Show version history

Hey Nancy,

I think you might need the "Attach Electronic Document" step after updating the pdf and before emailing. The "Attach Electronic Document" is for the pdf entry in Laserfiche.

Christine

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replied on October 19, 2021

Thank you Christine. Now, I can populate the PDF with the LF Form data.

But the attachment is the blank PDF instead of the populated PDF. I have tried the Entry and File (Download Electronic Document). Any Suggestions???

SendingWrongEmail.PNG (71.68 KB)

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replied on October 20, 2021 • Show version history

Hey Nancy,

Good job!

As for getting the attachment to the email. I looked at a few other posts that could help. One mentioned making the merge fields permanent.

Check that setting and let me know what happens.

Thanks!

Christine

The other post I found this info in is at the following link:

https://answers.laserfiche.com/questions/76421/How-to-Email-Fillable-PDF-as-Attachment#76685

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replied on October 14, 2021

I still can not figure this out. Latest problem area is "Workflow is expecting a document."

A few hours ago it was "The following attachments were not included because they had no content" I have been searching LF Support for several days and I cannot find a solution. I am trying to use a online LF form to populate a fillable PDF.

email.PNG (23.62 KB)

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lf2.PNG (34.22 KB)

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replied on October 15, 2021 • Show version history

Hey Nancy,

I have a workflow where I use a Word template (to create a permit) and have workflow populate fields on that template, attach an electronic document and save it to LF. The doc is then emailed by workflow to the applicant. Sounds similar to what you are doing.

Maybe the steps below could provide clues for you. It looks like possibly adding "Attach Electronic Document" and "Assigning Field Values" are the differences in our workflows. Not sure if that will help, but wanted to show you.

Christine

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replied on October 15, 2021 • Show version history

Also, you can use a word doc with merge fields (kind of like mail merge) instead of a pdf. Then after the doc is created, you can set it to be attached as a pdf to the email.

So you don't need to start with a pdf to email a pdf.

Example of a Word doc with Merge Fields:

All the info in the merge fields above is pulled from the business process variables from the Form.

When setting up the email in Workflow make sure to go to the attachment properties and select "pdf" otherwise it will send a link.

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Trying to use a LF form to Fill out of PDF Form

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