This Custom Form Task will convert Forms, document attachments, and other objects to PDF Documents. The PDF output can produce a PDF document for each specified object, or merge all converted objects into a single PDF file, and enable you to set the sort order in which the documents will appear in the merged PDF.

Item Details/Output Object Options Tabs

PDF Output Options Tab

Advanced Tabs

Configuration Options

OPTION	ATTRIBUTES	DESCRIPTION
ITEM DETAILS TAB
Item Types	Current Form Only Process References Form References	The type of items to be converted to PDF. Selecting Current Form Only will only convert the Form to PDF, and, if checked, will disable the remaining options. This option is only available when the Custom Task is being used as a Form Custom Task, and won't appear in the configuration for Custom Task activities in a Process Timeline. Process References will convert only items that are attached to the process. The Form itself is a process reference object. Form References will convert only items that are attached to the form. The Form is not a form reference object. The best practice with attachments is to attach them to the process, not the form. If you do attach items to the form, and you'd like to convert both the form and all form attachments to a PDF, you must check both Process References and Form References.
Item Data Types	All Object Types Documents Forms	The type of object.
OUTPUT OBJECT OPTIONS TAB
Attach Objects To	Form Process	Enables you to select whether to attach the converted object(s) to the Form or the Process.
Output As	PDF TIFF	Enables you to select whether to output the object to PDF or TIFF format.
TIFF Resolution	Visible if TIFF is the selected output format.	Enables you to set the resolution, in DPI, of the TIFF image.
Render TIFF in Reduced Color Depth	Visible if TIFF is the selected output format.	Enables you to render the TIFF image in grayscale, instead of color.
ADVANCED TABS
Limit Items to Specific Group		Convert only a group of objects.
Include Routing Slip		Include Routing Slip.
Save Form before Conversion		Saves the form prior to the conversion to ensure the most recent data is included on the PDF.
Group Name		Assign a name to group objects.
Merge all Items into one PDF		Merge all objects to one PDF
Merged Object Name		Give the merged objects a name.
PDF OUTPUT OPTIONS TAB
This tab consists of PDF Page formatting options, most of which are self-explanatory.
Landscape Orientation
HTML Page Width (pixels)		Used for Forms. Leave empty for system default, or 0 to let engine automatically set width based on content.
Page Size	List of print page sizes
Open in New Window
Show Header		Open the PDF in a popup window after conversion. (Note: only use when conversion results in a single PDF object, e.g. merge or current Form only operations.)
Show Header Line
Header Height (pixels)
Header Text (can include HTML)
Show Footer
Show Footer Line
Footer Height (pixels)
Footer Text (can include HTML)
Render PDF Using Locale	Default Locale Process Initiator Select a System Locale Other Locale	Sets the locale in which a form displays when it is rendered to PDF. When Select a System Locale is selected, the user can pick the available locales from a dropdown that will automatically appear. Similarly, when Other Locale is selected, a text box will appear to enable the user to specify the locale. See MSDN for a list of culture names that can be used with the "Other Locale" option.

Page numbers can be displayed in either the Header Text or Footer Text properties of the PDF Output Options tab. If you type #p#, it will insert the current page number in the header or footer. If you type #P#, then it will insert the total page count. So, for example, to show the current page of total pages, you could enter Page #p# of #P# into the HTML header or footer, to see an output like: "Page 4 of 10".

When you select the Merge all Items into one PDF option, an additional set of options will appear that enable you to specify how to handle the merge operation.

Merged Object Name: This option specifies the name of the merged PDF file.

Sort Items: You may select the order in which you'd like the merged PDF documents to appear in the final, merged document by selecting the item to sort by, and the sort order to apply.

If you select multiple sort items, the sort will be prioritized in the order in which the items appear on the configuration screen. So if a user wants to sort by name, creation time, and update time, it will first sort alphabetically, then for items with the same name, then by their creation time. For items with the same name and creation time, it will sort by their update time.

Group Forms Together: By default, sorting will sort all items in the desired sort order. You may, however, select this option to sort and group the Forms together as the first pages of the PDF, then sort and group the attachment files on the subsequent pages.

This Custom Task will extract values from PDF form fields in an attached PDF form to fill form fields with that data, for installations running Process Director v5.44.500 or higher.

A template file containing a blank version of the PDF form must reside in the Content List to enable field mapping between the attachment and the Form.

Configuration Options

OPTION	ATTRIBUTES	DESCRIPTION
Output PDF Section
Source File Parent Type	Form Process	The reference type of the PDF Form attachment. The attachment may be either a Form or Process attachment.
Group Name		The optional group name of the attachment group containing the PDF file.
Template File		A Content List Picker that enables you to select the Template PDF file. This file will be used to identify the PDF form fields that should be used to extract data. The Template File must exist in the content list, and be specified in the Custom Task to enable the PDF form fields to be transferred to a Process Director Form.
Refresh PDF Field List		This button will, when clicked, refresh the PDF field list from the template file to enable field mappings between the PDF and Form fields.
Custom Mappings Section
Automatically populate PDF fields with Form Controls of the same name		This checkbox will, when checked, automatically map fields with the same names in both the PDF attachment and Form.
PDF Field	Dropdown list of PDF form fields	Enables you to select a specific PDF form field for mapping.
Form Control	Dropdown list of Form fields	Enables you to select a specific Form field for mapping.
Add Row		This button will add additional field mapping rows.

This in an older Custom Task that has been largely deprecated by the Convert to PDf Custom Task, which offers far more functionality.

This Custom Task converts all document attachments—and only document attachments—to PDF format.

Configuration Options

OPTION	ATTRIBUTES	DESCRIPTION
Item Types	Workflow References Process Timeline References Form References	The type of items to be converted to PDF.
Limit Items to Specific Group		Convert only a group of objects with the Group name you enter here.
Overwrite Existing		Overwrite web-viewable version (of document) if it exists

For users of the Collaborative Document Markup feature, this Custom Task will convert an annotated CDM document to a PDF file, and will attach the PDF file as a separate attachment. Normally, the annotated document is only accessible via the CDM user interface, so this Custom Task offers a convenient way to add the completed annotations to the process as a PDF attachment, where it will be viewable without having to open the CDM interface.

Configuration Options

OPTION	ATTRIBUTES	DESCRIPTION
Retrieve documents from:	Process Form	The attachment type of items to be converted to PDF.
Limit Items to Specific Group		Convert only a group of objects with the Group name you enter here. If a group isn't given, all objects will be converted.
Output Group		The Group name to assign to the exported PDF file(s).

This Custom Task places a text or image of a user’s signature on a PDF document. You'll need to specify the exact size and positioning of the image to ensure it gets inserted at the appropriate location, unless you have a PDF form field that can accept the image in the PDF document itself, though this option is not generally available for pre-printed PDF forms supplied by government or other organizations.

PDF Source/Signature Options Tabs

Advanced Tabs

Configuration Options

OPTION	ATTRIBUTES	DESCRIPTION
PDF SOURCE TAB
Attachment Types	Workflow References Timeline References Form References	The type of items to be converted to PDF.
Document Groups	All, Objects with no group only, Specify	"Specify" will convert only a group of objects with the Group Name you enter into the text box that appears when you select this option.
SIGNATURE OPTIONS TAB
Place Signature by	Coordinates (all units in Points), Field in PDF.	You can set the signature's location and size in the document by setting the Left, Top, Height, and Width properties. A simpler, yet equally effective method, is to place a field in the PDF document to contain the signature.
Signature Source	Text Only, User Picture,  User Signature, Image (Content Object), Signature Control, Digital Signature	The source type of the signature that will be placed on the PDF document. Text Only: Typed text will be used as the signature. User Picture: The user image configured in the user's Process Director account settings. User Signature: The signature image configured in the user's Process Director account settings. Image (Content Object): An image that you've uploaded to the Content List. Signature Control: A signature control that can be used to generate a signature image by drawing the signature with the mouse. Digital Signature: The digital signature provided by the server's certificate. See the further discussion on digital signatures below.
ADVANCED TABS
Overwrite Document		Overwrite the existing PDF document.
Output Parent	Form, Workflow, Timeline	The object type to which the PDF file should be attached.
Output Group		The Group name to be applied to the PDF file.
Output Document Name		The file name of the signed PDF file.
Page Number		Page number where the signature will appear.
Opacity		100% opacity means the signature will be completely opaque. 0% opacity means the signature will be completely transparent.
Text for signature		Additional text to displayed in the signature area.

Digital Signatures

Digital signature certificates can be accessed in two ways when you select Digital Signature as the Signature Source. You can install the certificate directly on the server, in which case it will appear automatically in the Installed Certificate dropdown, and you can select the installed certificate you desire to use. For instructions on installing a digital signature certificate, please see the Microsoft documentation for your particular server's operating system.

Alternatively, you can place a certificate file in an accessible file system, and select "Use Certificate File" from the Installed Certificate dropdown. If you choose to use a certificate file, you must provide the fully qualified file path to the file in the Certificate File text box, then supply the password for the certificate file in the Password for Certificate text box. Again, for instructions on creating a certificate file, please see the Microsoft documentation for your particular server's operating system.

Once configured, the same certificate or certificate file will be used to digitally sign all documents produced by the Custom Task. There is no functionality that enables the use of user-level certificates, only server-level ones.

This Custom Task will populate the fields on a Template PDF form from a source Form.  A blank copy of the PDF form must exist in the Content List.When the Custom Task is invoked, Process Director will retrieve a blank copy of the PDF form, insert the specified Form field values into it, and then attach the new PDF form to the Process Director Form or Process.

To create a template PDF, you'll need a copy of Adobe Acrobat. The process of making a template PDF document isn't covered in this documentation.

Configuration Options

OPTION	ATTRIBUTES	DESCRIPTION
Template File		Picker control to select the PDF template file.
Refresh PDF Field List		Refresh the list of fields found in the PDF template file.
Save Form data before PDF output		Saves the form prior to the conversion to ensure the most recent data is included on the PDF.
Automatically populate PDF fields with Form Controls of the same name
Use all Workflow Form Instances to populate PDF fields		Legacy Workflow property to generate PDFs containing field values from multiple Form instances.
Form Control	Lists of Form controls and PDF template fields	Map fields from the form to the PDF template file. Additional field mappings can be made by clicking the Add Row button.
Convert Dynamic XFA Form to Standard		PDF forms in the Dynamic XFA format will, when this property is checked, be converted to standard PDF forms.
Output Type	Form Reference Process Reference	The reference type to which to attach the PDF output file.
Output name		The name of the exported PDF file.
Output Group		The Group Name to apply to the exported PDF file.