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PDF Editor

DronaHQ provides a powerful and feature-rich PDF generation system with support for two types of templates:

  • Regular Templates are built using a WYSIWYG editor, making them ideal for designing custom PDFs from scratch or by modifying existing templates. They offer full control over the layout, support dynamic data binding, and allow you to add components such as text, tables, images, and summaries—enabling highly customizable and visually rich PDF outputs.

  • Fillable Templates are based on existing, pre-designed fillable PDFs (such as government forms or standardized documents). These templates do not support layout modifications but allow you to populate the form fields using JSON data. This makes them ideal for automating the generation of standardized forms where structure must remain unchanged, but values need to be filled dynamically.

Regular Templates​

PDF Editor supports several components to add content like text, images, or table data to the page and also to organize the layout of those content. You can work with dynamic data inside the template by creating variables and binding them to the components.

The look and feel of specific pages can be changed by adding headers, footers, background colors, or images to it. Additionally, you can modify the page size, orientation, and margins to meet your design expectations. Miscellaneous settings like Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Page Reset make the design experience a breeze.

It is possible to create multiple versions of the same template. A new version of the template is created every time you publish and you can switch to any version using the rollback feature.

PDF Editor Elements​

Configuration​

Global settings applies to all the pages at once and has the following fields as listed below.

FieldDescription
Page SizeA dropdown to choose from over 18 page sizes, which includes A4, Legal, Letter, Tabloid, to name a few. By default, the page size is A4.
OrientationYou can either choose Portrait or Landscape mode to work on. By default, the page orientation is Portrait.
MarginThe margin for each side can be configured separately. Page dpi has a fixed value of 96, so this means 1 cm is equivalent to 37.8 pixels and 1 inch is equivalent to 96 pixels.
Show Common Header For All PagesEnable this feature to display a consistent header across all PDF pages. This header will repeat on every page, including those pages with overflowing content. This overcomes the limitation of in-page headers, ensuring your header remains visible throughout. You can add/edit content to the common header from the first page of the pdf only.
Show Common Footer For All PagesEnable this feature to display a consistent footer across all PDF pages. This footer will repeat on every page, including those pages with overflowing content. This overcomes the limitation of in-page footers, ensuring your footer remains visible throughout. You can add/edit content to the common footer from the first page of the pdf only.
note

It is recommended to use common header and common footer together for better design experience. When common header is used with in-page footers, this may cause alignment issues in the generated PDF.

Global configuration
Global configuration

Converting Between Header/Footer Types in PDF Templates​

When working with PDF templates, you may need to switch between in-page and common headers/footers.

Converting In-Page Header/Footer to Common Header/Footer​

To convert an in-page header or footer to a common header or footer, specify the page number of the header/footer you want to apply as common. If you prefer to discard all in-page headers and footers, leave the field blank to create a new common header or footer.

Converting Common Header/Footer to In-Page Header/Footer​

If your PDF template currently uses a common header or footer, you can convert them to in-page headers or footers by selecting the option to disable common headers/footers while preserving the existing content. Alternatively, you can remove all headers and footers entirely for a cleaner layout.

Components​

You can add content to the page using this components listed below.

FieldDescription
TitleUsed to add title and subtitle to the page
TextUsed to add textual data to the page
ParagraphUsed to add text paragraph to the page
Heading 1Used to add main heading to the page
Heading 2Used to add small heading to the page
TableUsed to add table data to the page, best suited when you have fixed number of rows in your dataset.
Dynamic TableUsed to add table data to the page, where number of rows can expand depending upon the dataset.
ImageUsed to add jpeg or png images to the page. You can add a fixed image by selecting the file from your system or add an image at runtime using variable. Dimensions can be made fixed by specifying the width and height.
SummaryUsed to display summary report in a tabular manner. A summary variable is needed to pass DronaHQ's Summary Control output to this component.
Content Components
Content Components

Rich text editor​

DronaHQ offers a large number of formatting options for textual content like changing fonts, its size, weight, style, color, line height and so on. You can add hyperlink which can be static as well as dynamic url(fetch from variable source). You can also set justification for text and list the items as bullet points.

Rich text editor
Rich text editor
Rich text editor

The rich text editor is activated when you click or focus on any text component within the template.

Fillable Templates​

Fillable Templates let you upload existing PDFs with fillable form fields (such as those created in Adobe Acrobat) and populate them programmatically using DronaHQ. This is ideal when you want to work with standard government forms, contracts, or any pre-designed document. Miscellaneous settings like Zoom In, Zoom Out enhances the pdf viewing experience.

PDFs that have AcroForm fields are generally considered fillable PDFs. Here is an example of a fillable PDF.

Fillable PDF Working​

Add a Fillable PDF​

  • Add New Fillable PDF by navigating PDF Creator Menu -> Create -> Fillable PDF.
  • Enter a unique name for your template.
  • If the PDF is password-protected, input the password.
  • Upload or select a valid fillable PDF.
  • Click on Add PDF.
  • A new tab opens with a UI preview of your uploaded fillable PDF.
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Make sure you upload a valid fillable PDF - the system only accepts PDFs with interactive form fields and does not support regular (non-fillable) documents.

Add Fillable PDF Sidebar
Add Fillable PDF Sidebar

Preview & JSON Mapping​

When a fillable PDF template is clicked from the PDF template listing, it opens in a new tab with the following UI elements:

  • Live Preview: View the actual fillable PDF.

  • Sidebar: Displays two JSON objects:

    • Form JSON: Defines the structure of the PDF's form fields. Each field typically includes

      • name: Field identifier
      • type: Field type (e.g., text, checkbox, dropdown)
      • options: (For dropdowns/option lists) Lists all possible field values

    • Generate PDF JSON: Used to generate the PDF output by injecting data. Each field typically includes

      • name: Matches the field name from the form
      • type: Same as the form field type
      • value: The actual data to populate
      • options: Not required and usually omitted

Check all supported fillable fields here

  • Generate PDF Button: Located at the top, this allows you to test the PDF output using the data from the Generate PDF JSON.
Fillable Form PDF View
Fillable Form PDF View
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Whenever you generate a PDF using the Generate PDF button from the Fillable PDF Preview, it will consume tasks. Make sure to test accordingly and monitor your task usage.

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