Keep form fields editable in your generated PDFs

By default, every PDF DocuPotion generates is flattened. The values are baked into the page and nobody can change them afterwards. If your document is meant to be filled in by whoever receives it, you can turn that off and keep the form fields editable.

1. What flattening means
2. Turn it on
3. Everyone who receives the PDF can edit it
4. What stays fixed
5. When you won't see this option
6. If a PDF can't support it
7. Tips

What flattening means

When a PDF is flattened, the data you sent is painted permanently onto the page. It looks identical, but the recipient can't alter it. That's what you want for an invoice, a contract, a certificate; anything that is a record of something.

Some documents aren't records, though. A registration form, an onboarding pack, a consent form - you want to pre-fill the parts you already know and let the recipient complete the rest. That's what this setting is for.

Turn it on

1. Open your template and go to the Preview tab.
2. In the left-hand panel, find the Output section at the bottom.
3. Tick Keep form fields editable.
4. Click Publish.

Once published, it applies everywhere that template is used (including for Download Sample generations).

Everyone who receives the PDF can edit it

The setting doesn't just leave your blank fields open - it leaves every form field editable, including the ones filled with your data. If you send a document with a name, a date and an amount already filled in, the recipient can change all three before passing it on.

That's the right behaviour for a form. It's the wrong behaviour for anything that needs to stand as a record. If in doubt, leave the setting off.

What stays fixed

Only fields that came from the original PDF can stay editable.

Anything you added yourself in the editor (text, images or checkboxes you drew onto the page) is always painted on permanently, whether this setting is on or off.

You can see which is which in the Merge Fields panel on the right:

• From the form: real form fields in your uploaded PDF. These become editable.
• Added: fields you drew. These stay fixed.

When you won't see this option

The Output section only appears if your uploaded PDF actually contains form fields.

If you uploaded a flat PDF - a scan, an export, or any document without interactive fields - there is nothing that could stay editable, so the option is hidden. Your documents will be generated as normal.

If a PDF can't support it

A small number of PDFs are built in a way that stops their form fields working reliably once they are left editable. It is usually a sign the file was produced by a converter or a "make this fillable" tool that left two copies of every field behind.

When DocuPotion detects this, it flattens the document instead, so you always get a correct-looking PDF rather than a broken form. If you generate through the API, the response includes a notices  entry explaining what happened.

This is rare. If you hit it and you need that document to be fillable, the reliable fix is to rebuild the form fields in the source PDF and upload it again.

Tips

• Leave it off unless you need it. Flattened is the safer default for anything that acts as a record.
• Publish after you change it. Nothing you generate changes until you do.
• Check it with Download Sample. The sample honours the setting, so you can open it and confirm the fields behave the way you expect before sending anything real.
• Pre-fill what you know. The most useful pattern is mapping the fields you already have data for and leaving the rest blank for the recipient.