Gravity Forms PDF Fill & Flatten Premium Add-on Setup Guide

Updated 19 Oct 2026 9 min read Gravity Forms PDF & Documents

On this page

Step 1: Install and Activate Your License
Step 2: Add a Fillable PDF
Step 3: Create a Feed
What each PDF field type takes
Step 4: Choose the Output
Step 5: Download Links in Confirmations and E-mails
Step 6: The Filled PDFs Box on the Entry Screen
Step 7: Create a Form From a PDF
Privacy and Security
Troubleshooting & FAQ
My PDF is refused with “no fillable form fields”.
My PDF is refused because it is protected.
A check box stays empty.
A choice group or drop-down shows nothing.
Text in Chinese, Arabic or another non-Latin script.
Our licence expired. Do the PDFs stop?

The Gravity Forms PDF Fill & Flatten Premium Add-on fills your own fillable PDF forms with Gravity Forms entries. Upload a PDF that already has form fields – an application, an intake form, a contract, an official form you received as a fillable PDF – map each PDF field to a form field once, and every new entry produces a filled copy. The add-on can flatten the PDF so the answers become part of the page, attach it to notifications, offer a download link in the confirmation, and keep a copy with the entry.

A filled rental application PDF made from a Gravity Forms entry: name, e-mail, phone, date of birth, a two-line address, the ZIP code in five boxes, the unit type, move-in date and rent budget, the Cat check box ticked, Self-employed chosen, employer and income, a note for the leasing team and a handwritten signature image in the signature box — A real fillable PDF filled from one entry and flattened: text, boxed ZIP code, check boxes, choice group, list and the signature image.

This guide covers installation, adding PDF templates, the feed settings with every field type, the three output modes, notifications and download links, the entry screen, building a form from a PDF, privacy and troubleshooting.

Requirements

WordPress 6.5 or newer, PHP 7.4 or newer.
Gravity Forms 2.9 or newer (any licence).
A PDF with form fields (AcroForm). The add-on is pure PHP: no command-line tools, no outside service. The GD extension, which almost every host has, is used for PNG signatures.

Step 1: Install and Activate Your License

In WordPress go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, upload the add-on ZIP file and click Activate.
Go to Forms → Settings → PDF Fill & Flatten, enter your key in the Gravity Extra License section and click Activate License.
The same page then shows Filled PDFs: how many days download links work (default 7, 0 = no expiry) and after how many days filled PDFs are deleted from the server (default 0 = keep them until the entry is deleted).

Step 2: Add a Fillable PDF

Open Forms → PDF Fill & Flatten. Click Choose File, pick your PDF and click Upload PDF. The add-on reads the PDF before it is saved: a file without form fields, a password-protected PDF or a file that is not a PDF is refused with a clear message, so only usable templates reach your Media Library. PDFs that are already in the Media Library appear in the same list.

For each PDF the list shows the number of form fields and their kinds (text, check boxes, choice groups, drop-downs, lists, signatures), which forms use it, and two buttons: Show fields lists every field with its exact name, type, page and what to map to it; Create a form from this PDF builds a new form for you (see Step 7).

Where do fillable PDFs come from? Many PDFs you already have are fillable: official applications, tax and registration forms, supplier forms, intake forms. If yours is not, open it in a PDF editor and add form fields (most editors call this “Prepare form” or “Add form fields”). Give the fields clear names such as applicant.first_name or zip; the add-on uses the names for its suggestions. A scanned page without fields cannot be filled.

Step 3: Create a Feed

Open the form that collects the answers and go to Settings → PDF Fill & Flatten → Add New. Give the feed a name and choose the PDF under Fillable PDF. The page reloads and shows Fill the PDF fields with one row for every field of the PDF.

Each row has a text box with the merge tag button. Enter what the PDF field should get: one merge tag, several merge tags with your own text (for example {Your name (Last):1.6}, {Your name (First):1.3}), or a fixed value such as today’s place. Rows left empty stay empty in the PDF. When you open a new feed, the add-on suggests a merge tag for every PDF field whose name matches a field label: email gets {Email:2}, applicant.first_name gets the First part of the Name field, pets_cat gets the Cat choice of a Pets checkbox. Check the suggestions and fill in the rest.

Gravity Forms form settings, PDF Fill & Flatten feed: the feed name, the fillable PDF chosen from the Media Library, and the list Fill the PDF fields (20) where each PDF field such as applicant.first_name, email, zip and unit_type has a merge tag like {Your name (First):1.3} or {Email:2} suggested from matching field labels — Each PDF field gets a merge tag, several merge tags with text, or a fixed value. Suggestions come from matching field labels.

What each PDF field type takes

PDF field	Map it to	How it is filled
Text	Any text, for example `{Email:2}` or `{Your name (First):1.3} {Your name (Last):1.6}`.	Single-line text is shrunk to fit when the PDF asks for automatic size; alignment (left, centre, right) comes from the PDF.
Text, several lines	Paragraph Text, an Address field or several merge tags on separate lines.	Lines are wrapped at word boundaries and the font size goes down until the text fits the box.
Text in boxes (comb)	Short values such as a ZIP code, a date or an ID number.	One character per box; longer values are cut at the number of boxes.
Check box	A Checkbox choice such as `{Pets (Cat):10.1}`, a Consent field or a fixed “Yes”.	Ticked for any value except empty, 0, no, off and false. Each check box keeps its own “on” look from the PDF.
Choice group (radio)	Radio Buttons or Drop Down whose values match the PDF choices.	Matched by the PDF value or its label, ignoring case, spaces and dashes (“Self-employed” fits “SelfEmployed”).
Drop-down and list	Drop Down, Multi Select or text.	Matched by value or label; several values for a multiple-choice list are separated with commas.
Signature and image buttons	A signature field, a File Upload field or an image link from your own site.	The image is fitted into the box, kept in proportion. PNG, JPG, GIF and WebP work; transparent parts become white.

Step 4: Choose the Output

Under The filled PDF:

File name – merge tags work, for example Rental application {Your name (Last):1.6} {entry_id}. Characters that are not allowed in file names are replaced; “.pdf” is added.
Flatten (recommended) – the answers become part of the page, the form fields are removed and nobody can change the values. This is the best choice for records, contracts and anything you send on.
Lock – the form fields stay in the PDF with the values, marked read-only. Useful when another system reads the field values of the PDF.
Editable – the form fields stay editable, so the person who gets the PDF can still correct or complete it.
Attach to these notifications – tick the e-mails that should carry the filled PDF as an attachment, for example the notification to your team.

Under Conditions you can fill the PDF only when, for example, the unit type is “Studio” or a country is chosen. Add several feeds to one form to fill different PDFs, or the same PDF with other output settings – for example a flattened copy for the applicant and a locked office copy.

Step 5: Download Links in Confirmations and E-mails

Three merge tags give the person who sent the form access to their PDF:

{pdf_fill:url} – the download link, for a button or a link in the confirmation.
{pdf_fill:link} – a ready link with the file name as text (in HTML e-mails), or the name and the address in text e-mails.
{pdf_fill:name} – just the file name.
With several feeds, add the feed ID to pick one: {pdf_fill:url:12}.

Links are signed: changing any part of the address makes them invalid. They stop working after the number of days set in the add-on settings, and at once when the entry is moved to the trash or deleted. The files themselves are stored in a protected folder with random names, never in a public, guessable place.

Step 6: The Filled PDFs Box on the Entry Screen

Every entry of a form with a PDF feed gets a Filled PDFs box with the file name, size, date and how many PDF fields were filled. Download and View need the Gravity Forms permission to view entries. After you edit an entry, click Fill again to make a new PDF with the current values; the old file is replaced. For entries that came in before the feed existed, the button is called Fill now.

Gravity Forms entry detail of a rental application with the Filled PDFs box on the right: the feed name Rental application PDF, the file Rental application Müller with the entry number, its size, date and 20 of 20 fields filled, and the buttons Download, View and Fill again — The Filled PDFs box on the entry screen: download, view, or fill the PDF again after editing the entry.

When a notification with the PDF is resent from the entry screen and the PDF is missing (for example because it was deleted after the number of days you set), the add-on fills it again before the e-mail is sent. Every filled PDF also adds a note to the entry, such as “Filled PDF created: Rental application Müller 54.pdf (20 of 20 PDF fields filled)”.

Step 7: Create a Form From a PDF

Have a PDF but no form yet? In Forms → PDF Fill & Flatten click Create a form from this PDF. The add-on builds a new form with one field for every PDF field – Single Line Text, Paragraph Text, Email, Phone, Checkboxes, Radio Buttons, Drop Down, Multi Select and File Upload for signature boxes – with readable labels made from the field names, and a feed that already maps every field. You land on that feed: check it, rename the labels you want to change in the form editor, and add the form to a page.

Privacy and Security

Filled PDFs are stored in their own folder inside uploads, with a random folder name, random file name prefixes, an index file and deny rules for Apache. They are deleted together with the entry, after the number of days you choose, and when you uninstall the add-on.
Public links are signed with a secret key of your site and expire; admin downloads need a security token and the permission to view entries; Fill again needs the permission to edit entries.
Images are only taken from your own site (uploads folder or signature data in the entry); links to images elsewhere are ignored, and nothing is downloaded from other servers.
Answers are written into the PDF as text: HTML, scripts or PDF commands typed into the form never change the document.
No outside service is used: the PDF is filled on your server by the add-on itself.

Troubleshooting & FAQ

My PDF is refused with “no fillable form fields”.

The PDF has no form fields, only printed lines. Open it in a PDF editor, add form fields with clear names and upload it again.

My PDF is refused because it is protected.

The PDF is encrypted (often with an owner password that only blocks editing). Save an unprotected copy in your PDF editor – keep the form fields – and upload that copy.

A check box stays empty.

The mapped value is empty, 0, no, off or false. Map the checkbox choice itself, for example {Pets (Cat):10.1}, which is empty when the choice is not ticked and the choice text when it is.

A choice group or drop-down shows nothing.

The value does not match any PDF choice. Open Show fields to see the exact choices of the PDF and use the same values (or labels) in your Radio Buttons or Drop Down field.

Text in Chinese, Arabic or another non-Latin script.

The add-on draws Latin text (including accents, the euro sign and curly quotes) itself. For other scripts the values are stored in the PDF exactly and the PDF asks the viewer to draw them with its own fonts; keep such PDFs editable or locked rather than flattened.

Our licence expired. Do the PDFs stop?

No. Feeds you already set up keep filling PDFs. Adding templates and creating or editing feeds need an active licence.

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