How to Add Photos to a Custom PDF Report in Adobe Acrobat

Overview

If your form contains photos, you can add the photos to your Custom PDF Report. This is done by mapping the photo fields from your form to your PDF report. Adding photos to your reports is a great way to enhance the visual context and clarity of inspection reports, progress reports, maintenance reports, and any other custom PDF report.

Important

We recommend avoiding submissions with over 500 photos, as this is the limit officially supported by our team. Clients can choose to exceed this limit, but doing so carries risks, such as potential challenges with internet stability, especially in areas with poor connections. Additionally, large submissions may lead to failed workflows, reports, and downloads. While there's no strict cap on photo numbers, going beyond the supported limit raises the chances of encountering these issues. For a smoother uploading experience, it's best to keep the app open until all images are uploaded and minimize the number of photos for better processing.

How to Map a Single Photo Field

Like other field types, you can use the field key in the Form Builder to map the information from the app to your custom PDF report.

In the example below, we have a Single Photo Picker field key (photo_picker_21) in the form. When someone submits the form with this picture, we want it to get mapped to our Custom PDF Report.

To map a Single Photo field to your Custom PDF Report:

1. Create a Button field in Adobe Acrobat. Since Adobe Acrobat doesn't have a specific field for mapping an image, you can use the Button field type to display an image in your report.

2. Drag the button borders to adjust the dimensions to fit your report. This may take a bit of trial and error to get the photos to appear exactly as you'd like.

3. Rename the button to the exact Field Key of your photo. In our case, it's photo_picker_21.

4.  Save your custom PDF.

5.  Upload your PDF to the Report Builder. Then, save and publish your form. 

How to Map a Multi Photo Field

The process of adding a Multi Photo field to your custom PDF is almost exactly the same as the single photo field, with just a few minor differences.

In the example below, we have a Multi Photo field with a field key of multiphoto_picker_22.

1. Create a Button field for each spot where you want to allow a photo in your custom PDF.

• If you create two button fields and take only one photo in the app, only one photo will show in the custom PDF. But if you take 4 photos, only the first two will show in your custom PDF.
• In the example below, we have created two Button fields in Adobe Acrobat Pro and sized them according to our needs:

2. Rename the Button field to match the Field Key of your Multi Photo Picker.

• You'll need to signify which ones are Photo 1 and Photo 2. You can do this by simply adding a _1 and _2 at the end of the Field Key for each photo.

3. If we wanted to add more photos to our PDF, we could then add more Button fields and name them with a _3, _4, etc. at the end of the name.

4.  Save your custom PDF.

5.  Upload your PDF to the Report Builder. Then, save and publish your form. 

 

*Note: A Custom PDF Report in Adobe Acrobat is not a dynamic document. The PDF boxes cannot grow and shrink based on how many photos you have on your Multi Photo field. The amount of photos allowed in your custom PDF is limited to the specified amount within the custom PDF.

• E.g., if you allow for 4 photos and take 5 photos, you will only see 4 photos.
• This also applies to subforms and photos within those subforms when using a custom PDF.

Naming Convention for Multi Photo Selector Fields

Photo fields use the Button field type in Adobe Acrobat. Use this format as your naming convention:

fieldkey_n (n represents the photo number you want to display).

To Display a Caption:

1. Add a Text field to your PDF report template.
2. Use the following naming convention:

fieldkey_n_caption

 

Custom PDF Requirements:

To design your custom PDF, you will need Adobe Acrobat.

• Our tools do NOT support Adobe LifeCycle or other third-party solutions.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader is not sufficient for setting up report templates; it does not allow you to create documents and is a read-only application.

Help & Support

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat or need assistance setting up your Custom PDF Report template, we can help. We offer customizations and can provide you with a quote to set up your report. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us at [e-mail].