It seems crazy, but while Libre Base can export a form as PDF, there is no way to easily import the completed form data from the PDF into Libre Base.
One idea is to extract PDF form data to FDF (or unfriendly CSV) and then convert that to a friendly CSV at which point one can copy and paste CSV data into Libre Base.
-
Big question: How can I easily import PDF form data to a Base record?
-
Note: A friendly CSV would look like:
- Row 1: “FieldName1, FieldName2, …”
- Row 2: “Value1, Value2, …”
Useful files on Ge.tt until 2015,02,25:
- Super basic blank pdf with “Submit format” as FDF
- Filled PDF made from (1)
- Extracted CSV data from (2)
- Extracted FDF data from (2)
How to make files 1-4
- Libre Base > Forms > Edit > Open Database Object → File > Export as PDF
- Type data manually
pdftk filled_form-submit_format_fdf.pdf dump_data_fields output filled_form.csv
pdftk filled_form-submit_format_fdf.pdf generate_fdf output filled_form.fdf
*Note: You can also use Libre Base to export a blank form as XML or HTML, but I don’t know how to input data into those files nor import that data back into Base.