Fillable forms - text box, font styles and export pdf issues

JoH1 · May 19, 2022, 2:26pm

Hi,
I am trying to finalise a fillable form I’ve created in LibreOffice. Using the test mode function in LibreOffice the form is perfect however when I export it to PDF the saved version does not work according to original settings.

My main issue I am experiencing is with the text boxes. All text boxes are set in calibri, 9pt, max of 140 characters, multi line with no scroll bar. However when I open the exported file the font size is larger. Due to this the text in the text box gets cut off because the size of the text box is not big enough.

I have tired over and over again to find a solution but no luck.

All I want is for the text box setting to export correctly to any pc and tablet so when I email the form to clients they won’t experience this issue. Also I would like to be able to receive the completed form in a readable matter without any descriptions being cut off.

Your help is much appreciated.

Thank you!

Hrbrgr · May 19, 2022, 2:40pm

For info:

Create a fillable form in Writer

Please pay attention to the settings for PDF export (File>Export As>Export as PDF…).

You may also need to go to File>Properties, then in the Font tab of the dialog, check “Embed fonts in the document”.

Please note that processing times may be longer for embedded fonts.

RobertG · May 19, 2022, 3:33pm

Use a font which is available on most of the systems. Acrobat Reader will show nothing if the font isn’t available. There is bug 137421 - fonts for form controls aren’t embedded.
Font size will be shown different while input data into a field an switching to “don’t show the fields for input new values”.

All this is depending on the pdf-Reader. If you want to show all the content in a multi line textbox don’t try to change the size from the font. Set the size big enough for a font size min. 10pt (or simply “default”) and something like Times New Roman (not Calibri, will only be available on Windows systems).

You could get the content from such a form with a tool like pdftk. It will write the content of every field in a separate text-file. See Base Guide, which contains a chapter for importing pdf records (p. 306 ff.)