Website form to PDF: turn each submission on your site into a finished document

A form on your website usually ends with an email in your inbox: a list of field names and answers. That is fine for a contact form. It is less useful when the answers should become a document: a quote request you can file, a booking confirmation, an application, a signed agreement. This guide explains the ways to turn a website form into a PDF, and how to set one up so that your visitor downloads their PDF straight after submitting.

Three ways to get a PDF from a website form

None is wrong. If you already have a developer and a site built on a system that supports extensions, a plugin can work well. If you want something that runs without touching your site's code, an embedded form is the shortest path.

What a good website form PDF looks like

Whatever the tool, the document your visitor gets should:

• carry your name, logo and contact details, so it is clearly from you;
• have a title that says what it is, such as "Quote request" or "Booking";
• show the answers in a sensible order, not every technical field;
• include photos or a signature when the form asks for them;
• show totals, if there are prices, worked out correctly;
• be readable on a phone, because that is where many visitors will open it.

Embedding a form that produces a PDF

In Fillfold, you build the form and the document once, then show the form on any page of your site. Each submission produces its own PDF.

1. Build the form and its document

Start from a template close to your need, such as a quote request, a booking request or client onboarding, or describe the form and let AI draft it. Then design the PDF: your logo, your colours, and each answer placed where it belongs. See design the PDF. Enter your business details once so they print on every document.

2. Publish it

The embed code only works once the form is published. Click Publish at the top right of the builder. See publish and share.

3. Copy the embed code

1. Open the Settings tab of the form.
2. Find Show this form on your website.
3. Click Copy code.

The code is an iframe (a frame that shows one web page inside another) plus a short script. The script adjusts the height of the frame to the form, so visitors do not scroll inside a small box.

4. Paste it into your page

In your website editor, add a block that accepts HTML code. Most site builders have one, often called "HTML", "Embed" or "Code". Paste the code, save, and open the page to check that the form appears. Full steps are in embed the form on your website.

5. Choose which sites may show it

By default, any website can show your form in a frame. To keep it to your own, list your sites under Only allow these websites (optional), one per line, for example www.yoursite.com. You can list up to 10, and only secure https:// addresses are accepted. Write *.yoursite.com to allow every subdomain.

What your visitor sees

1. They answer on your page, without leaving your site and without creating an account.
2. They add photos or sign with a finger if the form asks for it.
3. They click Submit.
4. A thank-you screen appears with your message and an Open your PDF button. The PDF opens in a new tab, in their language, with a reminder to save it: the link works for 90 days.

The answers and the PDF also arrive in your account. You can open each response, download its PDF, or export everything as a CSV file for a spreadsheet. See what your client sees and responses, PDF and CSV.

A checklist before you go live

• Test on a phone. Open the page on your own mobile, fill in the form and send it.
• Open the PDF you get. Check the layout, the names and any totals.
• Delete the test response from your account afterwards. See retention and deletion.
• Write a clear message after submitting: what happens next, and when you will reply.
• Mention the form in your privacy notice. Under the form, a line tells visitors their answers go to the owner of the form. You remain responsible for what you collect and why.
• Restrict the websites that may show the form, if that matters to you.
• Copy the code again if you change the form's public address.

Good to know

• Edits you make to a published form are saved as a draft. Visitors keep seeing the published version until you click Publish changes, and the embedded form updates with it. There is no need to paste the code again.
• If you unpublish the form, the frame on your page shows a "not found" page until you publish again.
• The same form can sit on your website and be shared as a link at the same time. Answers from both arrive in the same place.
• If you offer the form in several languages, the embedded form picks the visitor's language the same way as the link. See a form in several languages.
• The totals a form works out are rounded to two decimals. They suit a quote or a booking, but they are not certified accounting.

Where to start

Pick the page on your site that receives the most requests, often "Contact" or "Get a quote", and replace the plain form with one that produces a document. The quote request template is a good first try. For the wider picture of PDF forms, read how to create a PDF form online, and if your current form lives in Google Forms, see Google Form to PDF.