How to create fillable forms

Today we’ll see what ONLYOFFICE Forms are and how to create a standard fillable form, using a Sales Agreement as an example.

What ONLYOFFICE Forms are and what they are used for

ONLYOFFICE Forms are designed to make working with electronic documents easy. You can create, edit and co-edit documents with fillable fields online or locally and send them to others for filling out. It eliminates the cost of printing, storing, and distributing paperwork, reduces process time, and helps to avoid repetitive data entry and associated errors.

Here are some examples of fillable forms and where we can use them:

• Sales: purchase orders, sales agreements;
• Human resources: timesheets, employment agreements, job proposal templates, vacation requests;
• Accounting: expenditure requests, reimbursements, expense reports;
• Legal documents: loan agreements, non-disclosure agreements, testaments;
• Others: reports, admission forms, questionnaires.

Discover the features of ONLYOFFICE forms in this video:

Now, let’s see how to create a Sales Agreement form using different types of fillable fields.

1. Create a form template

First, you need to create a form template in .docxf format. There are two possible ways to do it:

• From blank
• From an existing .docx document

We will take a Sales Agreement in .docx format previously used without fields.

Click the Actions button —> Form template —> From text file. Choose the necessary document.

Your .docx document will be converted to the .docxf format. Find more information about format specifications in White papers.

2. Add form fields

Once the content for a form is ready, we can add fields to fill out. They are available on the Forms tab.

*Please, note that the form tab is only available when you create a form template or open a ready one in docxf format.

Text lines

First, we add simple text lines. We will use them for a small amount of information, such as Buyer’s and Seller’s full names, and addresses.

Go to the Form tab —> Text Field.

By default, you can enter any number of characters into a standard-sized input area. To customize the fields, open the field properties on the right-side toolbar.

There are two fields with the Seller’s full name in the document. To simplify filling these fields and avoid mistakes and typos, we can associate these fields using the Key parameter.

So, we create the Seller key and choose it for the necessary fields. Now when users fill in one field, the data in the other will appear automatically.

To give a hint to recipients, we add Enter Seller’s full name as a placeholder and John Smith as a tip (you will see it when you hover the cursor over it).

In the Format field, we specify that the answer can only contain the letters.

Check Required to make the field obligatory to fill.

Lock the field parameters so as not to change them accidentally while working on the forms.

In the same way, we will create the text fields in the document.

Fields with separate cells

Text fields can be divided into separate cells for each character. They can be used to emphasize each character and avoid errors. For example, also in names or ID numbers.

Create a text field as in the previous step. On the right-side toolbar, we check the Fixed size field and set the Characters limit to 10. Then, choose the Comb of characters, and define the cell width, and the border color. So each number will be in a separate cell.

In the placeholder, we define the format for entering the ID.

Date

You can also add special fields to specify the date. Place the insertion point within a line of the text where you want the field to be added.

Go to the Form tab —> Date & Time.

The form field will appear at the insertion point within the existing text line. In the right-side toolbar, customize the field settings. Set the key, placeholder, and tip.

In the Default value field, enter the value displayed in the field by default.

Display the date like this: choose the format of the field, e.g., MM/DD/YYYY, Monday, MM DD, YYYY, etc. The date is set to DD/MM/YYYY by default.

Phone number

Phone Number field is used to type in a phone number corresponding to a given arbitrary mask. It is set to (999)999-9999 by default.

To insert a phone number field, click the Phone Number field on the Forms tab.

In the Format drop-down list choose Arbitrary mask and below choose the proposed option to display the phone number.

Single choice

In agreement clauses with the choice of one option from a predefined list, you can use Radio Buttons.

To add them in the Purchase Price clause, we place the cursor in the right line and choose Radio Button. All created buttons are automatically merged into group 1. The user can select only one among the buttons with the same group key. It is also possible to rename the group key and regroup the buttons on the right sidebar.

For these buttons, we define group key Purchase Price.

In the following Payment clause, we also add Radio buttons. Then in the properties of one of the buttons, we create a new group key, Payment options, and select it for the others.

In this way, each group of radio buttons has its own name, and the buttons will not be mixed with others.

Multiple choice

Unlike Radio Buttons, Checkboxes allow selecting several options. In our Sales Agreement, several payment procedures can be applied. Here, we add checkboxes to the necessary lines.

Drop-down list

To create a given list of states where the disputes can be resolved, we can use Combo Box or Dropdown. The difference is that the combo box allows entering your option, while the dropdown offers to choose only from the suggested options.

We create a Combo Box.

To add the states to select, we enter the name of a state in the Value Options field on the right sidebar and click the plus sign. Using the down and up arrows, we can change the order of the states in the list.

Now all the fields are added. In parameters, we choose a single color for all fields to make them visible.

By default, the text in the fields is in Arial font, size 11. But if necessary, the text can be formatted to your liking.

3. Manage roles

You can create and assign different recipient roles to fill in fields to simplify form completion. This way, users can visually determine which fields they should fill out based on the colors of the matching roles.

To create a new role, go to the Forms tab —> Manage Roles —> New.

Type the role name and choose its color if necessary. You can also create a custom color by clicking the corresponding menu item. Click OK.

Close the Manage Roles window.

Now in the settings for each field, you can choose a role for the user who should fill out the field.

Once you have defined a role for a field, it will be colored accordingly to attract the user’s attention.

4. Preview the created form

To see the resulting form, go to the Form tab —> View Form. This option shows the form in a way that will be available for users with form-filling access rights.

Besides, you can select a role from the drop-down list and see what the form will look like for a person with a specific role.

5. Save the fillable form

Our Sales Agreement is ready to be filled out.

Save the form template as a standard PDF file to share and fill it out online.

To do it in one click, use the Save as PDF button. Then, share the form with Form filling permissions or submit it for completion in any application that supports working with PDF files.

Create forms in ONLYOFFICE editors

Create fillable forms easily online with free ONLYOFFICE DocSpace account or get ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors for Windows, Linux, or macOS:

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Find ready-to-use Sales Agreement and other fillable forms in ONLYOFFICE Form Library.