How to Solve the Print Problem for Your Web-Based Forms

As organizations begin the process of converting their print-based forms into web-based forms a common problem arises; how do you print the captured data? There are multiple different reasons as to why a printed record must be generated, from allowing the user to have a version for their personal records all the way through to regulatory compliance. As these web-based forms are HTML, printing them is not as easy as selecting the print screen option, which you may already be familiar with if you have ever tried to print a web page.

Adobe is aware of this issue and as part of the stock functionality within their enterprise forms solution, Adobe Experience Manager Forms, you can associate a document of record with every one of their digital mobile ready forms.  Being able to associate a document of record is a matter of clicks to be able to convert the data captured in the Adaptive Form into a print ready form.

There are three ways to configure the document of record for the unique needs of each Adaptive Form. As you move through the different options you will see that the level of customization on how the final output will appear increases along with the amount of upfront effort and long-term maintenance expenses.  Therefore, it is critical to understand why the print version is required.  If it is only required for personal use, then you may see more benefit in leveraging the systems auto generated versions for the print ready document. On the other hand, if the printout is required by a legal or regulatory entity it would require a very specific layout to be defined.

Regardless of the methodology you choose to implement, leveraging the document of record functionality within Adobe Experience Manager Forms will resolve your print requirement. I will take a closer look in the next couple of weeks of the different methodologies that exist with Adobe Experience Manager Forms to be able to generate a print version of the web-based data capture screens. Understanding how each excel and where each lack will allow better planning on how to implement this functionality for your specific needs.

For an example of creating a document of record within Adobe Experience Manager see our Automated Journey Management page.