How to print online forms without losing text
It’s not uncommon to run into the problem of “lost text” when printing forms. Either important lines of the form are missing, or input data doesn’t appear on the printed version.
While this outcome can be frustrating, it’s usually easy to fix. Here are three troubleshooting steps you can take to avoid losing text when printing online forms:
- Ensure printer settings are correctly configured.
- Use a print-friendly service.
- Use an app like Adobe Acrobat, Google Forms, or PandaDoc.
Let’s take a look at each of these approaches in a little more depth.
1. Check that your printer settings are configured correctly
Forms may appear truncated or incomplete because you’ve configured your printer settings incorrectly.
Check that the following options aren’t fragmenting your form’s content:
- Landscape vs. portrait: Have you chosen the right layout for the form?
- Document margins: Have you tried experimenting with different margin sizes to see how content is affected?
- Document size: Does the document size correspond to the size of the paper?
- Double-sided printing: Are you using double-sided printing instead of one-sided?
If you’ve changed your printer settings and you’re still losing text, a “printer-friendly” service is your next best bet.
2. Use a “print-friendly” service
“Printer-friendly” services are simple online tools that allow you to format a web page for printing. If you are struggling to print an online form on a website, using a service like Print Friendly or a browser add-on will give you control over the various page elements.
It may be that website headers, blocks of text, or other aspects of a website are interfering with form entry lines.
A print-friendly tool allows you to remove these. Similarly, you can reorder and shift form fields to ensure they are not left out.
Enter the link of the web page you wish to print into your chosen print-friendly service and go from there. Ensure that the settings of your printer are also properly configured.
3. Configure Adobe Acrobat settings
If you’re using Adobe Acrobat to print off a completed form after a client returns it, you may find that fields are showing as blank when you try to print the document.
If you’re having problems with printing Adobe Acrobat forms, try the following alternative methods:
- Print as an image: Open the print dialogue box and select Advanced > Print As Image.
- Change “Comments and Forms”: Open the print dialogue box and select an option from the Comments and Forms dropdown so that the preview displays all the text you require.
- Avoid Mac preview: Ensure that recipients fill out the form in Adobe Acrobat and not Mac Preview.
4. Use Google Forms
To print a form you have created in Google Forms, select File > Print. Open the More settings tab in the print dialogue box and check or uncheck Headers and footers and Background graphics in the Options area based on your preferences.
5. Use PandaDoc
The PandaDoc app includes an easy-to-use online document editor that can be used to print forms.
Follow the steps below to print a form using PandaDoc without losing text:
- Open your PandaDoc document or upload a new form.
- Select the Settings menu (⋮) in the top right corner of the screen and click on Print. It may take a few moments to generate a preview.
- Follow the on-screen prompts to print your form.
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