Visual form designer: customize invoices and other PDF forms

The Visual form designer lets you arrange fields, logos, tables and text without editing template source. Use it to make invoices easier for customers to read, emphasize the information they need, and give your printed documents a consistent appearance.

This guide uses Northstar Outdoor Supply Co., a fictional demonstration company, and its invoice 100. Select a screenshot to open it at full size. The same principles apply to other supported Visual PDF forms. Available fields and sections depend on the document type.

Start with a copy. Creating and saving a new Visual form does not replace a Legacy form or make the new form your default. Test the copy before assigning it to an invoice or choosing a company default. Editing a Visual form already in use can affect future PDFs generated with that form.

Create your first invoice form
Understand the workspace and preview values
FAQ: fields, labels, text and images
FAQ: groups, movement, spacing and page setup
FAQ: invoice tables, columns, fonts and borders
FAQ: headers, footers and page numbers
FAQ: warnings, saving, recovery and choosing a form
Before using a form for customer documents

Create your first invoice form

You need Firm Admin permission to manage forms. Previewing a real invoice also requires permission to view that invoice in the selected entity. Other users can continue printing with the forms available to them.

Sign in and select the company/entity whose document information you want to preview.
Open Setup → Feature Settings → Custom Forms. The screen heading is Forms.
Choose Built-in templates, then Invoice. Find a suitable starting layout, such as Invoice 2.
In its Visual · PDF option, click Customize. Give the new design a recognizable Form name, such as “Northstar customer invoice”.
Click Save form at the top. Make your edits, save again, and use Print preview to check the exact printed pages.
Test the saved design on one invoice before making any broader default change. See using a form on one invoice.

Invoice 2 offers separate Legacy and Visual customization options in Built-in templates. — Choose Customize in the Visual option. Company and system default badges identify the current choices.

Understand the workspace and preview values

The top toolbar contains Save form, Undo, Redo, Print preview and Page setup. More contains less frequent actions, including Copy saved form, Download PDF and Back to forms.

Form outline on the left lists content already on the form. Expand a group or table to see its children, or use Find content. The center is the design canvas. Selecting an element opens its settings on the right. Use Hide settings for more canvas space. On a narrow screen, settings open in a drawer that you can close without losing edits.

Invoice designer with the toolbar, Form outline, paper canvas and element settings. — Choose content in the outline or directly on the paper. Groups start collapsed to keep the outline manageable.

Design mode is immediate, but page breaks are estimates. Editing does not generate the final PDF. Click Print preview or Download PDF to generate accurate printed pages. Save form saves the design without generating a PDF.

Are the preview values fictional or from a real invoice?

You can use either. Short sample is fictional data for quick editing. Long sample, Sample with optional details, Page boundary sample, Oversized text sample and Empty document sample help you check different situations.

For real values, choose Actual document under Preview values.
Enter an Invoice number and choose a matching result, or enter the exact number. The example below uses invoice 100.
Check the selected customer, address, item descriptions and amounts. Change preview choices whenever you need another example.

Previewing an invoice does not edit its customer, dates, items or amounts. The reusable design stores how to display information; it does not copy that invoice’s values into fixed labels.

Actual document selected with invoice number 100 and Northstar customer and invoice values on the canvas. — Actual document preview uses an invoice you are authorized to view. Sample choices use fictional values.

FAQ: fields, labels, text and images

Why does one form have Open designer while another does not?

Visual forms use this designer. Legacy forms use the Liquid/source editor, including the existing Legacy AI editing workflow. A Legacy form does not open in the Visual designer and is not automatically converted. To build a Visual replacement, customize a Visual starting template, recreate the required content, and compare its PDFs with your current form. Supported non-PDF formats continue using Legacy forms.

The Legacy and Visual options are labeled separately in the starting-template screenshot above. An unavailable designer action can also reflect your permissions or the document type’s available templates.

How do I add a field exactly where I want it?

Select an existing element or group that provides a useful insertion point. In this example, select Invoice information.
Click Add content and choose Document field.
Set Insert location to Before selected element, After selected element or Inside a group or section. For Inside, choose the destination group. Check the destination description before continuing.
Click Choose field. Search the picker, then click Add field beside the field you want. The example adds Customer city after Invoice information.

Choose Inside a group or section → Document body to append content outside nested groups. Choosing “after” a field inside a group inserts it within that group; it does not mean after the entire group or at the end of the page. For a repeating footer, use Add footer instead.

Add content dialog with After selected element and the Invoice information destination. — The insertion destination is explicit. Check it before choosing the content.

Field picker search for Customer city with a matching standard field and Add field action. — Use All, Standard or Custom to narrow the picker. Include fields already used if you need another instance.

What is the difference between a data field, a printed label and an element name?

Data field supplies the changing value, such as Customer city = Seattle. Label is the caption printed beside or above that value. Element name, under Advanced for a field, identifies it in the designer; changing that name does not change its data or printed label.

Select the field and turn on Show label if you want a caption.
Turn on Customize label and enter your wording. In the example, Customer city is printed with the label “Customer location”.
Choose Label position: Above value or Beside value. Bold label affects the caption separately from the value.

Leave the label following the field name when you want it to follow future field-name changes. Use Change data field only when you want a different value. Choose an appropriate Format for dates, numbers or currency; a format does not change the underlying invoice.

Customer city settings showing the data field, custom printed label Customer location and label position. — The field remains Customer city even though its printed caption is Customer location.

How do I add payment instructions, a message, a line or a signature area?

Click Add content and choose Text, group or shape.
Choose the insertion location, then select a Content type, such as Text, Group, Line, Rectangle or Signature block. Click Add to form.
Select the new element and enter its text or adjust its dimensions and appearance. For information that should change with each invoice, use a document field rather than typing a fixed value.

A message added to the document body prints at its position in the flowing content. Use a footer for a message that belongs at the bottom of pages.

Add content dialog with Text selected and Document body as the destination. — Document body is the destination for content that should sit outside another group.

How do I change the logo or add another image?

Select the logo on the canvas or expand its group in Form outline.
Use Image source and Image to select a library image or an available document image source.
For a new image, save the form first. Open Add content → Image or logo, enter an Image name, choose a PNG, JPEG or SVG file, and click Upload image. Then add it at the chosen destination or select it for an existing image element.
Use Show whole image to keep the complete logo. Crop to frame provides crop controls. Lock frame proportions helps maintain the frame’s proportions while resizing.

Making the frame smaller does not reduce an uploaded image’s pixel size. If an image is too large, resize the image file and upload a smaller copy. Some templates have alternate logo/address groups for invoices with a contact; test both relevant document situations.

Select the existing logo when you want to replace it rather than add a second logo.

Choose an existing library image or upload a new one after saving the form.

How do I remove a field from print without losing its settings?

Select it and turn off Include in print. It stays in the outline and appears as a gray, selectable guide on the design canvas. Turn Include in print back on to restore it. Gray guides do not print and do not reserve space in the printed layout.

Hide when empty is different: it omits content when its value is empty in the selected document. Under Canvas options, Show elements absent from preview data helps you find optional content that has no value in the current sample. It does not force that content to print.

Customer city excluded from print and shown as a gray editing guide. — Excluded elements remain selectable. Use Delete only when you want to remove the element from the design; Undo restores a deletion.

FAQ: groups, movement, spacing and page setup

How do I select a parent group or the whole invoice table?

Expand the relevant group in Form outline and select its name. When a child is selected, use Select parent group at the top of its settings. For a table column, use Select table. You can also click the table’s labeled canvas tag, such as Table: Invoice items. You do not have to find empty space between its children.

Select parent group makes the containing group easy to reach. The blue Move handle identifies an element that can move within its group.

How do I leave a large gap between two rows?

Select the whole flowing row or group.
Enter Space before or Space after. The example leaves 0.15 inches after Invoice information.
You can also drag the flowing row vertically to adjust the space above it, or drag its blue Space after handle to change the gap below it.
Check a long invoice in Print preview to see where the content falls across pages.

Spacing is outside the element’s border. Padding is inside it. Neighboring spacing and group gaps can add together. Content below continues to flow; this is safer for changing item counts than fixing each row to a page position. Each before/after gap can be up to 100 mm (about 3.94 inches). A gap reaching the bottom of a page may be consumed before the next row starts on the following page.

Invoice information selected with Space after and the blue spacing handle visible. — Use a row or group’s spacing for a deliberate gap, rather than adding blank lines to a data value.

Can I drag elements freely anywhere on the page?

Invoice content flows down the page as it grows. Dragging in a flowing group changes order or spacing; it does not provide unrestricted page positioning. For a suitable group, select a child and choose Move freely inside group. Its blue Move handle then moves it within that group’s reserved area. You can enter exact Left and Top positions too.

Use Reorder handles, outline dragging or Arrange controls for ordering. A table’s rows continue to follow its document data. After free placement, check long values and page breaks: a larger value must still fit inside the group. The movement screenshot under selecting a group shows the selected logo and its Move handle.

Which units should I use, and how do I adjust small sizes?

New designs default to Inches for US and Canadian entities and Millimeters elsewhere, using the entity address. Open Page setup → Dimension units to change units. Switching units keeps the same physical sizes. Font size and border thickness use points.

Use the small up/down controls beside a numeric dimension, or press the keyboard up/down arrows in that field. Each step adds or subtracts 0.01 of the selected unit. Existing precision is retained: 0.0433 inches steps up to 0.0533. For an Auto dimension, enter a number before stepping.

How do I change paper size or margins?

Open Page setup.
Choose a paper size or enter custom Width and Height. Set Top, Right, Bottom and Left margins. Use Rotate paper when needed.
Close Page setup and inspect the canvas. Use Print preview for the printed result.

Paper margins are blank space at the page edge. A group’s padding is space inside that group. Header and footer space is reserved separately, so adding a repeating region can reduce the area available for flowing body content. Changing screen zoom does not change PDF paper dimensions.

Paper and pages dialog with Inches, US Letter and paper margin controls. — Page setup changes physical paper measurements. Use Canvas options for editing guides such as grid and snapping.

FAQ: invoice tables, columns, fonts and borders

How do I add, hide, reorder or widen invoice item columns?

Select Invoice items and expand Columns in its settings.
Use Find a column and choose which columns to print. Drag a column handle or use its left/right arrows to change order.
Choose Edit beside a column to change its printed heading, width, format or appearance. You can also select the column through the outline or on the canvas.
Give long descriptions more room by reducing another column’s width or leaving an appropriate column at Auto. Preview long descriptions and large amounts before saving the final layout.

A column is a reusable template for that value in every item row. It is not a separately typed cell for each invoice item. A heading moves with its column. Hiding a column retains its settings.

Invoice items Columns settings with visibility, reorder arrows, Edit actions and width summaries. — Choose and order columns in the table settings. Invoice totals are separate content and are not changed by hiding a display column.

Why does changing a column’s font affect the rows but not its heading?

Body cell style styles item values. Header style styles column headings. Select the table to change its shared heading or body appearance. Select a printed column heading directly to open that column’s header settings.

For the table as a whole, Header style includes heading font, size, colors and padding. Body cell style includes value font and cell padding. Repeat column headings repeats the heading row when the table spans pages.

Table settings with separate Header style and Body cell style sections. — Table-wide styles provide the defaults; a column’s own override can take precedence.

Can one column heading have a different font or label?

Click that heading on the canvas. The settings title identifies it, such as Description header.
Change Printed heading for the caption. The example uses “Item description”.
Turn on Customize this column heading and set its font, size, emphasis, color, alignment or padding. The example uses Calibri style for this heading only.

For ordinary headings, type a fixed Printed heading. Advanced heading optionally uses a field’s actual value as the title; it is different from following the field’s name. Leave that advanced choice alone unless you need a document-dependent heading.

Item description header with Customize this column heading and Calibri style controls. — A column heading can override the table’s shared header style without changing its body values.

Which fonts will look consistent in the designer and PDF?

Choose from Arial style, Times New Roman style, Calibri style and Courier New style. These use compatible fonts supplied with the designer and PDF output. Regular, bold, italic and bold italic appearances are available through the style controls. The font files load as needed.

Use the Font control for body text or values, and the appropriate heading font control for table headings. The heading example above shows the choices. Check Print preview after changing fonts because text width, wrapping and page breaks can change.

How do I add borders to an element or all elements in a group?

For one element, select it, expand Appearance and enable Print element border. Choose thickness, color, line style and edges.
For a group, choose its border settings, then click Apply borders to all elements. This copies those settings to its elements and nested groups.
Use Remove borders from all elements to clear the content outlines. Undo restores the prior settings. You can still customize any individual element afterward.

The group’s own outside border is independent. Tables inside a group receive an outside border while keeping their cell rules. Select a table and use its table border settings for row dividers, column dividers, heading rules or a full grid. Cell overrides can take precedence over table rules.

Group Appearance settings with element-border controls and bulk Apply and Remove border actions. — The bulk action replaces individual element borders, so use Undo if you want the previous mixture back.

Do I need Add table or Add repeating group for invoice items?

Most invoices should use the existing Invoice items table. It prints one row for each item automatically. Change its columns rather than making a new element for every line.

Under Add content → Table, Document data makes a table from a list such as Items or Tax summary. My own cells creates a manually designed table. Advanced: repeat a custom layout creates a group printed once per list entry. For example, a carrier group prints once per carrier entry; it is not a page footer.

Add content Table tab showing document data, Items and the advanced repeating-layout option. — A repeating data group repeats per record entry. A repeating header or footer repeats per paper page.

FAQ: headers, footers and page numbers

Select the whole logo/title group in Form outline, or select the logo and click Select parent group.
In Repeat on every page, click Repeat as page header. The content moves from the body into the header and space is reserved for it.
Look for the selected group’s Every page / Header indicator. Check every page in Print preview.

You can also move eligible text, images or document fields this way. Fields that belong to an item row stay with that row. To undo repetition, select the whole repeated element/group and use Print once in document body. Changing only a child’s position does not stop its containing header from repeating.

Select the whole group when the logo and title should stay together on each page.

Click Add footer beside Add content. If a footer already exists, click Edit footer.
Turn on Show page numbers (Page X of Y) and choose left, center or right alignment.
Use Add footer text for a separate message. Check the footer’s reserved height and Print preview.
For an older, overly spaced page-number group, use Compact page numbers if that action is offered.

The printed PDF uses its final total page count. The design canvas shows an estimate. Numbering is editable content, so you can style it through the outline. Turning the page-number option off keeps other footer text.

Footer settings with page-number toggle, alignment and Add footer text. — Add footer gives you a clear destination outside Invoice totals or another nested body group.

Can page numbers appear on every page but a message only on the last?

Keep the whole footer’s Print on set to Every page.
Select the message and set Show this content on → Last page only.
Leave the page-numbering group on Every page. Inspect the first and last printed pages.

A content rule works within the pages chosen for its whole header or footer. Every page except last includes the first page of a longer document and prints nothing on a single-page document. Middle pages only (exclude first and last) prints nothing on one-page or two-page documents. Legacy footer settings remain available for Legacy forms; their existing intermediate-page option corresponds to Every page except last.

Footer text Thank you for choosing Northstar set to Last page only. — Choose the rule on the message, rather than restricting the entire footer.

Accurate Print preview of the tutorial invoice’s second page. Its first page has numbering but no thank-you message.

FAQ: warnings, saving, recovery and choosing a form

Why is an element outlined in red or amber? Can I still print?

Expand Layout checks. Amber identifies overlapping boxes. Red identifies content outside the printable area or its group. Choose Find beside a named element to select it and open its settings.

A group’s purple dashed content boundary is inside its outside edge: padding reduces the area available to its children. An element can therefore be within the paper but outside its group’s usable area. Move or resize the element, reduce unnecessary padding, or enlarge the group as appropriate.

Warnings let you save, preview and download if you decide the layout is acceptable. They do not guarantee that all content will print cleanly. Invalid settings and generation errors still need correction. Use Highlight layout warnings to turn the guides off for inspection; colored guides never appear in the PDF.

Layout checks naming an out-of-bounds Customer purchase order and an overlap between Invoice date and Invoice number. — The guide intentionally demonstrates two warnings. These edits were undone before saving the tutorial form.

Why can the printed pages differ from the canvas?

The canvas estimates text wrapping, page breaks and barcode appearance so editing stays fast. Print preview generates the accurate printed layout. Check all pages there after changing widths, fonts, images, spacing, margins or repeating regions. Download PDF produces the final file. If generation fails, read the message and use the offered retry action after correcting the problem.

Print preview modal with accurate invoice pages, page navigation and Download PDF. — Use the printed pages for final approval, not the estimated page count on the design canvas.

What does Save form do? What about Undo, recovered edits and saved versions?

Save form stores the design on the server. A saved design is not automatically the company default. Undo and Redo navigate recent editing changes. Pressing Delete on a selected removable element deletes that element; typing in a text field continues to edit its text normally.

The browser may recover unsaved work after a reload. A recovery notice is not a saved server version; review the recovered edits and click Save form if you want to keep them. A settings drawer closing also does not save the form.

To restore an earlier saved design, expand Saved versions, choose Show saved versions, then Restore beside the version you need. Read the confirmation. Copy saved form in More creates a separate form from the saved design; save your latest edits first if they should be in the copy.

Saved version history with separate Restore actions. — Saved versions are server history. Undo is your editing history for the current session.

How do I use this form for just one invoice?

Save and check the form in the designer.
Open the invoice and choose Show Print Preview.
Under Invoice Template, choose your named Visual form. In the example, choose Northstar customer invoice (Visual). The choice is saved for that invoice.
Inspect its preview or downloaded PDF before using it for customer delivery.

This does not change the company default. You still need the normal invoice permissions. You can select Default to return to the invoice’s applicable default selection.

Invoice Print Preview section with Northstar customer invoice Visual selected in Invoice Template. — Test a named Visual form on one invoice before changing broader defaults.

How do I make the new form the default? Will everyone switch automatically?

In Forms → Your forms, find the saved Visual design and choose Set default. Review the confirmation before accepting it. The Company default and System default entries at the top help you identify the current choices.

Saving or browsing a form does not switch users. An authorized default change affects documents that inherit that company default. A specific customer assignment or explicitly selected invoice form can take precedence. Existing invoices left on Default may use the new default the next time they are printed; this is not limited to newly created invoices.

Editing a Visual form already assigned to documents can change their future generated PDFs even without changing the default. Use a separate copy when comparing a redesign, and keep previously sent PDFs as your record of what was delivered.

Your forms list with Invoice 2 still the Legacy company default and the separate Northstar customer invoice Visual form offering Set default. — The tutorial saved and tested a Visual copy while leaving the company default on its existing Legacy form.

Before using a form for customer documents

Test an actual invoice plus short, long, optional-detail, empty and oversized samples relevant to your business.
Check the first, middle and last pages, repeated headings, footer messages and page numbers in Print preview.
Compare customer addresses, invoice number, PO reference, currency, item values, taxes, payments and totals with the invoice. The design changes presentation, not the accounting calculation.
Check that long descriptions, large amounts and optional sections fit. Use a real document with a contact as well as one without when the layout has alternate contact groups.
Review layout warnings and inspect a downloaded PDF. For labels, print at Actual size and test with the printer and scanner you use.
Make an intentional choice about using the form on one document, for a customer, or as a company default. Keep your Legacy forms available while comparing the results.

If a control or field is missing

Confirm the selected entity, form type and permissions. A Legacy form uses its source editor. Available fields depend on whether you selected document content, a table column or a repeating group. A missing custom field must exist for the appropriate source and company/entity before it can be offered. Select a parent group or table if you need its controls.

Advanced settings sit in sections such as Appearance, Conditional display, Page flow and Arrange. Focus a setting to reveal its information icon, then hover or focus the icon for an explanation. The Form outline and explicit Add content destination help you find the correct part of a long form.