PDF Contracts is a feature that takes information from your database and adds it to a PDF document.  This information can include animal information like name, age, breed, and information about adopters like name, address, contact information, as well as other information of your choice.

PDF Contract Setup

RescueGroups.org sets up this feature for you.  We take an existing PDF or a Word document and create the required PDF form.  We may ask for a small fee depending on the complexity of your contract or the frequency of changes.

Here are some guidelines for creating a Word or PDF document that RescueGroups.org can use as a PDF contract:

• To populate the PDF contract with the animal's information, you must create a question on your Online Form with the "Answer Type", Available Animals. 
• Use a single blank field for dates and phone numbers.
• To include a field for gender or age, create it as a fill-in-the-blank field: Sex ____ or Age ____.  We can't use sex or age fields that are written like this:  Male: XX  Female: __.  
• See the available fields section below so that you can create your contract using those fields.
  
  

If you'd like to get started setting up a PDF contract, send your Word or PDF document to our customer support and we'll take a look (https://rescuegroups.org/support/).  We'll let you know if there is anything in your contract that needs to change before we can use it as a PDF Contract.

Available fields for contracts

Below are the fields available to add to your contract, separated into categories.  The field name is obvious.  The description/source column lists the source where the information in a completed form will be pulled.  For instance, see adopter-address.  You use the Street, City, State, and Zip code fields.  The completed form for a specific contract will combine these to create an address string such as 12115 Mackell Lane Bowie MD 20715 (no punctuation).  

Contact-related fields

 The following fields are available for adding to your PDF contract.

Animal-related fields 

Foster-related fields

Create a PDF Contract for a user

Once the PDF Contract is set up for your form by RescueGroups.org support, you can create a PDF contract using the following instructions below.

1. Click Submitted Forms to display the list of submitted forms in your account (Features > Submitted Forms).
   
2. In the list, next to the form you want converted to PDF format, then click the PDF icon.  This icon looks like a document with the corner turned down.
   
   
   
3. You will see a list of fields that will be added to the contract, like below:
   
   
   Some of the values are automatically pulled from your RescueGroups.org data, but some may not be, depending on which fields you defined when we setup your contract. You can edit all values before creating the contract. For example, you could edit the Breed name or include more details about the contact.
   
   
   
4. Ensure the data is what you want to include on the PDF contract. 
   
   
5. Click Create Contract. Your web browser should open or automatically download the PDF document, which contains the autofilled field values from the specific submitted form. 
   
   
6. When your team opens this PDF, you may be able to fill in or edit other text fields using your PDF application, if those fields were configured when your PDF Contract was first setup. Please note, If an electronic signature field was configured, you will need to use Adobe Acrobat products to complete those fields.
   
   
7. If you would like to share a final contract at this point, you can print it now. If you want to email or save a digital copy where the form fields are not easily edited, we would suggest you use your PDF application to save a new version using an option such as "Print to PDF" option. 
   
   
8. If you have saved a digital copy, we would suggest adding it to the appropriate Animal and/or Contact record in RescueGroups.org for your team's future reference. 

Save the PDF Contract data fields

You can save a ".FDF" data file to your computer to save the fields that were entered when the PDF was created.  The ".FDF" file contains the data that is used to fill out the form but does not contain the form (PDF) itself.  If you save the ".FDF" file to your computer and then open it at a later time, the PDF file will be downloaded from the Internet and the data from the ".FDF" file will be used to fill in the information on the form. 

Keep in mind that if you save the ".FDF" file it may be unusable at a later time if the PDF file has changed.

Troubleshooting

If you have difficulty with your PDF contract, check this troubleshooting list for help or contact support.

You continue to see an older version of your PDF even after update

Your web browser may be caching (keeping an old copy) of the previous version of the PDF file.  To force your web browser to download the latest, most current version, press Control-F5 to refresh the document.  Check your web browser for the exact steps to hard-refresh, or contact us.  See the section on Getting Support in the Getting Started with RescueGroups.org guide.

Error message "This PDF is attempting to launch..."

If you see this message you may need to disable Protected Mode.  Use these instructions:

1. Open Adobe Reader.
2. Click Edit > Preferences.
3. Click Security (Enhanced).
4. Deselect the checkbox for the option Enable Protected Mode at startup.
5. Click Yes.
6. Click OK.
7. Close Adobe Reader.

Using the Chrome browser

Viewing the PDF Contract may not work inside of Chrome until you disable the built-in PDF viewer.  There is an issue with the built-in Chrome PDF Viewer.  You can disable the built-in PDF Viewer in this way:

1. In the Chrome address bar, go to about:plugins.
2. Click Disable next to Chrome PDF Viewer.
3. Go back to the Submitted Forms page and generate the PDF Contract.

Reference: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/chrome/3IQR2JOX94g

Using Firefox (versions 19 and above)

Viewing the PDF Contract may not work inside of Firefox versions 19 and above because of an issue with the built-in PDF Viewer.  Follow these instructions to direct Firefox to open Adobe PDF files outside of Firefox:

1. Open Firefox.
2. Click the Menu icon (sandwich).
3. Click Options.
4. In the Action column for Adobe Acrobat Forms Document (application/vnd.fdf) select Use Adobe Reader.
5. Click OK.

Printing your online forms

You can add a pdf contract for any of your forms, including all of your applications or for your contract.  Then you can print out a form at any time.  This feature is great for printing a contract before an adoption placement -- the information comes automatically from your RescueGroups.org account so you don't have to re-write it on the contract.  You can use it to print any contract-type form, including volunteer contracts, home visit forms, etc.