PandaDoc Fields: Tips and Tricks
Fields are a pretty simple concept: a way for a document recipient to interact with a document and provide information. Even though they are simple, tips, tricks, and ideas are always welcome when saving time.
Assigning Fields: One-click Assigning
In your template, first want to make sure you add roles. After this, you will see on the right the Field selection area is automatically assigned to one of the roles. You can then place all the fields needed for this role within the template. When you are done, you can then click and change the roles, this changes who the Field section is assigned to along with the color of the fields, so it is visually easy to tell which fields are assigned to which role.
*Note: this works the same on the document level, but instead of Roles, you will be working with Recipients.
Reassigning Roles:
If you have placed some fields and realize they are assigned to the wrong role or recipient, you can re-assign them with just a couple of clicks. Click the Field you wish to reassign, then click the ‘Properties’ icon in the floating menu bar. On the top right, you will see ‘Role’; here, you can click the down-arrow and reassign.
Yes/No: To checkbox or drop-down?
We see many client documents, and in quite a few of them, there are lots of checkbox options. Boxes are great, but sometimes a dropdown field might be the best option. Dropdowns can be perfect for streamlining and simplifying a document's look and usability.
See how much cleaner that looks?
Resizing a field: why won’t it get smaller?
Fields are resizable, you can grab the anchor points and make them as large as you would like, but you will notice you can only get them so small. The reason? Most of the fields are dependent on font size. So if the font size of the field is set to 15px, it will only shrink to that size. 
Precise placement
When you’re adding fields, you probably have noticed that they snap into place, making them aligned with other surrounding fields. However, you may need to add a field that is off or out of alignment with the surrounding fields. When this happens, you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the fields.
*note: you may need to click outside of the block and then click the field to use the arrow keys.
Sometimes even when using the arrow keys, you can’t seem to get the field to lineup around the edges of a block because there is not enough room. You can fix this by adjusting the padding of the text, and then the block will be inline with what you are wanting.
Name that Field: Adding some helper text for your recipients.
When you add fields, you’ll notice a generic name like ‘Enter value’ appears, but to help out a recipient, it is great to rename the field - this can provide more context or instructions.
Your Turn
What creative ways have you used PandaDoc fields?
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Do you have any suggestions on how to lock the fillable fields into place within a content block?Challenge I'm experiencing: I have fillable forms lined up perfectly within a paragraph of text. I go to add a couple more lines of text within the same section. Upon pressing the enter button to create space between my two paragraphs, the fillable fields move down with each line I create, therefore getting out of alignment with the text they are meant to fit into. Then, I have to move each individual fillable field back into place. If I make any more edits, they move again, and I have to fix it again. It ends up being very time consuming. -
Unfortunately, fields are not tied to a group of text, but to the position in the text block. So if the text expands (more added) then the Field stays in the same place.
For now, we suggest having fields in their own text block so that the edited text above that block does not affect the field placement. You can then bring the two text blocks closer together by adjusting the margins.
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Hi Diona,
Yes, this is a common question/issue we get asked. Typically, as a workaround, we suggest using the dropdown field. This way you can have the fields be required and the recipient can only select one option from the dropdown. This works great with "Yes/No" or multiple-choice questions, but not if you need them to pick multiple options - like "check all that apply".
This method also helps with load time of documents as dozens of fields can slow things down a bit.
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Hey Rocky,
While dropdowns are great they don't work when trying overlay on an existing document like let's say a W-9 for the IRS. What would be a great solve is if logic could be added such that all fields with the same ID acted as a single unit, thus if marked required it just means that one of the fields with that ID must be chosen or introduce a "Link To" or dropdown of some type. Would make check boxes much more useable.
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