Generate Documents - New lines in text fields?

Gilles Dureuil

Hi everyone, I love the "Generate Document" feature but I have a problem with the text fields for long texts. Even though the Smartsheet cell contains text with several paragraphs, the generated pdf document removes all the new line marks and makes only one big block made of one single paragraph. I checked thoroughly and the fillable pdf fields have the correct field properties ("text"). I tried with Adobe Pro and Nitro Pro and none of these worked. So I guess the problem comes from the Smartsheet tool and not from my fillable document.

Has anyone met the same problem and found a solution?

Thanks, Gilles

Gia Thinh

Hi Gilles,

I did try the "Generate document" feature with my sheet and got the result as I wanted.

As you can see the below screenshot, I used Alt+Enter - a keyboard shortcut to create a new line, to make several paragraphs in the Smartsheet cell

and the created pdf showed the same format as text in the Smartsheet cell.

You may want to try Alt+Enter shortcut for your case.

Gilles Dureuil

Hi Gia, thanks a lot for your answer. I am actually using Alt + Enter but in the Smartsheet but it doesn't work when applying the "Generate Document" feature. I had a long discussion yesterday with the Smartsheet Helpdesk (very helpful guys by the way! ;-) and we identified that the problem comes from the tool used to create the fillable pdf document. When using Nitro Pro ou Adobe, it doesn't work, even though the field is defined as "Text". And my Helpdesk contact was able to replicate my problem with pdf docs created by these tools. But when using the online tool "PDF Filler" and defining the field as "text" it does work then.

Just by curiosity, what tool are you using to create your fillable pdf document?

Kind regards, Gilles

Gia Thinh

Hi Gilles,

I used Foxit. You may try it.

Gilles Dureuil

Thanks again Gia. I didn't know this one; will try!

Kind regards,

Gilles