PDF and Document Generator

Andrea Westrich

I have a PDF that has 6 pages of questions (150) where the answers are checkboxes with the choices Pass, Fail or N/A. (see attached photo).

We'd like to add this form to Smartsheets, getting an update from people in the field, and use the document generator to create the final PDF.

Other than having 3 columns for each of the 150 questions so I can get a check (via checkbox) on the form, is there a more efficient way to do this?

Thank you

Mark Cronk

Hi Andrea,

Do you really need checkboxes? Using a drop down with Pass, Fail or N/A would be much easier. Using checkboxes will be much harder. You'll have to map each checkbox to a form field (3 x150). Preventing someone from checking more than 1 box will be a challenge. You'll need formulas to determine which box is checked. Formulas to summarize your data will be complicated. Moving to a dropdown simplifies all of that.

Rather than using a form for updates your could automate an update request which allows the user to see the current status and make changes, or only send them blank questions that they still need to complete.

Good luck!

Mark

Andrea Westrich

Hi @Mark Cronk Unfortunately it is a city form and has to be checkboxes. I would love to use a dropdown, but I don't see how to map that to the proper checkbox. I don't need to keep the user from checking more than one box, because there will definitely only be one answer, so I don't need the formulas either.

What I need is to record daily the answers to these questions and also generate the pdf based on those answers.

Do you know or does anyone know, how to do that with multiple checkboxes, without creating 3 columns for each question?

Thanks

Mark Cronk

Hi Andrea,

You could use a drop down for the form to make it easier we on the person completing it, and then use a formula to check the right box. Add 3 checkbox columns to your sheet. Use a column formula along the lines of =IF([response]@row="complete", 1) for the completed checkbox column.

Then map your checkboxes to the PDF to create the form you need for the city.

Help?

Mark

DanielW

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/293417#Comment_293417

in this case you'd still need 3 extra columns for each question, right?