Create and Process PDF Forms and Annotations
Edit on GitHubCreate interactive form fields, inspect and fill existing forms, manage annotations, and flatten only when the delivery policy requires it.
PDF forms are interactive data structures, not just boxes painted on a page. Keep them interactive while recipients must enter or review values, then flatten a delivery copy only when editing must stop.
Author fields in the PDF DSL
PdfFormField supports text, check box, choice, multi-select choice, and radio-button fields inside a generated document. Name every field predictably so later automation can inspect or fill it.
PdfFormField -Name Reviewer -Type Text -Value 'Unassigned' -Width 320 -Height 24
PdfFormField -Name Decision -Type Choice -Options Approve,Reject,Defer -Value Defer
The forms recipe creates text, choice, and check-box fields in one composition block.
Fill, inspect, or flatten
Use Set-OfficePdfForm to fill existing fields and Get-OfficePdfFormField to read them back. ConvertTo-OfficePdfFlatForm makes field appearances part of page content. For annotations, use Get-OfficePdfAnnotation, Set-OfficePdfAnnotation, Remove-OfficePdfAnnotation, and ConvertTo-OfficePdfFlatAnnotation according to the review lifecycle.
Flattening is a one-way delivery decision for the output copy. Preserve the interactive source when the workflow may need another review round.