Designing a PDF template

PDF templates (previously "Design templates") define the PDF's design, styling, and text formatting aspects ready to be exported. Templates help maintain brand consistency for the different PDFs generated.
PDF templates are chosen along with other settings when the Team account initiates a new Export to PDF.

Team accounts can choose the existing system template (Default) or create a new one.

PDF templates overview page

Users can access the PDF templates in the Knowledge base portal.

1. Go to the Documentation () icon > Content tools > Import & Export > Export to PDF.

2. Select the PDF template tab at the top.

3. You can find the list of PDF templates available (both system templates and custom templates).

   The information available here is the Template name and the last modified time/date. The data can be sorted in ascending or descending order.

4. The template name is the name of the respective project (If this feature is being accessed for the first time and no custom template is added).

5. You can add and manage all PDF templates from this page.
    

   Template actions on the overview page

   You can perform the following action on the PDF templates on the overview page. The individual template controls are visible when the user hovers the mouse pointer over each template.

• Clone: Create a duplicate template similar to the original. Clicking on the clone button would open the PDF template settings page. ‘Clone’ will be added to the original template name. The user can make the necessary changes and click Save.

• Edit: Users can click on the Edit button and edit all the previously saved settings on the template. Once the changes are done, click on the Save button. Click on the Back button to return to the overview page.

• Delete: Click the Delete option to remove any design template from the list. A delete confirmation prompt is displayed. Click Yes.
  The delete option is disabled for the default template. Also, if only one template is available in the list, that is considered a default template.

• Create new template: Unlike the other actions, this action has a dedicated button at the top of the page. Users can click this button to create and add new PDF templates to the list.

New PDF template

On the design template overview page, click on the Create new template button at the top. A design settings window appears. Specify the following settings in each section.

Template name

Add a name for the new design template. This is a mandatory field. The name can be a maximum of 250 characters with space. Letters, numbers, spaces, and special characters (- and _) can be added.

There are three main design segregations for creating the PDF template.

1.  Design options

Layout style

Select the page orientation of the template (Portrait or Landscape). Choose between Portrait (Height > Width)

or ** ** (Height < Width).

Margin

You can choose from the four different system margins or a custom margin.

• Normal - Top: 50px, Bottom: 50px, Left: 60px, Right: 60px

• Moderate - Top: 30px, Bottom: 30px, Left: 40px, Right: 40px

• Narrow - Top: 10px, Bottom: 10px, Left: 15px, Right: 15px

• Wide - Top: 70px, Bottom: 70px, Left: 80px, Right: 80px

• Custom margins - The margins can be set from a minimum of 10 pixels to 80 pixels

Cover page

You can add a cover page to the PDF template by turning on the toggle. The cover page is the first page in the PDF file. The cover page is applied only if the checkbox is selected.
You can preview the cover page on the right.

a.  Title: The title text that appears on the Cover. The title must be less than or equal to 15 characters. It can comprise letters, numbers, spaces, and special characters.

b.  Description: Provide a short description of the PDF document. The description must be less than or equal to 500 characters. It can comprise letters, numbers, spaces, and special characters.

c.  Color: Specify the text color of the Title and description on the cover. Use the color picker or the hex code to specify the color.

d.  Logo: Upload any logo image to appear on the cover page. Click on the Click to upload logo or image button, select the image from the local storage file explorer, and click the Open button.
You can select the three standard square sizes available Small(150px), Medium(200px), Large(250px), or choose a Custom size in pixels. The canvas size can be between 20 and 350 pixels in width and height.

e. Image: Upload any image to appear on the cover page. Click on the Background color / image to select the background color. Choose the color from the pop-up color palette. Click image and click Click to upload to upload an image.

Terms & conditions

Click on the checkbox to insert any article or custom text into the exported PDF document.

• Link existing article- You can choose any one of the existing articles from the project to be included as default in the PDF template.

• Custom - You can use the text formatting options to draft custom content to appear in the PDFs.  You can add text, numbers, special characters, and links to the field.

  NOTE

  There are no character limits for the Terms & Conditions.

Table of content

Select the checkbox to enable the table of contents in your PDF document.  The table of contents helps in easy navigation to the section of the PDF documents.

You can select the checkbox(s) of the heading(s) to make them visible in the table of content in the PDF.  When you choose a subheading, all the higher-level headings are automatically selected.

For example, when you select H4, H2 and H3 are automatically selected.

The page numbers are added to the heading on the Table of Contents page.

Using Table of contents in a document
A table of contents serves two primary functions:

• It's a straightforward way to show every topic your PDF covers at a glance

• It makes document navigation a breeze by clearly showing the page on which each subject is explained

Watermark

Turn on the Enable watermark available at the bottom.
You can choose a text or image watermark on your PDF document.

What is a watermark?
A watermark is a text or image behind the document's main text.  It is usually a lighter shade than the text to read the document easily.

Text watermarks are often used to categorize or show a document's purpose with words such as DRAFT, CONFIDENTIAL, etc.

Image watermarks add brand identity, visual attention, and a professional look with imagery such as logos.

• Text watermark - A simple text can be added as a watermark using the text field.  The character limit is maximum of 65 characters including spaces

• Image watermark - If an image watermark is required, select an image, click on the Click to upload logo or image, and select an image from your local storage file explorer to continue.
  You can select the three standard square sizes available Small(150px), Medium(200px), Large(250px), or choose a Custom size in pixels.  The canvas size can be between 20 and 350 pixels in width and height.

2.  Header & footer

Header image

Set a header image for the PDF doc template using this section.  This acts as a logo (or any image) placeholder on all the pages except for the cover.
Click on the Click to upload logo or image option and select the required image from the local storage file explorer.

• Alignment - You can select the position of the header image in the document.  The selections available are Left, Center, or Right.

• Image size - Users can select the three standard sizes available Small(50x60px), Medium(70x80px), Large(80x95px), or choose a Custom size in pixels. The canvas size for Height and Width can be between 20 and 85 pixels.

Page numbers

Click on the checkbox to enable page numbers on each page.

• Page number type - Users can select from the three types of page numbers provided

  • Page 1 of 10, Page 2 of 10, ...

  • Page 1, Page 2, Page 3....,

  • 1,2,3...

• Text alignment - Choose the position of the page number in the document, Left, Center or Right

Footer text

Click on the checkbox to enable the footer text in your document.  The footer text has no character limit and can comprise letters, numbers, spaces, and special characters.

• Content - Type in the content that appears in the document's footer section

• Font size -The font size (10 to 16) can be customized based on the requirement.

• Font color - Specify the text color of the footer content.  Use the color picker or the hex code to specify the color.

NOTE

As the footer space in the PDF page is dynamic based on the text and font size, the text does not appear truncated in the final document.

3.  Text Settings

Specify the Heading and paragraph font-related settings for the PDF text in this section.

Heading text settings

• Font family - Select the font family for the Headings in the PDF document

  For example, Arial, Calibri, Verdana, etc.

• Heading color - Specify the text color of the Heading tags (H2, H3, H4). Use the color picker or the hex code to specify the color

Paragraph text settings

• Font family - Select the font family for the Headings in the PDF document

  For example, Arial, Calibri, Verdana, etc.

• Font size - Choose the font size(10 to 24) in the PDF design template

• Font color - Specify the text color of the paragraph content.  Use the color picker or the hex code to specify the color

• Disable links - Turn on or off the hyperlinks in the PDF that you want to export.  When you turn on the toggle, other than the table of contents and direct URL, the hyperlinks in the PDF are disabled

  For example, when you turn on the Disable links toggle and export a PDF, the hyperlinks in the exported PDF are disabled.  However, the hyperlinks of the table of content and direct URL work.

• Links color - Specify the color of the links that appear in the document.  Use the color picker or the hex code to specify the color

  Pro tip - Choose the color that aligns with your brand or the Heading color for a more visual appeal

Default template

Any created PDF template can be set as a Default template.  The default template is available without selection in the "Select PDF template" when you initiate an Export to PDF.

Click on the Set as default setting on the design template page before you Save any template. A Default tag appears next to the template name on the design template overview page.

NOTE

The default design template cannot be deleted.

FAQ(s)