Docs+ PDF is part of Filevine’s Docs+ Features, which also includes Docs+ Combiner and OCR and Indexing. If you are interested in Docs+, contact your Filevine rep to learn more.
Annotate, comment, sign, and more in .pdf documents within Filevine. To edit a .pdf, select a file and click on the document’s properties menu. Select Edit Doc. You can also open document editing from the preview screen by clicking on the Edit Doc icon in the top right corner. Selecting Edit Doc will open the Docs+ PDF tool. All changes made to the document must be saved before closing the editor.
Center Ribbon
The center of the ribbon provides options to add different types of annotations to the document.
The View tab in the ribbon is the default, and removes any dropdown options. Clicking on any of the other tabs will drop down a submenu of different options for annotations, including undo, redo, and erase icons on the right.
Annotations can be resized, edited, and moved by clicking on them in the document and dragging. Click on the annotation in the document to view options for adding a comment or file attachment, adjusting color and thickness, or erasing.
All comments and annotations can be reviewed by clicking on the speech bubble icon on the right side of the top ribbon.
Annotate and Shapes
The Annotate tab in the ribbon will allow you to
- highlight
- underline
- strikethrough
- comment
- add text
- add shapes
- write
The Shapes tab in the ribbon will allow you to add a variety of shapes to the document, like circles and arrows.
To make an annotation, click on the desired icon in the submenu, and then in the document where you’d like to add the annotation.
Color, opacity, thickness, and text size for these icons can be adjusted by clicking on the different colored icons on the right side of the submenu.
Each annotation type has four options that can be set as defaults, meaning that you could set one pen to write in a thick, opaque red line and another to write in a translucent green, and switch between those options quickly.
Redact
The Redact tab in the ribbon allows you to redact any part of the document.
Search and Pattern Recognition
If you need to search the document for instances of a word, or redact a set of information—credit card information, for example, click the redaction panel to open the search.
Enter a search term to bring up a list of all instances of that term, where you can select any instances you would like to redact, and click Redact to redact those instances.
You can also search a document for all instances of three types of patterns. Click into the search bar to view the list of patterns: credit card information, phone numbers, and emails.
Select one of the patterns to bring up all instances of that pattern found in the document. Select the instances you would like to redact, or select all, and click Redact.
Redacting In-Line
Click on the redact icon and then click and drag to redact to select the part of the document you’d like to redact. Color and border color for the redacted block can be chosen in the dropdown menu.
Once you’ve adjusted the placement color, and border as needed, click the checkmark to confirm. A popup will ask if you are sure that you would like to redact all selected text or blocks. Click Apply.
Unlike shape tools, redaction will “burn through” the text of the document, and cannot be moved or removed when the document is downloaded. Redacted information can, however, be viewed within Filevine in previous versions of the document.
Insert
The Insert tab in the ribbon allows you to insert signatures, stamps, files, and callout annotations.
To sign a document, select the signing icon and then click Add New Signature. You will have the option to draw, type, or upload a signature.
Add a ready-made stamp, an uploaded picture, a file attachment, or a callout. Attached files will be represented as a paperclip icon in the document, and can be downloaded or linked. A “callout” is similar to a comment and places a text box with an arrow in the document.
Measure
The Measure tab in the ribbon allows you to calculate area dimensions, measure distances between lines, or trace a perimeter in drawings, photos, or other documents. This tool can be useful for confirming or calculating the area or dimensions of damage on a car from a photo, for example.
In the dropdown menu in the ribbon, you can choose the color, opacity, thickness, scale, and precision for each measurement object.
Users can employ three different measuring options: distance, perimeter, and area.
Distance
Distance objects can tell you the distance in the document or establish the scale. Click the ruler icon to create a distance object. If you already know the distance, click the calibrate icon on the object’s menu and enter the true measurement of that distance to establish the scale.
Additional distance objects will automatically default to the same scale.
Once the object is added, you can select the distance object and see its scale, distance, and other information in the bottom right.
Perimeter and Areas
Once the scale has been established with a distance object, you can use that scale to measure both perimeters and areas. Scale can also be adjusted for each object in the dropdown menu where you would adjust color, opacity, and thickness.
Click the perimeter icon next to the ruler and then click in the document to draw the lines for the perimeter, right-clicking to finish. When you’ve finished adding the perimeter, you can see the perimeter’s scale, distance, and other information in the bottom right while the object is selected.
Click one of the shape icons in the ribbon to create an area. The hexagon icon will allow you to draw your own area. The other icons will add their respective shapes, which you can resize.
When an area object is selected, you can see the object’s area, scale, and other information in the bottom right.
Count Measurement
Click the checkmark icon to add a checkmark to your document. When a checkmark is selected, the total number of checkmarks in the document will display in the bottom right corner.
Edit
The Edit tab in the ribbon includes cropping and in-text editing.
Crop
Click the crop icon on the left to begin cropping the document and then click and drag over the document to select the cropped area. Adjust if necessary, and click the checkmark when you are satisfied.
Single pages of documents can be cropped at any time. Crops can not be undone, so use caution when cropping. Cropping the document will add the cropped area to the top of the document as the first page.
In-Line Edits
In-line edits can be done on any PDF that is text-generated, like a PDF form or a document that was converted from a .docx file. In-line edits are not available for image-based PDFs that have been OCRed. Editable text can be moved, removed, or changed.
Click the edit icon on the right to enter content editing mode. All identified text will be marked in boxes, which can be moved, edited, or deleted.
Note: Any changes made during content editing mode cannot be undone, so use caution when making these edits. The changes will be saved as a new version of the document in Filevine.
Drag the edges of a text box or click and drag the box to move the text. Text cannot be moved across pages.
Click a box and select the edit icon to open a modal where you can edit the text. You can also bold, underline, or italicize the text. The font of the text is matched to the original font automatically. If the font cannot be matched, the editor will replace the font of all text in the block with the closest available match.
Click a box and select the trashcan icon to delete the box of text from the document.
Forms
The Forms tab in the ribbon allows users to create fillable fields in PDF documents, including checkmarks, dropdown fields, and more. Using these fields, you can create fillable PDF documents to send directly to other parties for filling or to use in a Doc Generation.
The Forms tab includes six field types, which are discussed in more detail in the following sections:
- text fields
- signature fields
- checkmarks
- radio buttons
- list fields
- combo fields
Add Fields
To add a fillable field to the document, click on the desired field type. For text, signature, list, and combo fields, you can choose the color, opacity, and thickness of the field box and field text using the menu options.
Draw the field where you would like to place it in the document. Fields can be moved and resized, but cannot be moved across different pages of the document.
In the opened Edit Form Field modal, you can change the field name, add options, and choose flags for the field.
Edit, Delete, and Save Fields
Once the field has been added, click on the field to display visual, editing, and deletion options. Click on the palette icon to adjust the field box color (for applicable fields), the edit icon to open the Edit Form Field menu, and the trashcan icon to delete the field.
To save the fields, click Apply Fields in the ribbon. Clicking this button will save all fields and take you back to the View tab, where you can interact with and fill the fields. Once the fields have been saved, you can save and download the document and use the fillable fields in Filevine via share links or using external PDF software.
Text Fields
Text fields appear as blank fillable boxes in the document. These fields can be marked Read Only, Multiline, or Required. Text fields can also be filled with a “default value,” which the recipient of the document can then edit.
Signature Fields
The signature field found in the Insert tab can also be added in this tab.
Checkmarks and Radio Buttons
Checkmarks and radio buttons appear as checkboxes and empty bubbles in the document, which the recipient can then select. These fields can be marked Read Only and Required.
List and Combo Fields
List and combo fields will both allow you to add options that the recipient can choose from. In the editing menu for these fields, click + Add Option to add more options. Click and drags the dots to the left of the options to reorder them, and click the trashcan icon to the right to delete an option. Both list and combo fields can be marked Read Only and Required. List fields can also be marked Multi Select, meaning that recipients can choose multiple options.
The list field will display a list of options that can be chosen, while the combo field acts as a dropdown menu.
List field and combo field types will not be shown as fillable fields if the PDF document is used in a Doc Generation.
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