# Create a capture form

Build a fillable PDF capture form that creates a document and its indexed, searchable metadata in one submission — the form's fields are the document's fields.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: catalog-administrator · Time: About 30 minutes · Last verified: 2026-08-31

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/capture/create-a-capture-form

**By the end of this guide you'll have a working capture form: a fillable PDF that, in one submission, creates a fully indexed document — every field the person filled in becomes searchable metadata on that document.**

## Why this isn't just a form builder

A capture form's fields map to the document type's fields by name (capitalization doesn't matter). When someone submits the form, Content Central does two things in a single step:

- Saves a PDF of the completed form as a new document in the catalog.
- Writes every field value as indexed metadata on that same document.

There is no separate indexing or coding step afterward — the form **is** the capture step. That's the difference between a capture form and an ordinary fill-in form.

> **NOTE:** Each capture form belongs to exactly one document type — that's why the form's fields are that document type's fields.

## Step 1: Prepare the PDF

Build the form as a fillable PDF (an AcroForm) in your PDF editor of choice. One thing matters most: **field names**. Name each fillable field exactly like the document field it should feed — a PDF text box named `Invoice Number` fills the `Invoice Number` document field (matching is case-insensitive).

Don't worry about fields that don't exist in Content Central yet — the upload step creates them for you.

> **IMPORTANT:** The PDF must be an AcroForm — the standard fillable-PDF format. Some older form designers produce XFA forms instead; Content Central rejects those unless you use the legacy processing style, which is best avoided for new forms because browser support for it is decreasing.

## Step 2: Upload the form

1. Open the **Administration** menu and choose **Catalogs & Document Types**.

2. Select the catalog, then the document type, and click its **Capture Forms** module.
   
   **What you should see:** a page titled **Manage Capture Forms** with a grid of forms (**Name**, **Enabled**, **Description**, **Actions**). With no forms yet, the grid reads `No capture forms exist in this document type.`

3. Click **Add Capture Form**. The **Capture Form Details** page opens.

4. Under **Capture Form (PDF form):**, click **Select a PDF file** and choose your PDF.
   
   **What you should see:** the notice `Fields present in the PDF will be added globally and to this document type if they don't exist.` That's expected — it's the automatic field import.

5. **Name:** auto-fills from the PDF filename; adjust it and add a **Description:** if you like. Check **Enabled**, then click **Apply**.

On save, Content Central reads the PDF's fillable fields and creates any that are missing, adding them to the document type: text boxes become Text fields, dropdowns and radio buttons become Text fields with the PDF's choices as an entry list, and checkboxes become Text fields with a `Yes`/`No` list.

*[Screenshot: The form's details: the uploaded fillable PDF, the Enabled switch, Name and Description — and the notice that fields found in the PDF will be created on the document type.]*

> **NOTE:** On an empty **Manage Capture Forms** page you'll also see **Create submit-ready forms from all PDFs**. That's a separate, advanced mode that makes every PDF in the document type submittable — ignore it for this guide.

## Step 3: Review the options

The defaults work for a first form. The ones worth knowing:

| Option | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Submit Button:** | Which button inside the PDF acts as its submit button (lists buttons found in your PDF). |
| **Session Expiration:** | How long an unfinished form session stays open (default `12` `Hour`). |
| **Flatten PDF after first submission** | Locks the stored PDF into a plain, non-fillable document after submission. |
| **Allow revisions via submit button** | Lets a user resubmit the form later to update the document. |
| **Allow revisions from recipients of e-mails** | Allows revisions from people who received the form by e-mail. |

> **NOTE:** **Flatten PDF after first submission** and the revision and field-update options are mutually exclusive — checking one side hides and clears the other. A flattened form can never sync with later metadata edits.

You can retrieve or swap the PDF later with the **Download Capture Form** and **Replace Capture Form** buttons on this page.

## How the form and the metadata stay in sync

The stored PDF and the document's metadata don't drift apart:

- **Metadata edits update the file.** When someone commits changes to the document's properties in Content Central, the system re-renders the PDF from your form template with the updated values and saves it as a new major version of the document. (Forms using the legacy processing style behave differently: the existing PDF's fields are rewritten in place instead, only when **Allow field updates from document-properties commits** is checked — and never once the document has been digitally signed.)

- **Resubmissions update the metadata.** With **Allow revisions via submit button** on, a resubmitted form writes its values back to the document's fields and saves the file as a new major version. This is permission-gated: the submitter needs metadata-edit rights on the document type unless a system setting always allows capture-form field changes, and approval-process restrictions can still block individual fields.

## Step 4: Test the form

1. In the main navigation, open **Capture New** and choose **Form**.

2. Pick the document type, then pick your form in the **Capture Form** dropdown.
   
   **What you should see:** the document type's fields appear in the field-entry panel. If the page says `No capture forms available for this document type.`, go back and confirm **Enabled** is checked.

3. Fill in the fields. Click **PREVIEW** to see the rendered PDF with your values in place, then click **FINISH**.
   
   **What you should see:** the message `Document created from form.`

*[Screenshot: Filling the form: catalog, document type, and capture form selected; the field-entry panel below; Preview and Finish complete the capture.]*

## Step 5: Confirm the document is indexed

The submission lands directly in the catalog as a finished, indexed document — it never waits in a coding queue. Its folder and file name follow the document type's Folder & File Building rules, and workflow runs as usual.

1. Run a field search — for example, a Power Search field condition matching a value you typed on the form.
   
   **What you should see:** the new document, immediately. Field searches read the stored metadata directly, so there's no indexing delay.

2. Open the document's properties — every form field's value is there as document metadata.

> **NOTE:** Full-text keyword search is different: it relies on the catalog's search index, which a background service updates on its own schedule. If a keyword search doesn't find the brand-new document yet, that's normal — the field values are already searchable.

> **NOTE:** If the document type uses an auto-increment numeric field, simultaneous submissions are safe: when a number is already taken, the server substitutes the next available one and advances the sequence for the next form.

## Still stuck?

If a submission fails or the document doesn't look right, first check permissions — submitting requires permission to add documents of that document type, and the submit is rejected otherwise. Then send support:

- [ ] The catalog name, document type, and capture form name
- [ ] A screenshot of the **Capture Form Details** page with its options visible
- [ ] The exact message shown after clicking **FINISH**
- [ ] One example: the field values submitted and the date and time

## What's next

- [Share a capture form outside Content Central](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/capture/share-a-capture-form-outside-content-central)
- [Capture form ideas that work](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/capture/capture-form-ideas-that-work)