Batch filling pdf form using data from Excel

Question

I have an excel file which contains many rows of data, each row has columns like last name, first name, gender etc. I would like to batch fill these data into a form which is in PDF format, each row should then generate a new PDF file.

The problem is that the pdf file is not of the fillable type. It's not intended to be filled out on computer, there is no textbox that allows you to enter text. It's originally supposed to be printed out and filled out by pen.

Is there a way to accomplish this?

Solution 1

1. Create (or extract) a high-resolution image from the PDF form.
2. Create a Word document using this image as a background image.
3. Add mail merge text fields in the appropriate places on top of the PDF.
4. Perform the mail merge with the source Excel document.
5. Divide into separate documents if necessary.
6. Save As PDF from Word.

If you need them, each of these steps should have instructions somewhere on this site or elsewhere on the Internet.

Solution 2

You will need to add form fields to your PDF using Adobe Acrobat or another PDF editor which supports adding form fields. Once you have a PDF with form fields to use as your template there are a number of products that do mail merge with a PDF template and data from a CSV file.

If you have Adobe Acrobat then the company I work for sells a product called Debenu PDF Aerialist which includes a mail merge feature which will do exactly what you're looking for.

Comments

[Brad Patton]

None that I know. Most likely this would need custom programming.

[CharlieRB]

This is a product recommendation request which is off topic here. That means there is a chance it could be closed. In order to improve your question, and avoid closure, you can edit your question to something like, "How can I do this?" or "Is there a way to accomplish this?", which would not be off topic.

[Devin Hunt]

@CharlieRB Thanks. I have updated my question.

[BDM]

You won't be able to do this with a batch file.

[Devin Hunt]

Yes, this is the correct way to do this. For each mail merge label, playing with its paragraph before/after spacing will allow us to position it on the document more accurately.