Customize the Look of the Addendum

These instructions can also be used to create a form field at both the Form Document tab of the assembly window and in HotDocs Filler.

Sometimes when assembling a form document, an answer is too long for the form field. One way to resolve this overflow is to send the overflowing text to an addendum, which is a section of the form designed to display such answers. You can modify the appearance of the addendum—for example, you can choose what page margins to use, define what text appears in the headers and footers, and choose the font properties for the text that is used in the addendum. You can also define how pages are numbered in the addendum.

To change the addendum format

1. Edit a form template. (See Edit a Form Template.)
2. Click File > Template Properties > Addendum. The Addendum Properties dialog box appears.
3. Complete any of the following steps:

To	Do This
Define how much white space there is between the addendum page edges and the text in the addendum	Enter the dimensions in the Page margins group.
Define the text that appears at the top of each addendum page	Enter the text in the Header text field. To learn how to merge page numbers in the header, see Use Answer Overflow and Addendum Text Codes.
Define the text that appears at the bottom of each addendum page	Enter the text in the Footer text field. To learn how to merge page numbers in the footer, see Use Answer Overflow and Addendum Text Codes.
Change the font properties (including font face, size, and style) of the header or footer text	In the respective Header properties and Footer properties groups, click the Font button and make the changes at the Font dialog box.
Define how much vertical space the header or footer text requires	In the respective Header properties and Footer properties groups, enter a number in the Height field.
Change the alignment of the header or footer text	In the respective Header properties and Footer properties groups, click the Alignment button and choose your alignment option.
Insert a variable in the header or footer text	In the respective Header properties and Footer properties groups, click the Variable Field button. The Variable Field dialog box appears, where you can define the variable whose answer you want merged in the header or footer.
Define the font properties (including font face, size, and style) for answers that appear in the addendum	In the Addendum entries group, click the Font button and make your changes at the Font dialog box.
Define how much space there should be between the addendum label and the answer	In the Addendum entries group, enter a number in the Indentation field.
Define how much space there should be between each answer in the addendum	In the Addendum entries group, enter a number in the Space between field.
Make the addendum appear as a pleading paper	Select Number lines to format as pleading paper.

Once an answer has been sent to the addendum, you cannot edit the actual addendum—you must either modify your answers at the Form Document tab or Interview tab, or you must send the addendum to the word processor (choose File > Send Addendum To > Word Processor). You can also send the addendum to the Windows Clipboard (choose File > Send Addendum To > Clipboard) to paste it into a different program for editing.

Fillable PDFs do not support the creation of an addendum when a field overflows. This means that if a field in an assembled fillable PDF template overflows, the answer in the saved PDF document will simply appear cut off. Template users should always review and modify any answers that may potentially overflow before saving the assembled document as a fillable PDF.