Paubox Forms can now import flat PDFs. Upload the intake or consent form you already use and get a HIPAA compliant draft to review and publish.

Most practices already have the forms they need. The new patient intake, the consent form, and the health history questionnaire are usually sitting in a folder as PDFs. Now you can bring them straight into Paubox Forms. Upload a PDF and Paubox builds a draft form from it, with each question already set up as the right type of field.

What's happening

PDF import arrived in August for PDFs with fillable fields. It now reads flat PDFs too. Those are the forms made for printing, like a Word document saved as a PDF or an intake sheet a practice has used for years.

For example, suppose a family clinic has a one-page new patient intake form. With the import, the clinic uploads that PDF and starts from a draft instead of rebuilding the form field by field.

How it works

Go to Paubox Forms → Import PDF and choose your file.

Before anything is created, Paubox shows a review screen. The form title comes from the PDF, and every question is listed with its field type. In the clinic example, the conditions checklist became a multiple choice field, the allergy question became a single choice field, and the reason for the visit became a text area. Date of birth, phone, and email came in with matching validation.

You can rename labels, change field types, or delete anything you don't need. Fields import as optional, so turn on Required for any question patients must answer.

The review screen also flags what doesn't carry over exactly. Dates import as date fields, but the original date format isn't kept. Signature lines import as drawn signature fields. Headings and instructions printed on the page come in as text blocks. If the PDF was already filled out and flattened, patient answers can end up in that text, so check it before you create the form.

Click Create Form and the form opens in the editor as a draft, with headings and instructions already in place. Preview it, make any changes, and publish.

Included with Paubox Forms

PDF import is included at no additional cost with Paubox Forms, which comes with any paid Paubox plan.