Document of Record

The Document of Record (DoR) is a PDF snapshot of a form submission — it captures what the user entered and, if the form includes one, their signature. It's what gets generated when a form uses the Scribble Signature component: the signature itself is captured onto the DoR PDF, not onto the web page.

This is configured on the form file's properties — not the Form Container inside the form editor (that's where Submission settings live, covered on Form Configuration). Open the form's properties and go to the Form Model tab.

You need a Document of Record if your form:

• Includes a Scribble Signature component (required — see below)
• Uses Send PDF via Email as its submit action — the DoR is the PDF that gets emailed, so this submission type always requires one
• Needs to produce a formal PDF record of the submission beyond what's stored in SharePoint or email

If neither applies, leave this set to None.

At the top of the Form Model tab is a Select From dropdown:

• None — your form is a standard adaptive form, built with drag-and-drop components and no underlying XDP template. Use this when you only need an auto-generated DoR (or no DoR at all).

• Form Templates — associates the form with an existing XDP-based form template, picked from a searchable list of templates already in the system.

If your form needs a template-matched Document of Record — even if the template is only there for the DoR and the live form is otherwise built normally — select Form Templates here, not None. Selecting a template through the Associate form template as the Document of Record template radio option (under None) technically works, but it leaves the Data Sources side panel (in the form editor interface) empty, so you lose the ability to bind form fields to the template's fields. Selecting the template through Select From: Form Templates keeps Data Sources populated and field binding available. Use that path.

With Select From set to None, a Document of Record Template Configuration section appears with three options:

• None — no Document of Record is generated. Choose this if your form doesn't need a PDF record and doesn't use a Scribble Signature.
• Associate form template as the Document of Record template — technically available here, but avoid it (see above) — it leaves Data Sources empty. If you need a template-based DoR, select Form Templates from the top-level Select From dropdown instead.
• Generate Document of Record — AEM automatically builds the DoR PDF from the live form's structure. It stays in sync automatically as you add or remove fields — no separate file to maintain, and no field-binding concerns since there's no template involved.

If your form includes a Scribble Signature component, the DoR radio option itself can't be None — pick either Generate Document of Record, or set up a template-matched DoR via Select From: Form Templates. Without one of these, there's nowhere for the signature to be captured.

Web Services does not maintain a shared library of reusable DoR templates — and likely never will, since a template built for one form's field layout usually isn't viable for other forms. Each agency is expected to build or commission its own XDP template for forms that need a template-matched DoR.

This is also why the Data Sources issue above matters: with a one-off template, you need Data Sources populated so you can bind each field on your adaptive form to its corresponding field on the template. Without that binding, there's no reliable way to get your form's data onto the template correctly.

Building the template itself requires Adobe Forms Designer experience. It's an advanced, specialized skill, distinct from building an adaptive form, and DoIT Web Services does not train authors on it. If your agency doesn't already have someone with Forms Designer experience, factor that into whether a custom template is realistic before committing to this path over auto-generation.

Once you have someone with Forms Designer experience available, this is the process:

1. Build the DoR in Adobe Forms Designer (formerly LiveCycle). This is the actual PDF layout that will be produced.
2. Save the file as an Adobe XML Form (.xdp) file type.
3. Upload the XDP file to the agency folder within the Forms section of AEM.
4. On the adaptive form's Form Model tab, set Select From to Form Templates, then locate and click the XDP file you just uploaded.
5. Bind the adaptive form's fields to the XDP's fields. You have two options:
   1. While building the form: a new icon appears in the left sidebar (a paper/database icon) — this opens Data Sources, a tree view of every field from the XDP. Drag a field from Data Sources onto the form to place it; this both adds the field and binds it to the corresponding XDP field (shown by a blue dot next to the item). Field settings from Designer carry over automatically.
   2. On an already-built form: click the field in Edit mode → wrench icon (Configure) → scroll to Bind Reference → click the folder/magnifying-glass icon. This opens the same tree as Data Sources — browse to the matching field, select it, and confirm. The Bind Reference field will then show the XDP reference.

Every field you want on the DoR needs to go through this binding step — a field left unbound on the adaptive form won't appear on the generated DoR, even if the XDP template has a matching field.

• Do You Need a Signature? — decide whether your form needs a signature before configuring the DoR