Inserting images in a PDF form

[aha_jess]

This is probably more of a PDF question than a Service Titan question, but I'm curious if anyone has found a way to allow technicians to inset an image into a PDF form? I've been messing around with fillable fields but have not found a way for a technician to be able to add a photo they've taken on their iPad to a PDF form.

[ChrisJ]

Hi Jesse,
Came across this whilst searching for a solution to the exact same problem. Did you ever find a solution to adding images into the PDF forms? 
Thanks,
Chris

[aha_jess]

Hey Chris,

Unfortunately, we did not. Seems like the only way they'd be able to add images to a PDF form would be to have a PDF editing app (Adobe or something similar) on their tablets, download the PDF, and add the image(s) in Adobe. Not really the most efficient workflow, and the other issue it presents is that the technicians currently have no way to attach a PDF back into ST Mobile, so to get the form saved, it would need to be uploaded from an office login. We ended up pivoting to just using generic images in the PDF form.

-Jesse

[ChrisJ]

Thanks for the reply. I'm still on the hunt for a solution. If I find something sensible, I'll post it here, but I'm not optimistic 😞

[aha_jess]

Thanks Mike! I'm currently working with the full version of Adobe so I've got fillable fields in the PDF that use smart fields to pull from ST, my hope is that there is a way to create a fillable field where the tech is able to select a picture from their camera roll to insert, but that is the part where I'm hitting a wall. It would just be a single picture they have to select for this form, so I'm not overly concerned with the workflow being too overwhelming for our techs. I've got some time to mess around with it more today so I'll keep you posted if I find a working solution!

-Jesse

[TurquoiseB]

I know you can add "picture" fields onto forms in ServiceTitan. This allows them to add a photo from their phone or one they have taken on the job. In terms of doing it outside of ST forms, what devices are they using? Android or Apple? I can dig a bit further.

[aha_jess]

Thanks @TurquoiseB! This is being done in a PDF form we are looking to rollout. All of our technicians currently use iPads and have iPhones so we are apple across the board on devices. My hope is that this can be done when creating the form through Service Titan Mobile with the use of a fillable field on the PDF file. If they need to modify the form/PDF file outside of Service Titan, we will lose some of the functionality we are looking for by using a PDF form. Thanks in advance for any insights!

-Jesse 

[TurquoiseB]

Hi! Not sure if you tried this, but I saw a few questions out there for this. One solution was to craft the forms on Acrobat Reader DC or Acrobat DC Pro on Windows/MAC as it has the option to add an image field then have the technicians use PDF Expert or Readdle's PDF Expert on the Apple store.

[michael21]

Hi @aha_jess.  I believe you would need the full version of Adobe Acrobat, (not just the reader) to manipulate a PDF.  This would include inserting images into a PDF document.  There are a lot of other features in Acrobat, but I would be concerned that its a bit overwhelming for most technicians.  There may be 3rd party products that permit manipulation of a document, but I suspect they would also be pretty involved.