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Ruled form

A ruled form area — draggable lines divide it into regions, and each region holds its own content.

What it is for

A ruled form is a box laid out like a paper form. You draw lines, the spaces the lines mark off become regions, and each region holds ordinary blocks — text, fields, pictures. Use it when the lines themselves are part of the design: a label and a value sitting on a hairline, a boxed fill-in field, signature lines for signing on paper. A migrated form usually comes back as one, with the lines where the original document had them.

Choose something else when:

  • a label and a value on one line is all you need — use the Label + value choices (a Field pair or a Form control), which are simpler;
  • you want content side by side without lines — use a Row;
  • you want a table of rows and columns — use a Table.

A ruled form keeps its look in the PDF and the web page, but not in Word: see Output differences below.

Add and edit it

  1. Open the block list and pick Ruled form (group Layout) for a blank form. Quicker starts are under Label + value: Four ruled rows (four rows, each a label and a value on its own hairline, with a 35 mm label column) and Fill-in box (one box ruled on top, bottom and left).
  2. To work on the lines and regions, double-click the form on the canvas (outside its content), or select it and press Enter, or select it and choose Edit ruled form in the side panel. Done editing leaves the mode; so do Esc and choosing any block outside the form.
  3. The panel then walks you through four steps, each saying where the form stands right now.

Step 1 · Lines

Lines are the skeleton. + Horizontal line and + Vertical line add a line you then drag into place. Every line is listed by where it is ("Horizontal line 2", "Vertical line 1") and whether it prints. Choose one in the list (or click it on the form) and the Selected line section opens:

  • On the printed page — Printed (the line appears on the page) or Guide only (the line only shapes the regions; it is dashed while you edit and never printed).
  • Line appearance (printed lines only) — Colour, Width in millimetres, and Style: Solid, Dashed or Dotted.
  • Position from the top (horizontal) or Position from the left (vertical), in millimetres. Type a number instead of dragging if you want an exact place. A line stops 2 mm short of the lines either side, just as dragging does.
  • Remove line.

Step 2 · Regions

A region is one area of the form. Every region is listed by its name and place ("Region 4 · Row 2, column 2"). Choose one and the Selected region section opens:

  • Region name — a name of your own ("Invoice number"). It shows in the panel, in Contents and in the breadcrumb, and never prints.
  • Vertical align — Top, Middle or Bottom: where the content sits when the region is taller than the content.
  • Inner padding — space kept clear inside the region: Left & right and Top & bottom, in millimetres.
  • If the content doesn't fit — Grow or Keep size (see "What moves when content runs long").
  • Remove region.

To make more regions:

  • Add a row below copies the chosen region's row — a label and a value, say — directly underneath it, and moves everything below down by one row, the way a paper form gains a row. Add a row at the bottom does the same under the last row.
  • Split into label + value divides the chosen region with a guide line: the left part keeps what it held, the right part is a new value region.
  • + Draw region lets you drag out a new region over an empty part of the form; its edges snap to lines close by. Press Esc while dragging to cancel — nothing is added. Press "+ Draw region" again to stop drawing.
  • Generate regions from grid makes one region per cell of the lines you drew, while no region holds content yet.

Step 3 · Content

Drag a block onto a region on the page, or add one from that region's own group in the Contents list. The step says how many regions hold content. Anything can go in a region except another Ruled form.

Step 4 · Growth and pages

Says whether the form can grow, and where a long form can continue onto the next page (both explained below).

Once there are two or more regions, a Reading order list appears. It sets the order Tab moves between the regions while you edit; it moves nothing on the page.

The lists, buttons and fields are ordinary controls, so the form can be built from the keyboard: type a line's position instead of dragging it, and use "Add a row below" or "Split into label + value" instead of drawing a region. Two drags have no keyboard route yet — moving where a line starts or ends, and moving a region edge that is not on a line. Hover a region or a line on the form to see the same name the panel uses.

Settings

Setting Where What it does
Height The ruled form's own settings Auto (grows to fit content) lets a region push the lines below it down when its content needs room. Fixed (as authored) keeps every line exactly where you drew it and freezes every region.
Printed / Guide only Selected line Whether the line prints.
Line appearance Selected line Colour, Width (mm) and Style of a printed line.
Position Selected line Distance from the top (horizontal) or the left (vertical), in mm.
Region name Selected region Your own label; never printed.
Vertical align Selected region Top, Middle or Bottom.
Inner padding Selected region Left & right and Top & bottom, in mm.
If the content doesn't fit Selected region Grow pushes the line along the region's bottom edge down. Keep size never pushes a line.

Like every block, a ruled form also has the Box and Visibility sections.

What moves when content runs long

Choose a region and the panel says, before you type anything, what its content will push. For the second row of "Four ruled rows": "Grow: when its content needs more room, Horizontal line 2 moves down, and the 4 regions below it move down with it. Region 3 shares that line, so it gets taller too. Nothing above Horizontal line 2 moves." Once it has happened, it says by how much the line moved. Choose a line and the panel says what moves it.

  • A region set to Grow pushes the line along its bottom edge down when its content runs long, and every line below that moves with it. The regions beside it on the same line get taller with it.
  • A region set to Keep size never pushes a line. If its content does not fit, it gets a "!" badge on the canvas. It can still get taller when a region beside it shares its bottom line and grows, and if its top edge is on a line it moves down when a row above it grows.
  • Setting the form's Height to Fixed freezes every region, including ones set to Grow — the "!" badge then shows on those too. If you expected a region to grow and it did not, check the form's own Height first.
  • A region whose bottom edge is not on a line (one drawn without snapping to a line) has nothing to push, so long content runs past its bottom edge. The panel says so when you choose it. Draw it again so its bottom edge lands on a horizontal line, or set it to Keep size so an overflow is flagged.
  • A region below whose top edge is not on a line will not move out of the way; the panel names it.

Continuing on the next page

A ruled form continues onto a new page at a Printed horizontal line that runs the full width with no region crossing it — the panel lists the lines that qualify. When none does, it says why, line by line ("Horizontal line 1 is a guide only (not printed)", "… is crossed by Region 5", "… doesn't run the full width"). With no such line, the form is placed whole, unless a single region crosses the page end and its own content can divide there — so it may run past the bottom of the page. Make a full-width horizontal line Printed at a sensible break point to give it somewhere to divide.

What the editor refuses

  • A region over another region. Drawing a region that would overlap an existing one is refused, with the region named: draw over an empty part of the form, or use "Split into label + value" or "Add a row below" to divide the space.
  • Removing a line regions hang on. A line that is an edge of a region — or where another line starts or ends — cannot be removed while they depend on it; the panel names them. Remove those first, or set the line to Guide only if you only wanted it off the printed page.
  • Adding a row below a region that is not on a line. There is no row to copy; use "+ Draw region".
  • A ruled form inside a ruled form. Not directly into a region, and not inside a Stack, Row, table cell or Repeater that sits in one. The editor says why and what to do instead (add rows or regions to the form you have, or place the new form above or below it), and the template stays exactly as it was. In the "Add block" menus the choice is shown greyed out with the reason. That includes "Fill-in box" and "Four ruled rows" — they are Ruled forms themselves.

Examples

Each example is a complete template stored with this documentation and checked automatically.

Four ruled label/value rows

The example is sheet-1: Four ruled rows, with the labels Customer, Order number, Delivery date and Signed, and the values bound to data. Sample data:

{ "order": { "customer": "Acme Trading SIA", "number": "PO-7731", "delivery": "12 October 2026" } }

Expected page: four rows, each a label in the left 35 mm and its value to the right, on a hairline; the "Signed" row is left empty for a pen. The vertical line between label and value is a Guide only line, so nothing is drawn between the columns.

A fixed paper form with guide-only regions

The example is sheet-2: Height Fixed, a printed line along the top and bottom, and two Guide only lines (one horizontal, one vertical) that mark off three regions — Applicant name, Date of birth, Address — each set to Keep size. Sample data:

{ "applicant": { "name": "Anna Berzina", "born": "4 May 1990", "address": "Brivibas iela 1, Riga LV-1010" } }

Expected page: a 40 mm box ruled above and below, with the name and the date of birth side by side in the upper half and the address across the lower half, no lines between them. Because the form is Fixed, it prints at exactly the size you drew it; a value too long for its region would show a "!" badge in the editor and run past its edge.

A region that grows

The example is sheet-3: two rows, Address and Phone, with the Address region set to Grow and Height Auto. Sample data:

{ "customer": { "address": "Acme Trading SIA\nAttn: Accounts payable\nBrivibas iela 1\nEntrance B, 3rd floor\nRiga LV-1010\nLatvia", "phone": "+371 2000 0000" } }

Expected page: with a one-line address the form is 24 mm tall and the Phone row sits 12 mm below the top; with the six-line address above, the Address row grows and pushes the line under it, and the Phone row, down — the form becomes about 40 mm tall. Set the form's Height to Fixed and the Phone row would stay put and the address would run over it.

Output differences

  • PDF and HTML: the form is drawn exactly as laid out, lines and regions in place.
  • Word (DOCX): the layout is not kept. What the regions hold prints one under another at the left margin, horizontal lines run the full width and vertical lines shrink to short marks, so a label no longer sits beside its value and the form can come out longer or shorter than on screen. The text survives; the drawn layout does not. The Preview says so before you download, under "Output differences this template uses", and the Word download carries the same note, in these words: "A ruled form is not kept as drawn in Word: what its regions hold prints one under another at the left margin, its horizontal lines run the full width and its vertical lines shrink to short marks — so a label no longer sits beside its value, and the form can come out longer or shorter than on screen. The PDF and HTML print it exactly as drawn." If a form must survive in Word, use a Table instead.

Troubleshooting

  • The row below did not move when I typed a long address. The region is set to Keep size, or the form's Height is Fixed, or the region's bottom edge is not on a line. Select the region: the panel says what its content will push and why not.
  • A "!" badge sits on a region. Its content does not fit and it cannot grow. Set it to Grow (with Height Auto), make it taller, or shorten the content.
  • I cannot remove a line. Regions use it as an edge. The panel names them; remove those first, or make the line Guide only.
  • I cannot draw a region. It would overlap another. Draw over an empty part of the form or split the region that is already there.
  • A dashed line shows while editing but not in the PDF. It is a Guide only line — by design. Choose Printed if you want it on the page.
  • The Word file looks nothing like the PDF. Expected: Word does not keep ruled forms (see Output differences).
  • The form runs off the bottom of the page. There is no full-width Printed horizontal line to continue on. Step 4 lists the lines and why each does not qualify.