Standard Order Request Form Editor Guide – IMITS

Background
Style Guide
Universal text style settings
Other text style settings
Universal field settings
Create a new SO fillable PDF form
Edit an existing SO fillable PDF form
Appendix: create hyperlink text
Troubleshooting
Error messages upon saving
Editing PDF alters hyperlink style
Reference File(s)

Background

User requested Standard Orders (SOs) typically have a published fillable PDF form available in the Community Systems website. New or updates to SOs must be reflected on the website. There are a few exceptions where:

A fillable PDF form is created but not published as it's important to capture precise information to fulfill the SO, but we do not want to advertise the ability to request it to all users (e.g. Export to Excel or Create Profile EMR only Client).
The SO is not requested by the average user. These SOs are requested by a targeted individual/group (e.g., Hide Unsanctioned Test Clients or Run Queries for VC Primary Care Custom Dashboard and DPT View).

The purpose of this article is to outline the structure and workflow for creating or editing an SO's fillable PDF form.

Prerequisite: you must have Adobe Acrobat Pro or another PDF editing application. If not, you must work with someone who has one of these tools.

Style Guide

Follow the style standards below, using this as a legend:

Universal text style settings

Unless specified by other sections below, assume the settings for all texts:

Font type: BC Sans Light
Font size: 10
Font colour: black
Font style: normal (no styling applied)
Alignment: left
Line Spacing: 1.20

Other text style standard settings

Blanks indicate that that setting follows the universal style setting or inherits the style of its parent category.

CATEGORY	FONT SIZE	FONT STYLE	ALIGNMENT	LINE SPACING	OTHER
Header - title (name of SO)	16	Bold	Center	1.15	Uppercase
Header - subtitle (description of SO)	11		Center
Header - additional description, if any	9	Italic	Center
Header - contact information		Bold	Center
Footer - title	8	Italic
Footer - pagination, if multiple pages	8	Italic	Center
Footer - last updated date	8	Italic	Right
Section headers	11	Bold		1.16	Uppercase
Subsection headers, if any		Bold
Legend for if fields are mandatory		Italic		1.16
Help text		Italic			Placement below the field
Requester Information - field labels				2.40
Standard Order Information - field labels				Various
Hyperlink text		Underline			Colour blue (see screenshot below)

Example of each category:

Hyperlink text colour:

Universal field settings

Name: must be unique, descriptive of the data it captures, contains no spaces, uses mixed casing for start of words (e.g. "ServiceCode", "TaskGroupDescription", etc.)
Tab order: sensible (top to bottom, left to right)
Mandatory fields
- Required property: yes
- Border: red
Non-mandatory fields
- Required property: no
- Border: black
Date fields
- Format: date in style of dd-mmm-yyyy (e.g. 12-Dec-2025)
- Tooltip: dd-mmm-yyyy
- The label for the date field should also display the format. (e.g. "Date Submitted (dd-mmm-yyyy):"
EMRStandardOrders@vch.ca hyperlink: mailto:EMRStandardOrders@vch.ca (see Appendix: Create a hyperlink text section for more details)
Change Request hyperlink, if present: http://communitysystems.vch.ca/published/UR_-_Change_Request_(VCH).pdf (see Appendix: Create a hyperlink text section for more details)

Create a new SO fillable PDF form

Download the template at the bottom of this article
Rename the PDF to match the SO category name. If this will be uploaded to the Community Systems website, the label link will be the same as the PDF name.
In Adobe Acrobat Pro (or another PDF editor tool), open the template and switch to "Edit PDF" mode
Update the PDF as needed
1. Leave the images in the header as is
2. Update the header text
3. Leave the Requester Information section as is
4. Update the Standard Order information section
  - If there are no optional input fields, change * = Mandatory fields to All fields are Mandatory
  - Reminder: follow the style guide
  - Tip: Copying and pasting existing fields with similar qualities needed is easier than re-creating them
5. Update the footer text
6. If it requires multiple pages, it can be managed using the "Organize Pages" mode.
  - Ensure in the middle of the footer there is Page X of Y on every page
  - If it is a single paged form, delete the prepared second page
Save changes and validate/review by re-opening in viewer mode, or using another tool (Chrome, Edge, etc.)
When it is completed and assuming this is not an exceptional case, follow the steps in the Publish PDF to the Community Systems Website section of the Process to Create or Update Standard Order Types article.

Edit an existing SO fillable PDF form

Download the desired PDF from the Community Systems website
Save a copy of it in a rollback folder (or temporarily elsewhere until it's finalized)
In Adobe Acrobat Pro (or another PDF editor tool), open the template and switch to "Edit PDF" mode
Update the PDF as needed. See step 4 of the Create a new SO fillable PDF form section for tips and reminders
- Reminder: update the Last Updated date in the footer
Save changes and validate/review by re-opening in viewer mode, or using another tool (Chrome, Edge, etc.)
When it is completed and assuming this is not an exceptional case, follow the steps in the Publish PDF to the Community Systems Website section of the Process to Create or Update Standard Order Types article.

Troubleshooting

Error messages upon saving

While saving after editing a PDF, it is common to experience one of two error messages: General error or an output stream error:

In both cases, it is best to close the PDF then re-open it. Validate the changes are kept and that no new problems occur (a past example is it replaced every "QU" text in the document with blank spaces).

Editing PDF alters hyperlink style

If you edit a text box containing a hyperlink (like the header) using Adobe Acrobat Pro, the hyperlink style within that box will change unintentionally to a format undesired.

Before attempting to edit the header:

After editing any part of the header:

To correct this, after making the targeted changes, do the following in "Edit PDF" mode:

For the header: ensure/change the entire textbox to have alignment center.
Just after the last word that is in correct format (in the case above, "and"), type out the remaining part of the sentence. The text typed out should be black with no underline.
Remove the incorrect styled text (in the case above, "any required attachments to EMRStandardOrders@vch.ca")
Select the newly typed word(s) that should be hyperlinked (in the case above, "EMRStandardOrders@vch.ca"), which is currently black and has no underline.
Follow the steps in the Appendix: Create a hyperlink text section and link the text to the appropriate URL (in the case above, mailto:EMRStandardOrders@vch.ca)