I need to print my letter templates. How does downloading work?

After logging in to your Vote Forward account, you'll see what we call your "dashboard." From here, you can "adopt" voters and download the templates you'll need to then prepare and mail, as well as track your letter writing progress. 

Full how-to instructions for letter writing can be found here.

Adopting Voters

After clicking one of the "Adopt voters" buttons, you should see the word "Success!" appear on the button after a few moments. This indicates that the batch of voters you've "adopted" is now listed below on your dashboard. You may need to scroll down the page to see all of your voters.

Downloading PDF files

Vote Forward produces files of your letter templates that need to make their way to your computer or other device to be printed. 

When you click the "Download" button for a batch of voters, you'll get a PDF file that starts with a checklist, instructions, and the mail date. 

PDF is short for "portable document format," and it's a file format that captures text and images and is easy to share and print no matter what type of computer or device you're using. 

PDFs can be viewed and printed using Adobe Reader, which is free to use and install, or other programs already installed on your computer or device that can be used to open, read, and print a PDF file. 

After you click the "Download" button on a bundle of voters, Vote Forward's website creates a PDF with one letter for every voter and a Voter List checklist with instructions and the mail date. 

This file may appear at the bottom of the screen, in the Downloads folder, or on your computer's "Desktop." If you've downloaded files from websites in the past, this PDF should be in the same place those files were located. The file name will include the date and time, a unique code, an identifier for the campaign, and the number of voters included 

For example, a PDF with a batch of 20 voters downloaded on March 13, 2023 might be called:  vf-20230313T072445880-A1B2C3D4-#-20-WISCT.pdf

Printing your PDF files

After locating the PDF, you should open it, and then print this file as you would any other file or document. If you don't have access to a printer, consider these options for printing your letters. 

Having trouble finding your PDF files?

Here are some steps to try.

  1. Check your default download location: Most web browsers download files to a default location, such as the Downloads folder. Check this location first.
  2. Search for the file: you may be able to use the "search" function on your computer to look for the file by name or file extension (.pdf).
  3. Check your browser's download history: you may be able to see there whether the file was downloaded and if so where it was saved.
  4. Check the Recycle Bin or Trash: it's possible to accidentally delete a file, in which case you might find it in your Recycle Bin (Windows) or Trash (Mac). You can restore files that you find here.
  5. Disable any antivirus software temporarily: Sometimes antivirus software can interfere with the downloading and saving of files. Temporarily disabling the antivirus software can help determine if it is causing the issue.

If none of these steps help locate the file, please try re-downloading the file.