Typing into a PDF form, and when the form has no fields
An application, a tax return or a registration form arrives as a PDF, and the instruction is to fill it in and send it back. Printing, writing by hand and scanning works, but it is slow and the result is hard to read. If the form was made with fields, you can type straight into them here, tick its boxes and save a copy, without the file leaving your device.
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Which tool you need
Clicking on the form in a viewer shows boxes you can type into
Those are fields, and this is the tool for them: text boxes, boxes with one character per square, tick boxes, choose-one buttons, dropdowns and lists.
The form is a flat page, a scan, or a PDF with no fields at all
There is nothing here for a form filler to fill. Edit PDF lets you place your own text over the blanks on the page instead.
The form asks for your signature
A signature field is left untouched here. Save the filled form, then open the copy in Sign PDF to draw, type or place a picture of your signature on the page.
A form someone else already filled, which now needs locking
Flatten PDF draws existing answers and comments into the page without asking you to fill anything first.
The PDF asks for a password before it shows the form
This tool cannot open it yet. If you know the password, take it off with Unlock PDF and fill the unlocked copy.
Save it fillable, or save it flattened
Saving keeps the fields as fields, so the answers can still be corrected later, by you or by anyone who opens the file. That is what you want for a draft, or for a form someone else still has to complete.
Flattening paints the answers onto the page and removes the fields, so what you typed looks the same in every viewer and can no longer be changed. Choose it for a form you are submitting, a copy for your records, or an office that asks for a PDF that is not editable.
Forms made in Adobe LiveCycle Designer
Some government and corporate forms are XFA forms, a format of Adobe's own whose fields live outside the PDF's ordinary structure. One that keeps its fields only in XFA is refused here, and Adobe Acrobat Reader is the program that fills it.
Many XFA forms carry an ordinary copy of their fields as well. Those are filled here, and the XFA copy is taken out when you save, so that every viewer shows the same answers rather than some showing yours and others showing the blank XFA version.
What the form does not do for you here
Forms sometimes carry scripts that add up totals, format a date as you type or refuse an answer that does not fit. None of them run here, and they are stripped out on save, so work out any total yourself and type it in. Fields marked required are listed if they are still empty, but the form is not stopped from saving, so read the list before you send it.
Answers in Hindi, Arabic, Chinese and other scripts are drawn with fonts embedded in the saved file, so they show for the person who receives it and not only on your screen. The Fonts setting decides how many scripts are covered.
What to know before you start
- A form whose fields exist only in XFA cannot be filled.
- Signature fields are not signed, and certificate signatures are not made in the browser.
- Calculations, checks and formatting the form would do itself are not done.
- A flattened form cannot be turned back into a fillable one, so keep the original.
- Password-protected forms must be unlocked before they open.