An application form, a supplier registration, a leave request: it arrives as a PDF, you open it to fill it in, and nothing happens when you click on the boxes. The lines and squares are there, but there is nowhere to type.
That is not your reader being difficult. Most PDF forms are simply pictures of a form: printed lines and boxes with no real fields behind them. The good news is that you do not need to print, handwrite and scan them again. This guide shows how to tell which kind of form you have, and how to fill in each kind on screen.
Two kinds of PDF form
A fillable form was built with real fields. Clicking a box puts a cursor in it, tick boxes tick, and dropdown lists open. The answers are stored in the fields, and anyone opening the file can read them or change them.
A flat form only looks like a form. Somebody designed it in Word or a similar program and saved it as PDF, or scanned a paper copy. The boxes are drawing, exactly like the lines of a table. There is nothing to click into.
You fill them in differently, so it is worth a minute to find out which one you have.
How to tell which one you have
- Click in a box. If a cursor appears or the box highlights, it is fillable. Many readers also show a bar saying “This document contains interactive form fields”.
- Open it in our form tool. Fill a form lists every field in the file. If it reports that the PDF has no form fields, you have a flat form.
- Try selecting the text around the boxes. If you cannot select even the printed questions, the whole page is a scan, which is a flat form too.
Filling a fillable form
If the form does have fields, use Fill a form:
- Choose the PDF. Every field appears as a box you can type into, tick or choose from, grouped by page.
- Fill in your answers. Required fields are marked, and fields the form has locked are shown as such.
- Decide whether the answers should stay editable. By default they do, which is what most offices expect. Tick “Make the answers permanent” only if nobody should change them after you.
- Press “Save filled form” and download the file.
Long answers shrink to fit their box rather than spilling out of it, and Arabic answers are written joined and from the right.
Filling a form that has no fields
For a flat form, the answer is to write on top of it. Add text to PDF places real text anywhere on the page, which is how you would fill it in with a pen, but neater.
- Open Add text to PDF and choose your form.
- In “Your text”, type the first answer, for example your full name.
- Click the page just after the label or inside the box where the answer belongs. The text appears there.
- Drag it until it sits neatly on the line. Use the size setting so it fits the box; 10 or 11 points suits most forms.
- Type the next answer and click where it goes. Every piece you add is listed under the page, where you can edit or remove it.
- Use Next page under the page to move on, and carry on.
- Press “Save PDF with text” and download the finished form.
A few habits make the result look like a proper completed form:
- Keep one size and one colour for all your answers. Black or blue reads as “filled in by the applicant”.
- Line answers up with the printed line, not in the middle of the gap. Zoom in on your phone or screen to check.
- For tick boxes, type a single “X” or ”✓” and place it in the box.
- Dates and numbers: write them the way the form asks, and check each one before saving.
Scanned forms
A scanned form works exactly the same way. Your text sits on top of the scan like ink on paper. It is real text, so it stays sharp when printed and can be searched. The form’s own printed words cannot be changed, because they are part of the picture.
Arabic answers
If the form is in Arabic, or you are answering in Arabic, Add text to PDF writes the letters joined and runs the line from the right. A line that mixes Arabic with a Latin reference number or with digits, such as a passport number, keeps each part in the order you read it. Many tools get this wrong, so if a previous attempt left you with separated letters, the tool was the problem, not your form.
Signing and finishing the form
Most forms end with a signature. Once the answers are in, open the saved file in Sign PDF to draw, type or upload your signature and place it on the signature line. A form that has a signature field of its own will say so in Fill a form; the signature itself is still added with Sign PDF.
If you filled a fillable form and want the answers fixed into the page before sending it, Flatten PDF does that. It stops the answers being changed in a PDF reader. It is not a password or a lock, so do not rely on it for security.
What this cannot do
- It cannot turn a flat form into a fillable one. The person receiving it gets your answers as text on the page, not as form data they can import into a system. For most emailed forms that is fine; for systems that read form fields automatically, ask the sender for the fillable version.
- It cannot change the form’s own printed text. If the form itself has a mistake, ask the sender for a corrected copy.
- It does not check your answers. There is no validation of dates, numbers or required boxes on a flat form, so read it through before saving.
Quick answers
Do I need to print the form? No. Add your answers on screen, sign if needed, and send the PDF.
Can I do this on my phone? Yes. Both tools work in a phone browser. A larger screen is easier for placing answers precisely, but a phone is fine for a short form.
Will the other person be able to edit my answers? On a flat form, your answers are text on the page. Anyone with a PDF editor could change them, just as with any PDF. If that worries you, send the file as it is and keep your own copy.
Is my form uploaded anywhere? No. Everything happens in your browser, and the file stays on your device.