Fill out a PDF form
Fill in AcroForm PDFs straight on the page, then save an editable or a flattened copy. Your answers stay inside this browser tab.
- Runs in your browser
- Files are never uploaded
- Free, no account
Works with standard AcroForm PDFs — the kind produced by Acrobat, LibreOffice, most government departments and almost every form generator. Your entries are held in this browser tab and written into the file when you save.
What a "fillable PDF" really is
A fillable PDF carries an AcroForm: a dictionary of named fields, each with a type, a value and one or more widgets — rectangles on specific pages where the field is drawn. When you click a box in Acrobat, you are clicking a widget; when you type, the field's value changes and the reader regenerates the widget's appearance so you can see it.
This tool reads that structure directly. It lists every field with its name, type and page, draws an input over each widget so you can fill the form where it looks like a form, and writes the values back into the same field objects. Nothing is approximated and nothing is typed on top: the file that comes out is a properly filled AcroForm.
Editable or flattened — pick deliberately
| Editable | Flattened | |
|---|---|---|
| Fields still exist | Yes — anyone can change an answer | No — the answers are page content |
| Looks identical in every reader | Usually, occasionally not | Always |
| Prints reliably | Depends on the reader's settings | Always |
| Survives an upload portal that rasterises | Risky | Yes |
| Use it when | The form is still going round for others to complete | You are sending the finished copy back |
The failure mode people hit most often — filling a form, emailing it, and the recipient seeing empty boxes — is almost always an editable file opened in a reader that does not regenerate field appearances. Flattening removes the possibility entirely.
Field types you will meet
- Text — single line or multiline, sometimes with a maximum length or a comb layout of fixed character cells.
- Checkbox — on or off. Its "on" value is a name defined by the form's author, which is why some checkboxes look ticked in one reader and blank in another.
- Radio group — one field with several widgets, one per option, mutually exclusive.
- Dropdown — one choice from a list; some are editable so you can type a value that is not offered.
- List — like a dropdown but multi-select.
- Signature field — a placeholder for a cryptographic signature. We leave these empty because we do not issue certificates; place a visual signature with Sign PDF.
- Read-only — locked by the author, usually a reference number or a computed total. Shown greyed out and never modified.
Troubleshooting
"No form fields in this PDF"
The file is flat. It may be a scan, or a design exported without form fields, or a form that was already flattened by whoever sent it. Use Add Text to PDF and type onto the page instead — that tool exists for exactly this case.
"This is an XFA form"
XFA is Adobe's XML forms architecture. The pages you see are often just a "please open this in Acrobat" placeholder, with the real layout held in an XML payload only Acrobat renders. No browser can fill one faithfully. Open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader, or ask the issuer for a standard AcroForm version — most departments have one.
A field looks empty after saving
Some producers ship fields with no appearance stream. We regenerate appearances with Helvetica on save, which handles the common cases, but a field whose default appearance names an exotic font can still come out blank in a strict reader. Save the flattened version: the text is then painted into the page and cannot be missed.
The on-page inputs are in the wrong place
Widget rectangles are read from the file and mapped through the page's rotation and crop box, so this should be rare — but a badly generated form can have widgets that do not match its visible boxes. Hide the on-page inputs and use the full field list underneath, which is driven by field names rather than coordinates.
Why the privacy point is not decorative here
Think about what goes into a PDF form: your address, your date of birth, your salary, your bank details, your national insurance or social security number, your medical history, your immigration status. That is the highest-value data most people ever type into a web page, and the standard model for online form fillers is to send all of it, plus the document, to somebody else's server.
Nothing here is autosaved, nothing is stored, and nothing is transmitted. Your answers exist in this tab's memory while you type and are written into a file when you press a build button. Refresh the page and they are gone — which is the correct behaviour for a tax return on a shared computer.
Questions
How do I know whether my PDF has real form fields?
Drop it in and the tool tells you: it lists every field it found, with its name, type and page. If the list is empty, the file is a flat design or a scan that only looks like a form — use Add Text to PDF for that, which lets you type anywhere on the page.
What is the difference between saving editable and flattened?
Editable keeps the fields live, so the next person in the chain can change an answer — right for a form still going round an office. Flattened merges the answers into the page, so nothing can be retyped and every reader displays it identically — right for the copy you send back, and the version most institutions actually want.
My form says it needs Adobe Acrobat to open. What is that?
That is an XFA form: an Adobe XML format where the entire layout lives in an XML payload rather than in the PDF pages. Only Acrobat renders it properly, and no browser tool can fill one faithfully. We detect it and say so rather than handing you a file that quietly loses your answers.
Why does a field look empty in my reader after I fill it?
Some producers ship fields with no appearance stream, and readers differ on whether to generate one. We regenerate appearances with Helvetica when we save, which fixes the usual cases. If a stubborn field still shows blank, save the flattened version — the text is then painted onto the page and cannot be missed.
Are my answers saved anywhere?
No. They live in this tab's memory while you type and are written into the PDF only when you press a build button. Nothing is autosaved, nothing is uploaded, and refreshing the page discards everything — which is the behaviour you want when the form is a tax return or a medical history.