You don’t need Acrobat to fill in a PDF form. What you do need to know is which of two kinds of form you have, because they’re filled in differently.
Fillable forms
A fillable form has real fields built in: boxes to type into, check boxes, round option buttons and drop-down lists. Government and company forms are usually made this way.
- Open the form in Fill in a PDF form.
- The fields are highlighted and a note tells you how many there are.
- Click a field and type. Tab moves to the next one.
- Tick check boxes, pick options, choose from the lists.
- Download the filled form.
The values are saved into the form’s own fields, so the form stays a form: you or someone else can open it later and change an answer. Text in any language works, including accented letters and Cyrillic.
Forms without fields
Many PDF forms are just printouts saved as PDF: there are lines and boxes on the page, but nothing to click into. You can still fill them in:
- Note lets you type text anywhere on the page. Click where the answer goes and type; drag it into place.
- Draw works for ticks and crosses in boxes.
- Sign adds your signature: draw it, type it or upload a picture.
These are saved as standard PDF annotations, so they show up in any PDF viewer.
A few tips
- Check the tab order. Some forms jump around when you press Tab; click the fields you want instead.
- Save a copy first if the form will be reused: fill in the copy and keep the blank one.
- Don’t print and scan to fill in a form. A filled PDF is smaller, sharper, and its answers can still be read and searched.
Your answers stay yours
Forms tend to ask for personal details: addresses, dates of birth, ID numbers. Here the form is filled in your browser, on your device. Nothing you type is uploaded.