Make a PDF fillable
Turn a form you already have into one people can fill in on screen. Draw a box where each answer goes, name it, and download a PDF that anyone can type into. Your file is read on this device and never sent anywhere.
Drop the form you want to make fillable, or click to choose
Your file stays on this device. Nothing is uploaded.
How to make a PDF fillable
- Press “Choose a PDF file”, or drop your form onto the box above. “Try it with an example form” loads a sample to practise on.
- Choose the kind of field, such as Text or Tick box, then drag a box on the page or tap once to drop one.
- Select each field in the “Fields” list to name it and set its options. The list order is the order the Tab key follows.
- Press “Download fillable PDF”.
What Make a PDF fillable does
Taking a form that can only be printed and making it one people can complete on screen: a leave request, a consent slip, an old scan somebody has been photocopying for years. You draw a box where each answer goes. Everyone who gets it afterwards types straight into it.
What it does
- Adds text boxes, tick boxes, multiple choice, dropdowns and lists anywhere on any page
- Boxes out a reference number or a postcode one character at a time, the way a paper form does
- Works on a scan, because a box drawn over a printed line is a real field either way
- Keeps the tab order you set, so answering the form runs down the page instead of jumping around it
- Gives every field a label that screen readers read out, so the finished form works for people who cannot see it
- Leaves the form editable, so whoever receives it can fill it in and Fill PDF can lock the answers later
What it does not do
- Build a form from a blank page. It adds fields to a document you already have
- Do the placing for you: you draw each box, and on a long form that is real work
- Handle text outside Latin characters yet, because a form field carries its own font and the built-in one covers Latin only
- Calculate totals, check answers or send them anywhere. A PDF form holds answers; something else has to act on them
- Change anything already on the page. The fields sit on top and leave the original alone
Last updated
Need to send this to someone?
Our sister site QRSansar hosts a document and gives you a short link and a QR code for it. That is handy for WhatsApp, a slide, a poster or a printed handout, and it avoids attachment size limits entirely. You can swap the file later and the link and QR code keep working.
Worth being clear about the difference: that is a hosting service, so your file is uploaded to it. Everything on PDFsansar stays on your device; sharing is the one job that cannot.
Share a document on QRSansar →Other tools
All free, and all run in this tab without uploading anything.
Make a PDF fillable: common questions
What is the difference between this and Fill PDF forms?
This one builds the form; Fill PDF answers it. If you have a document nobody can type into and you want to send it out for people to complete, you are in the right place. If somebody sent you a form that already has boxes and you need to fill them in, use Fill PDF instead. A lot of people arrive here wanting the other one, which is why they link to each other.
Which kind of box should I use?
A text box for anything written out, with several lines switched on for an address or a reason. A tick box for one thing somebody agrees to. Choice for a small set where exactly one applies, like a leave type, since the boxes sit on the page where the printed options already are. A dropdown when the list is long enough that showing it would crowd the page. A list when you want the options visible, or when somebody may need to pick more than one, which is the only thing a dropdown cannot do. Every box also tells you what it is for when you hover it, and you can change a box's type after drawing it.
Can I do this to a scanned form?
Yes, and it is one of the better reasons to use it. A scan is a picture, so there is nothing to type into and no text to find. The boxes you draw are real form fields regardless of what sits underneath them. Line one up with each printed rule and the finished PDF behaves like a form that was designed that way from the start. The scan itself stays exactly as it was.
Does the person filling it in need any particular software?
No. The result is an ordinary PDF form, so it opens in Acrobat Reader, Preview on a Mac, and in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari without anything installed. They can also bring it back here and use Fill PDF. One thing is worth telling them: save the file after typing rather than printing it to PDF. Some browsers offer printing first, and it throws the answers away.
Why do two of my boxes fill in at the same time?
Because they have the same name, and in a PDF form one name means one answer. That is sometimes exactly what you want: a reference number or a date that should read the same on every page needs one name and several boxes. When it is not what you want, give the second box a different name and they part company. Boxes that share a name are marked in the list, so it is never a surprise.
Can I make a form in Nepali, Hindi or Arabic?
Not yet, and the tool says so rather than producing empty boxes. A form field carries its own font, and the one built into every PDF reader covers Latin characters only, so anything outside that would come out blank when somebody typed it. Accented Latin (é, ü, ñ, ç) is fine. Supporting other scripts means embedding a whole font in every form we make, which is real work rather than a setting. It is on the list.
Can the answers be emailed back to me automatically?
No, and that is deliberate rather than missing. Sending answers somewhere needs a server collecting other people's personal information, which is the one thing this site is built not to do. What you get is a form people fill in and send back however they normally would. If the file itself needs to get to somebody, our sister site QRSansar hosts a document and gives you a link. That one does upload the file, and says so on the page.
Is my document uploaded anywhere?
No. The PDF is opened, edited and saved entirely inside this browser tab, the same as every other tool here. Nothing is sent to a server, there is no account, and closing the tab is all it takes to be rid of it. That matters more than usual here, because the forms people make fillable are often the ones carrying staff names, salaries or medical details.