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Make a PDF fillable online, free

Turn a printed form into a fillable PDF: click on the page to add text boxes, checkboxes, date and signature fields, or press Detect lines to find the blanks for you. Name each field and save. Nothing is uploaded.

Make PDF Fillable

Settings appear once you add a PDF.

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Draw a thin border around each field For pages with no printed lines or boxes where the fields go, so people can see where to type. Leave it off when the form already prints them.

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  • 100% private Your PDF never leaves this device. Everything runs in your browser.
  • No limits No file-size cap, no watermark, no sign-up and no daily quota. Free.
  • Works offline Once this page has loaded, the tool keeps working without a connection.

How to make a PDF fillable

  1. Add your PDF: Drop the PDF. Its pages open here in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.

  2. Check the settings: Pick Text, Multi-line, Checkbox, Date or Signature and click where the field goes, or drag to draw its box. Detect lines suggests fields on the blanks and empty boxes it finds; keep or drop each one.

  3. Save the result: Name the fields in the card beside the page, mark any as required, and press Save fillable PDF.

Why it doesn’t upload

The forms people turn into fillable PDFs are usually ones they send out to others: client intake sheets, patient questionnaires, job applications, school permission slips. Form builders that work on their own servers keep a copy of each blank form, and often of every answer that comes back. Here the fields are added to the PDF inside your browser tab, so neither the form nor anything typed into it later passes through this site.

Check it in your browser’s Network tab

Worth knowing

  • No form scripts are added, so there are no calculated totals, no checks on what people type and no date picker. A date field is a text box sized for a date.
  • A scanned form is a picture of a page, so Detect lines finds nothing on it. Run it through OCR PDF first, or place the fields by hand; that works on any page.
  • Detect lines is a guess from the page’s underscores, drawn lines and boxes. It can miss a blank or suggest a table border, which is why nothing it finds is added until you keep it.
  • The signature field is a box to type a name in, or to sign over with Sign PDF. It isn’t a certificate-based digital signature field.
  • Radio buttons and dropdown lists aren’t offered yet; use a checkbox per option instead. A default value has to be in Latin letters, because it is drawn in Helvetica.

Under the hood

What happens to your file

The pages are drawn by pdf.js, and each field you place is kept in the page’s view coordinates; the inverse of pdf.js’s viewport transform maps it back to PDF space, so cropped and rotated pages come out right. Fields are written as AcroForm text fields and checkboxes with pdf-lib, each with its name as the tooltip (/TU) and appearance streams generated so every viewer draws them. Detect lines reads pdf.js’s text for underscores, dot leaders and box glyphs, and its operator list for drawn rules and rectangles, cutting rules at column borders to find empty table cells.

Runs on pdf.jspdf-lib

Reference: pdf-lib documentation · ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0)

Why make a PDF fillable in your browser?

I kept getting forms that were clearly meant to be typed into but had no fields at all: a rental application exported from Word, a club sign-up sheet, a clinic intake form scanned years ago. The usual answer is Acrobat Pro, which is a subscription, or an online form builder that wants the PDF on its server. I built this so you can do it in a browser tab instead. Drop the form, click where each answer goes, and save a PDF that anyone can fill in.

The fields are ordinary PDF form fields, the kind Acrobat makes, so they work in whatever the other person opens the file with. If you made the form for someone else, they can fill it in with Fill PDF Form here, or in Preview, Chrome or Adobe Reader.

Detect lines does the tedious part on most forms. It looks for underscores, drawn lines, empty boxes and empty table cells, and suggests a field on each one with the printed label as its name. I made it suggest rather than add, because a guess about a page should never end up in your form without you seeing it.

What people make fillable PDFs for

  • Forms you send to clients

    Intake sheets, order forms and questionnaires that come back typed, not handwritten.

  • Old forms exported from Word

    A form that only ever had underscores gets real fields on those lines in a couple of clicks.

  • School and club paperwork

    Permission slips, sign-up sheets and volunteer forms that parents can fill in on a phone.

  • Checklists

    An inspection or packing list with a checkbox beside each item.

  • Contracts with blanks

    Name, date and signature boxes on an agreement, so the other side types instead of printing it.

Tips for creating a fillable PDF

  1. Try Detect lines first on a form with printed blanks, then add anything it missed by hand.
  2. Give each field a short, clear name like “Phone” or “Date of birth”. It shows as the question in Fill PDF Form and as the tooltip in Acrobat, and it helps screen readers.
  3. Two fields can’t share a name, because they would always show the same answer. Repeats get a number on the end.
  4. Turn on Draw a thin border around each field when the page has no printed lines, so people can see where to type.
  5. Check your form before sending it: open the saved file in Fill PDF Form and type a test answer into every field.

Questions

How do I make a PDF fillable for free?

Drop the PDF here, pick a kind of field (text, checkbox, date or signature) and click on the page where it goes. Drag it into place, give it a name, and press Save fillable PDF. There is no account, no trial and no watermark.

Will the fields work in Adobe Reader, Preview and Chrome?

Yes. They are standard PDF form fields (AcroForm), the same kind Acrobat makes, so people can type into them in Adobe Reader, Mac Preview, Chrome, Edge, Firefox and phone PDF apps, and save their answers. They also open in Fill PDF Form.

What does Detect lines do?

It reads the page for places meant to be filled in: underscores like “Name: ______”, drawn lines, empty boxes and empty table cells. It suggests a field on each, named after the printed label beside it. Suggested fields are shown dashed; press ✓ to keep one or ✕ to drop it.

Can I make a scanned PDF fillable?

Yes, by placing the fields by hand: click where each one goes on the scanned page. Detect lines can’t help on a scan, because the lines are part of a picture. Running the scan through OCR PDF first gives it real text, and then Detect lines can read it.

Can the form add up totals or check dates?

No. Totals and format checks need JavaScript inside the PDF, and this tool doesn’t add any. Every field accepts whatever is typed. For a form that calculates, use Adobe Acrobat’s form editor.

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