How to fill in a PDF form
Tax forms, applications, onboarding paperwork: many arrive as PDFs that are meant to be filled in on screen. Some have proper fields you can type into; others are flat scans where there is nothing to click. Both can be completed without printing anything.
Updated September 15, 20265 min read
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Fill in a PDF that has form fields
A fillable form defines its own boxes, checkboxes and dropdowns. Fill form reads them, so you type into the real fields rather than placing text by eye.
- Open Fill form and add the PDF.
- Type into each field, tick checkboxes and pick options from dropdowns.
- Tick flatten if the recipient should not be able to change your answers.
- Download the completed form.
When the form has no fields
If the tool reports that there are no form fields, the PDF is a flat document, most often a scan of a printed form. Create fillable PDF lets you draw text boxes and checkboxes where the blanks are and gives you back a real form, which you can then fill in normally.
For a one-off, Add text is faster: place text boxes over the blanks, type, and download.
Signing the completed form
Fill the form first, then sign the filled copy with Sign PDF. Signing last means the signature sits on the final version of the answers.
Keeping personal details private
Forms are full of personal data: addresses, identification numbers, bank details. DocuGrip fills the form without transmitting it, so the completed document does not sit on anyone else’s server.
Do it now
- Fill PDF formFill in a PDF form’s fields and lock them if you want — nothing uploaded.Open the tool →
- Create fillable PDFDraw boxes where people should type, and get a PDF they can fill in.Open the tool →
- Flatten PDFBake form fields into the page so no one can change them.Open the tool →
- Sign PDFDraw or type your signature and place it anywhere — embedded as vector.Open the tool →