Filling Forms

PDF forms can be of two types: static and active. Static ones look like forms but responses cannot be entered. Such forms may be just part of a longer PDF document. Active forms have controls that respondents can set  (for example Yes/No) or choose from a longer set of options or provide text responses. Click Form controls to see a list of form elements available in the program.

To make it easier to locate all fields in a form, use the PDF Converter button highlight fields Filling Forms Highlight Fields button. To change highlight color for ordinary and required form fields, go to Edit > Preferences > Forms.
 

To fill an active PDF form

  1. Open the form in PDF Converter Professional. All its form controls will be active.

  2. Check the controls are in order. Post-edit them only if necessary.

  3. Choose the PDF Converter hand Filling Forms Hand tool.

  4. Step through the form elements making choices and entering text.

  5. Save the filled form, click its Submit button if it exists, or resend the form electronically.

Go to Edit > Preferences > Forms to select items that help in filling forms. Enable Automatically calculate field values, so that any calculations already defined in the form will be updated in PDF Professional. Enable the auto-complete feature to help you fill text boxes more quickly. Enable Display focus rectangle so you can always tell which is the current control. For easy navigation, choose hover text display, a highlight color for ordinary fields and a separate border color for required form fields.
 

To activate and fill a static form you have received

  1. Scan or open the form, converting to PDF if required.

  2. Run FormTyper to detect form controls and have them activated.

  3. Post-edit the form if necessary, moving, adding or deleting fields.

  4. Click the Hand tool, then fill the form.

  5. To resend the completed form, do one of the following:

    • Send the filled form as a PDF.

    • Print the form and its contents, and send the printed form.

    • Print only your responses onto the blank physical form and resend that.

As an alternative, you can convert a static PDF form to an active Word form using form mode in PDF Converter – post-edit and fill the form in Microsoft Word and send that, electronically or physically.

 

To fill active XFA forms

PDF Professional lets you open PDF forms with XFA components, fill such forms and save them.

 

XFA form controls allow you to securely capture, present, move, process, output and print information associated with electronic forms. XFA (XML Forms Architecture) is a set of XML specifications that enhance the processing of web forms by providing active tags, and ensuring that all instances of an XFA form template keep the specification of data capture, rendering, and manipulation rules from the original. XFA provides compatibility with other systems, and is resilient to changes in technology and standards.


Note

Do not edit form controls or run FormTyper on a form with active XFA controls.

 

Filling Forms