Create a form
Turn a printed form into one people fill in on screen. Nothing is uploaded: the work happens on this device.
About Create a form
Turns a printed form into one people fill in on screen: text boxes, paragraph boxes, tick boxes and choice lists. Find the blanks for me turns lines of underscores and empty boxes into named fields; check each one. The fields are standard, so the form works in Acrobat, browsers and phone viewers.
How to use it
- Add the PDF of the printed form.
- Tap Find the blanks for me to put a field on each line of underscores and each empty tick box.
- Choose Text, Paragraph, Tick box or Choice list, and drag across any other space where an answer goes.
- Tap a field to rename it, or to type the choices for a list, separated by commas.
- Press Make it fillable and save the form.
Good to know
Find the blanks reads the page’s text, looking for runs of underscores and ☐ boxes typed into the document. It does not see lines drawn as graphics, boxes in a table or anything in a scan, so on many forms you will add some fields by hand. Every field it adds is named after the words beside it; check the names, since they are what a reader shows.
Good names make the form easier to fill and the answers easier to use: Full name, Date of birth, Mobile number. Use Paragraph for an address or a reason, Tick box for yes or no questions, and Choice list where only certain answers are allowed, so answers come back consistent.
The fields sit over the page, so the printed form underneath is not touched and still prints the same. Anyone can fill the result with Fill in a form, Acrobat, or a phone’s PDF viewer, and a locked PDF stays locked with the same password.
Questions people ask
Does Find the blanks work on a scan?
No. It reads the page’s text, and a scan has none. Drag the fields on by hand.
What kinds of field are there?
Text, Paragraph for longer answers, Tick box, and Choice list.
More help?
See make a PDF fillable.