Draw real form fields onto a flat PDF — text boxes, tick boxes and dropdowns — so it can be filled in on screen instead of printed. Free in your browser — no sign-up, no watermarks.
How to add form fields to a PDF
- Click Choose files (or drag & drop) and select one or more PDF files. You can also paste an image from your clipboard.
- No settings needed for this conversion — the defaults handle everything.
- Press Convert to PDF. Each file is converted with a live progress indicator.
- Open the download page to save your files individually or grab everything as a single ZIP.
Why make a PDF fillable?
The reason so many forms still get printed, written on and scanned back is that they were never fillable in the first place: the boxes on the page are drawn, not real. A field is a specific thing inside the file, and once it is there every PDF reader will let someone type into it and every system receiving the form can read the answers out by name. Drawing the fields takes a minute and saves everyone who receives the form a printer.
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About the formats
Why that form still has to be printed
Somebody sends a PDF with neat boxes ruled on it and a line for a signature, and the only way to complete it is to print it, write on it, photograph it and send the photograph back. It feels like the software is missing something. It is not: the boxes on that page are drawn. They are lines, the same as any other line in the document, and there is nothing behind them to type into.
A field is a specific thing inside a PDF — an annotation tied to the document’s form definition, with a name, a type and a position. Once one exists, every PDF reader in the world knows to put a cursor in it. That is the entire difference between a form people fill in and a form people print.
Three kinds, and what each is for
A text field is a box someone types into: names, addresses, amounts, dates. A tick box holds yes or no, and is drawn square whatever shape you drag, because a stretched tick box renders as a stretched tick. A dropdown offers a fixed list, which is the right choice whenever the answer must be one of a known set — it removes an entire category of unusable replies, because nobody can invent a value that your system does not recognise.
The names are the part that matters
Every field has a name, and the name is not decoration. It is what a typed answer is stored against inside the file, what a form export uses for its column headings, and what any system receiving the form looks for. Two fields sharing a name are, as far as the format is concerned, one field in two places — fill one and the other changes to match. That is almost never what someone drawing two separate boxes intended, so duplicate names are numbered apart rather than silently merged, and a field left unnamed still gets a usable one.
The page underneath is untouched
Fields are added over the existing content, not instead of it. The text, the ruled boxes, the logo and the small print all stay exactly as they were — you are placing the working parts on top of the drawing of them. Which means the sensible way to do this is to put each field over the box that was already printed there.
When the answers should stop being editable
A completed form is still editable by whoever holds it. When it is final — signed, submitted, agreed — Flatten PDF paints the answers into the page and removes the fields. And a form that already has fields does not need this tool at all: fill it straight in with Fill PDF Form.
Frequently asked questions
Is this Make a PDF Fillable tool free?
Yes — completely free, with no sign-up, no watermarks and no daily quota. Processing happens in this browser, so the practical limit is the memory available on your device.
Can I convert multiple PDF files at once?
Yes. Select or drop as many files as you like — each one is converted in sequence with its own progress status, and you can download the results individually or all together as a ZIP archive.
Will the fields work in any PDF reader?
Yes — they are standard AcroForm fields, which is what Acrobat, Preview, browser viewers and mobile readers all support. The one thing worth getting right is the names: they are what a filled answer is stored against and what any system reading the form looks for, so a duplicate name would make two boxes behave as one. Duplicates are renumbered automatically rather than silently merged.
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