Fill Out PDF Forms Online and Keep the Fields Editable

Job applications, registration sheets and consent forms often show up as fillable PDFs. Our tool lets you fill the PDF form fields in your browser and download a completed copy. No printing, and no PDF editor to install.

It works with standard AcroForm fields: text fields, checkboxes, dropdowns, radio buttons and option lists. The filled PDF isn't flattened, so you or the recipient can still change the answers later.

How to fill a PDF form online

1. Click the upload area and pick your PDF form (up to 25 MB), or drag it onto the page.
2. Click Fill Form. You'll see every fillable field the tool finds, along with any values the form already holds.
3. Type into the text fields, tick the checkboxes, and pick options from the dropdowns, radio buttons and lists.
4. Click Fill & Download, wait while it uploads and processes, then click Download.
5. Open the filled PDF and check every answer before you send it off.

Your browser reads the field list, and then our server writes your answers into the PDF with the pdf-lib library. The upload and the filled copy are deleted from our server automatically within two hours.

Which PDF form fields can you fill?

The tool fills the five AcroForm field types that hold a value. Each field shows up under a label made from its internal name, so a field called full_name reads Full Name.

Text fields

Single-line and multi-line fields for names, addresses, emails and any other free text. The values are drawn in the DejaVu Sans font, so accented letters and Greek or Cyrillic text come out right.

Checkboxes and radio buttons

Tick or untick each checkbox on its own. In a radio button group you can only pick one option, like one payment method.

Dropdowns and option lists

A dropdown takes one option from its list. An option list can take several: hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and click each one you want.

What the tool cannot fill

Signature fields and push buttons are skipped, and comments or stamps are left alone. A scanned or flat PDF has no fields at all, so the tool tells you the PDF has no fillable form fields. To put a visible signature on the page, use our Sign PDF tool after you've filled the form.

What happened when we tested Fill Out PDF Form

We filled our small test form form-template.pdf (6.9 KB, 1 page) with these values: full_name Ada Lovelace, email ada@example.com, Agree Terms ticked, country CA, payment paypal, interests tech and art. The download, form-template_Filled.pdf, was 14.2 KB and 1 page, and it arrived 0.1 seconds after we clicked Fill & Download. Tested in October 2026.

The tool embeds a subset of the DejaVu Sans font to draw the values, which adds to the file size. The fields in the download stay interactive, because the tool never flattens a form.

Will the recipient see your answers?

Yes, in any viewer that draws a field's stored appearance, because the tool writes a new appearance for every field it fills. The recipient's viewer doesn't have to rebuild how the fields look from their values.

We checked this in October 2026 by filling form-template.pdf with the name Zoë Müller, an email address, a ticked checkbox, the dropdown value CA, a radio button and two list options. Every one of the six fields in the download had its own appearance, and the form didn't set the NeedAppearances flag that asks viewers to redraw fields.

Then we drew the page with three separate PDF engines, MuPDF, Ghostscript and Poppler. All three showed every value, umlauts in Zoë Müller included, without leaning on the viewer to redraw anything.

What is an AcroForm, and how is it different from XFA?

AcroForms are the standard interactive forms of the Portable Document Format, introduced in the PDF 1.2 specification. Each field has a name, a type and a value, and nearly every PDF reader can display them.

XFA (XML Forms Architecture) is a separate Adobe form format. It isn't compatible with AcroForms and was deprecated in PDF 2.0, and the pdf-lib library that fills your form can't read XFA fields, so a form built only with XFA can't be filled here.

Filling a PDF form vs flattening it

Filling sets the field values and keeps the fields interactive. Flattening draws the current values into the page content and removes the fields, so nobody can edit them afterwards.

This tool never flattens. If a form mustn't change after you fill it, run the filled copy through Flatten PDF.

Got many copies of the same form to fill from data? Our PDF Auto Fill tool takes the values as a JSON file, so you skip the typing.

Fixing common PDF form problems

The PDF has no fillable fields

The form may be a scan or a PDF printed from another program. An XFA-only form gets its own message: "This PDF is an XFA form, which can't be filled here. Open it in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader to fill it." Otherwise ask the sender for a fillable version, or add fields in a desktop PDF editor.

The PDF is password protected

A form with an owner password that restricts printing or copying can't be filled here, because the page can't read its fields. After Fill Form it says: "This PDF has an owner password that restricts it, and this page can't read its fields. Run it through Unlock PDF first, then fill it here." A PDF that needs a password to open is turned away, so if you know the password, remove it first with Unlock PDF, one of our PDF security tools.

The file won't load

A damaged PDF can fail before the fields show up. Try Repair PDF from our PDF optimization tools, then fill the repaired copy.

The values don't show in my PDF viewer

The filled values are stored with their own appearance, as the test above shows. If a viewer still shows an empty field, open the download itself in a different viewer, like a web browser or our PDF Viewer, to check.

Frequently Asked Questions about Filling PDF Forms

Can I fill out any PDF form?

Only PDFs with AcroForm fields. Scanned documents, flat PDFs and XFA-only forms don't have fields this tool can fill.

Will the filled PDF still be editable?

Yes. The tool doesn't flatten forms, so every field stays interactive after download.

Can I change a form I filled earlier?

Yes. Upload the filled PDF again and the tool shows the current values, so you can change any of them.

Are my form data and files private?

The PDF goes over HTTPS and is filled on our server. The upload and the filled copy are deleted automatically within two hours.

Can I fill multiple PDF forms at once?

No. It takes one PDF at a time, so start over after each download.

What happens if a value doesn't match a field's options?

The tool checks every choice against the options stored in the form. If one isn't valid, the fill stops with an error that lists the valid options.

Does the tool add a digital signature?

No. Signature fields are skipped, since a digital signature needs a certificate.