Adobe Acrobat is an amazing tool for sharing documents, getting signatures, and filling out important forms. A fillable form is a form that can automatically be filled out by any individual.
Fillable forms make life so much easier because individuals do not have to manually download and edit it themselves to fill it out. They can simply enter any required information in the textbox. It also secures the file so only the parts of the form that are fillable can be edited. A win-win!
In this guide, you will learn how to:
Notes about preparing fillable forms
- Before we learn how to create a fillable form, you must select a form document.
- If you are creating a brand new form, then we recommend to use Microsoft Word to download a form template, and edit it as you see fit.
- If you already have the form, then just make sure the form is downloaded to your computer for quick access.
- If your form is a not in PDF format, then you must convert it to PDF before you can prepare a form. Learn how to convert a file to PDF.
- Note: You cannot create fillable forms online.
Preparing a fillable form
Open up Adobe Acrobat via desktop application.
Go to Acrobat Tools.
Under Forms & Signatures, select Prepare Form.
Choose a file from your computer.
Select the file you would like to turn into a fillable form.
If the document requires signatures, check the box that states "This document requires signatures".
Notice the tool bar in the Prepare Form navigation tab. This tool bar will all you to add text fields, checkboxes, create drop down menus, and more.
Typically, Acrobat automatically creates fields for you when it detects a form, but as you can see in the example, sometimes it misses fields, so you have to manually input them.
To manually input a text field, select the text field icon in the tool bar, then place the text box field where you would like to create a fillable box.
Just click the screen where you want to place any field down.
Oce you place the text field down, you will be prompted to edit the title.
For your title, make it the same name as whatever the requirement for the line is.
For example, if this is where the signer should put their full name, then title it "Full Name".
Optional:
- You can also select who needs to sign or input this field.
- If there are multiple signers, choose a signer number.
- If there is only one signer, or if anyone can fill it out, then choose Signer or Anyone.
Adjust the size of the text box by dragging the edges in either direction.
To edit the title, appearance, position, or other options, double click the text field.
The Text Field Properties will appear.
Enter the field name, and click close when finished.
For names, addresses, emails, or any other field that could be a large amount of text, it's important that you enable multi-line.
Simply click Options > Check multi-line.
This will prevent the user from getting cut off, or not being able to input all the text they need.
It's really important for anyone with long names, addresses, or emails.
Tap Close when finished
Checkboxes vs Radio buttons
You may add checkboxes or radio buttons to a document. The two are not the same and it's essential that you know what the differences are.
Checkboxes allow you to select one or more options, and are shaped like a square.
Radio buttons allow you to choose only one option from a list or selection of choices. You cannot select multiple options.
For yes or no questions, such as the one below, add radio buttons to allow the user to choose one or the other.
Click the radio button icon.
Just tap on the screen where you would like to place your radio button.
You can also move the fields in the navigation bar by dragging them up or down to ensure that all the fields are in the correct order.
Save your fillable form
Preview your document to ensure that everything looks correct.
When ready, click Save.
Save to Adobe cloud storage or to your computer.
You can now preview your fillable form.
Go to Acrobat All Tools.
Under Edit, select Prepare a Form.
Choose a file from your computer.
Select the file you would like to turn into a fillable form.
If the document requires signature, check the box that states "This document requires signatures".
Notice the Form Components on the left side of the screen. Here, you can add different types of text fields, check boxes, and radio buttons.
Click the Full name field to add a box that requires someone's name.
Place it on the name line.
Just click the screen where you want to place a field down.
For most fields, just use the text field box.
To edit the title of a box, you can double click the box itself.
The text field properties will appear. Here you edit the title, appearance, position and other options.
For names, addresses, emails, or any other field that could be a large amount of text, it's important that you enable multi-line.
Simply click Options > Check multi-line.
This will prevent the user from getting cut off, or not being able to input all the text they need.
It's really important for anyone with long names, addresses, or emails.
Checkboxes vs Radio buttons
You may add checkboxes or radio buttons to a document. The two are not the same and it's essential that you know what the differences are.
Checkboxes allow you to select one or more options, and are shaped like a square.
Radio buttons allow you to choose only one option from a list or selection of choices. You cannot select multiple options.
For yes or no questions, such as the one below, add radio buttons to allow the user to choose one or the other.
Save your fillable form
Preview your document to ensure that everything looks correct.
When ready, click Save.
Save to Adobe cloud storage or to your computer.
You can now preview your fillable form.
Now that you have your file prepared to be filled out, you might need to include some signatures.
If you haven't already, learn how to set up a digital ID for signatures and how to draw or create your own signature for signing documents in Acrobat.
To add a signature field to your form, simply navigate to the e-signature icon in the tool bar, and add it to the appropriate signature line.
Note: E-signature field and E-signature block field both allow you to collect a signature, but the "block" version is slightly larger. Determine the one that best suits your needs.
Just click the screen where you want to place a field down.
Now, you can easily get the document link, and share the document with anyone. They will see the signature requirements and sign accordingly.
To share your document, click the share icon, and get a link.
This will allow you to easily share the document with whoever needs to review or sign.
You can also request signatures via acrobat sharing option, but this is ONLY recommended when sharing the document with the exact person who will be filling out the form.
To request signatures, simply click the blue Request signatures.
Type the name of the person's email who will be filling out the form.
Additional resources and support
We hope this guide helped you create forms that are easy to fill out and can be shared with anyone.
For additional assistance with Acrobat, visit our other Acrobat tutorials, or the Acrobat guides on Adobe's website.
Feel free to leave us a comment if you have any questions regarding preparing forms in Acrobat.
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