Filling PDF forms

PDF forms come in two kinds, and blupdf handles both: interactive forms that contain real form fields, and "flat" forms that are just a printed layout with blank spaces. In both cases you click where the answer belongs and type.

Forms with fields

When a document contains form fields (text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdowns), blupdf detects them on upload and highlights them with a light tint. Click a field and type; the field's own font, size and alignment are respected, and multi-line fields wrap. Tab moves to the next field in the form's order.

Values you enter are written into the fields themselves, so a recipient opening the exported file in another PDF viewer sees them as filled form values.

Flat forms (no fields)

Many forms are scans or exports with no fields at all — the lines and boxes are just drawings. blupdf treats these like any other page: click on a blank area and a new text block is created at that spot, matched to the size and font of the nearest label. Type your answer and it sits on the line. Scanned forms go through OCR first, so the labels are readable and the font estimate is based on them; see Editing scanned PDFs.

If the form has boxes for individual characters (one letter per box), type normally and use the toolbar's letter-spacing control to spread the characters across the boxes.

Checkboxes and dates

• Checkboxes in interactive forms toggle with a click. On flat forms, choose Check mark from the toolbar and click inside the box to place one; it is sized to the box automatically.
• Dates in interactive forms respect the field's date format if one is defined. On flat forms, type the date as text; blupdf does not reformat it.
• Signatures on a signature line use the signature tool — see Adding images and signatures.

Saving a filled copy

Export produces a PDF with your entries. For interactive forms you can choose between two modes at export:

• Keep fields editable — the recipient can still change values. Useful when the form goes to someone else to complete.
• Flatten — field values become fixed page content, so nothing can be edited or accidentally cleared. Use this for the final signed copy.

Flat forms are always exported as fixed content, since the answers are ordinary text blocks.

Credits

Filling is charged per page with at least one filled field or added block: 25 credits per form page, plus 1 credit per character rendered on flat forms. Scanned form pages also incur the one-time 80-credit OCR charge. Export is 20 credits per page. See Credits & billing and pricing.

Tips

• Fill from the top down and tab through fields; it is faster than clicking.
• Zoom to 150% on dense government or insurance forms so the boxes are easy to hit.
• Check the exported file once in a plain viewer before sending it; that is what the recipient sees.