Edit & Fill PDF
Add text, highlight passages, and complete form fields.
Runs on your device · one of 15 free tools
How to fill a PDF form
- 1
Add the form
Drop the PDF in. The tool reads its form structure immediately and tells you how many fillable fields it found — text boxes, checkboxes, dropdowns and radio groups.
- 2
Click a field and type
Fields are live exactly where they sit on the page. Click one and type straight into it; press Tab to move to the next, like any form. Checkboxes toggle with a click, dropdowns open in place.
- 3
Add free text where there's no field
Some PDFs have blanks that aren't real fields. Switch on Add free text and click anywhere to type at that spot — for the date line the form's author forgot to make fillable.
- 4
Save, locked or editable
With Lock values on (the default), your answers are flattened into the page so the recipient can't alter them. Turn it off if the next person should be able to keep editing the fields.
Fillable forms versus flat forms — why some PDFs 'just work' and others don't
A fillable PDF contains an actual form layer (AcroForm): named fields with positions, types and rules, put there by whoever built the document. This tool reads that layer, which is why clicking a box types into the box — the field is real, and your answer is stored as that field's value. Government forms, bank forms and anything exported from proper form software usually work this way.
A flat form is just a picture of a form: a scan, or a design exported without fields. The lines and boxes on it are drawings with no meaning attached, and no software can reliably know they were meant to be filled. The tool tells you plainly when a document has no fields, and gives you click-to-place text instead — you position your answers by eye, which is the honest ceiling for flat documents.
What 'Lock values' actually does
Flattening converts your answers from editable field values into fixed page content — functionally, ink. The recipient sees a completed form and cannot click into a field and change your salary figure or tick a different box. For anything you're submitting — applications, declarations, signed-off forms — this is what you want, and it's on by default.
Leave it off when the document should stay a working form: you're filling your part and forwarding it for someone else to complete theirs. Their fields stay live; note that yours do too.
Why filling forms locally matters
Forms are dense with exactly the data that shouldn't sit on a third-party server: full name, date of birth, addresses, account numbers, ID numbers, medical details. An upload-based form filler receives all of it in one structured, machine-readable package. Here the form is read, filled and flattened entirely in your browser — disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it all still works.
Frequently asked questions
Why does clicking a box on my PDF do nothing on other sites?
Most simple editors ignore the PDF's form layer and just stamp floating text on top, so nothing you click is actually a field. This tool reads the AcroForm and overlays real inputs on each field's exact rectangle — clicking one focuses that genuine field.
The tool says no form fields were found — is that a bug?
Almost certainly not: your PDF is a flat document, typically a scan or a design exported without fields. There's genuinely nothing to detect — lines on a scan are drawings, not fields. Use Add free text to place your answers by eye.
Can the recipient change what I typed?
Not if Lock values was on when you saved (it is by default). Flattening turns your answers into fixed page content, like ink. With it off, fields remain live and editable.
Does it handle checkboxes and dropdowns?
Yes — checkboxes toggle in place, dropdowns and radio groups open where they sit with their real options. Read-only fields are shown but protected, matching what the form's author intended.
Is what I type uploaded anywhere?
No. The form structure is read and your answers are written on your device. Forms are the worst thing to upload — one structured package of your most identifying details — which is exactly why this runs locally.
Can I fill a password-protected form?
Unlock it first with the Unlock tool (you'll need the password), fill it here, then re-protect the completed copy if it should stay locked.