Make an application form fillable
Send an application form people can complete on a laptop or a phone.
Most application forms in circulation were designed for a printer: name, address and qualification blanks ruled across the page, a few squares to tick, and a box at the bottom for a signature. If you are the one sending it out, making it fillable is the difference between legible applications that arrive by email and a folder of crooked phone photographs. Drop the form in and the blanks become fields, named after the labels beside them.
How to make an application form fillable
- 1
Open your form
Add the PDF as it stands. Every blank, box and tick box is found and outlined.
- 2
Tidy the fields
Make the address a paragraph field, drop anything that was not really a blank, and check the names read sensibly.
- 3
Send it out
Download the fillable PDF and email it, or put it on your site. Applicants type into it in any reader, including on a phone.
Why this matters for the person applying
Not everyone has a printer, and almost nobody has a scanner. A form that can be filled in on a phone is a form more people can actually complete, which is usually the point of sending it out.
Collecting the answers back
Filled forms come back as ordinary PDFs. To read the answers out of a pile of them, open each in PDF Forms.
Frequently asked questions
Will applicants need special software?+
No. The fields are standard PDF form fields, so they work in Acrobat Reader, Preview on a Mac, Chrome, Edge and the built-in readers on Android and iPhone.
Can they sign it?+
The signature blank becomes a text field, which suits a typed name. For a drawn or image signature, they can use the Sign PDF tool on this site, which also runs on their device.
What about a form that is a scan?+
A scan is a picture, so there is no text to read and nothing to measure. Run it through OCR PDF first to add a text layer, then bring it back here.
Is the form uploaded?+
No. Nothing is uploaded, either when you build it or when an applicant fills it in.