Convert a PDF to a fillable form

Open an existing PDF and add interactive text fields, checkboxes, radio choices and dropdowns. Everything stays on your device.

100% private: everything runs on your computer, your files never leave your device.

Open the PDF you want to make fillable
Place and configure the interactive fields
Download a compatible fillable PDF

What converting a PDF to a fillable form means

Convert PDF to Fillable Form opens a PDF you already have and lets you place real interactive fields on top of its pages: text boxes, checkboxes, radio groups and dropdowns. The result is a standard AcroForm PDF that people can fill in and save with Acrobat Reader, Preview, Chrome, Edge, Firefox or a phone, without printing anything. The whole job happens inside your browser and the document is never uploaded.

It is the tool for a form that exists only as a static document: an application printed from a word processor, a scanned registration sheet, a supplier questionnaire that arrives as a flat PDF. You keep the original layout and add the fields where the boxes and lines already are. To design a form from an empty page, the companion Create PDF Form tool starts on a blank A4 sheet with the same builder.

How to make an existing PDF fillable

Add the PDF. It opens straight away in the editor with the Forms tab selected; page editing is deliberately switched off so the original pages stay untouched.
Press Detect fields locally if the document has boxes, underlines or checkboxes drawn on it. The tool scans each page, proposes fields where it finds them and takes the label from the nearby text; a status line tells you how many fields were suggested and how many existing ones were kept.
Add anything the detector missed by hand: choose Text field, Checkbox, Radio group or Dropdown and draw it on the page. For a whole block at once, Assisted form inserts a Contact, Request or Survey template you can edit.
Select any field to set its Field name, mark it as a Required field, allow Multiple lines for long answers, or type the options one per line for radio groups and dropdowns.
Press Save fillable PDF. The file is written on your device and downloaded with the suffix _fillable and a timestamp.

What is kept, what is added and what is not possible

The builder does not rebuild the document. Your pages are loaded as they are and the new fields are attached to them, so text, images, vector graphics, bookmarks and metadata remain as before. Fields the PDF already contained are preserved and the detector skips anything overlapping them.

Four field types: text, checkbox, radio group and dropdown. Signature, date and button fields are not available.
Radio groups and dropdowns take up to 50 options each. Field names accept up to 96 characters.
Automatic detection proposes at most 150 fields per page and only where it can read a label next to the box; unlabelled rules are ignored because they are usually table borders.
Saving writes a new revision of the file, so any digital signature the PDF already carried becomes invalid. The guide in the editor warns you about this.
Password-protected PDFs cannot be opened here. Remove the password with Decrypt PDF first.

Privacy: your document stays on your device

Opening the PDF, detecting fields, drawing them and saving the fillable copy are all done by libraries running in your browser tab. Nothing is sent to a server. The field detector is a geometric analysis of the rendered page combined with the text the PDF already contains; on scanned pages without a text layer it uses a text recognition engine that is also served from OléPDF's own domain and runs on your computer.

That is why the tool is appropriate for forms that will collect names, identity numbers, bank details or medical information: the template is built on your machine.

Typical uses

A clinic or an association with a paper form that patients or members still fill in by hand, turned into a version that can be completed on screen.
A company that receives an order sheet or a supplier questionnaire as a flat PDF and wants customers to return it typed rather than scanned.
A course coordinator who has an enrolment form in PDF and needs checkboxes and a couple of dropdowns added before sending it out.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free to convert a PDF into a fillable form?

Yes. Opening a PDF, adding fields and saving the fillable copy is free and unlimited, with no account, no watermark and no daily quota. Saving a form never counts against the allowance of the paid editor tools.

What does Detect fields locally actually detect?

It looks for rectangles, underlines and small squares drawn on each page and turns them into text fields or checkboxes, named after the text printed next to them. Labels marked with an asterisk or the word required are flagged as required. Every suggestion can be moved, renamed or deleted.

Does it work with a scanned form?

Yes, as long as the boxes are clearly drawn. On a page with no text layer the detector reads the labels with local text recognition, which takes a little longer. You can always place fields by hand over any scan.

Can I add a signature field?

No. The builder offers text, checkbox, radio group and dropdown fields only. When the completed form needs to be signed, use Sign PDF for a drawn or placed signature, or Sign with certificate for a digital one.

Why did saving invalidate the signature that was in the PDF?

Adding fields writes a new version of the file, and a digital signature only covers the bytes that were signed. Convert the document to a fillable form first and sign it afterwards.

PDF Editor

All tools

Photos rather than PDFs? Try OléPIC, our image tools.