Fill Forms in Adobe Acrobat Reader

Fill Forms in Adobe Acrobat Reader

Note: 

Adobe is testing a new Fill & Sign experience in Acrobat. After updating to the latest release, if the steps and the user interface mentioned in this document don’t match with your version of Acrobat, see Fill and sign PDF forms | New experience.


Use the Fill & Sign tool to easily fill, sign, and send your forms or documents electronically. This document explains how to fill, sign, and send your forms from your desktop using Acrobat or Reader.

How to fill out your PDF form

  1. 1. Open the PDF document or form in Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.

  2. 2. Click Fill & Sign in the right pane, or click the Sign icon in the toolbar.

    Fill and Sign tool

  3. 3. Click Fill and Sign. The specific tools and options are displayed in the toolbar. Use them to fill out your form.

    Fill and Sign toolbar

    A. Annotations to fill the form B. Choose color C. Sign form D. Request signatures 

  4. 4. Hover the mouse over a form field and if you see a blue box, continue with this step (otherwise skip to the next step):

    • If you see a blue box over a form field on hover, that means the form is fillable or interactive - it contains fields that you can select or fill in. Click anywhere in the blue box, the cursor is placed at the right position automatically. Type your text to complete the field.
     
    • Similarly, for a checkbox or a radio button, click in the field to select the option.
    Hover the mouse over a field to display the detected form field
    Hover the mouse to display the detected text field

    Checkbox field auto-detected
    Checkbox field auto-detected

  5. 5. Hover the mouse over a form field and if you see no blue box, that means it's a flat form. You can manually fill or add text.

    • Click Add Text  in the toolbar. Click at the place in the document where you want to add the text, and then start typing.
    Fill or add text

    • Use the field toolbar to make appropriate changes:
      • To resize a field, use the font up or down button in the toolbar - the first two buttons from left.
      • To move a field, move your pointer closer to field border until you see the drag handle, and then hold and move the field as required.
      • To delete a field or typed text, click the trash button.
      • To convert a normal text field into the comb field or vice versa, click the comb button - the second button from the right.
      • To use annotations or symbols, click the Options menu  and select the annotation.
    • Use Comb fields to fill or add text in continuous boxes in a line/row. The Comb field spreads the user-entered text evenly across the width of the text field, as shown below. While you are typing, if the characters do not fit in each box, adjust the spacing with the grab handle where the resize here points in the image above.
    Comb field and normal text field

    • Use Crossmark, Checkmark, and Dot to fill in check boxes and radio buttons. Use the Circle to circle text or the Line to strike out text. Click an annotation in the toolbar to select it, and then click on the form where you want to place the annotation. (Each click places the selected annotation at the respective location on the form.)
    Annotation tools

    Note: 

    Resize the first annotation you place to fit the check box or radio button in the document, and the next annotations you add will be of the same size and will fit the rest of the box/circle fields.


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