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Fill a PDF form
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Type into text fields, tick checkboxes and radio buttons, and pick values from lists in a fillable PDF form, then save the filled form as a PDF.
Available in pre-release 3.7
Click a field and type. At a glance:
  • Text field: click it, type, press Tab for the next field.
  • Checkbox / radio button: click it.
  • Combo box / list box: click it, then click a value in the list.
  • Find empty fields: View → Highlight Form Fields (on by default).
  • Save: Ctrl + Shift + S saves into the PDF, and Ctrl + S saves to a new PDF.
  • Undo: Ctrl + Z.
You don’t need Edit PDF mode to fill a form, because fields work with it on or off. In Edit PDF mode with an annotation selected, the first click only deselects the annotation.

Fill in fields #

Hover over a field, and the cursor shows whether you can type into it or click it. Read-only fields can’t be changed.
Text fields:
  1. Click the field. An edit box opens over it with the current text selected.
  2. Type.
  3. Finish with any of:
    • Enter (in a multi-line field Enter starts a new line)
    • Tab / Shift + Tab: keep the text and go to the next / previous text or list field on the same page (checkboxes and radio buttons are skipped)
    • click somewhere else
  4. Esc closes the box without keeping what you typed.
Password fields hide what you type. Fields with a maximum length stop accepting text at that length.
Checkboxes: click to check, click again to uncheck.
Radio buttons: click one to select it, and the others in the group are cleared. Clicking the selected one clears it, unless the form doesn’t allow that.
Combo boxes and list boxes: click the field. A list of values drops down (below the field, or above it near the bottom of the window). Click a value, or use the arrow keys and Enter. Esc or clicking away closes the list without changing the value.
If the form has calculations (for example a total that adds up other fields), they run when you change a field. To turn off JavaScript in PDFs, set DisableJavaScript = true in Advanced settings. Calculations then don’t run.
Hovering over a field shows its tooltip, if the form’s author gave it one.

Highlight empty fields #

Empty fields are tinted pale blue, so you can see what’s left to fill in. Filled-in fields, read-only fields and signed signature fields are not tinted. The tint is only on screen and is not part of the file.
A form with its empty fields tinted blue
Turn it on or off:
  • View → Highlight Form Fields
  • Ctrl + K, then Toggle Highlight Form Fields (CmdToggleHighlightFormFields) in Command Palette
  • HighlightFormFields in Advanced settings (default true)

Sign a signature field #

Click an empty signature field to open Sign Document with that field selected. See Sign a PDF.

Save the filled form #

After you change a field, the document’s tab shows a red dot, which means it has unsaved changes. Save them into the PDF:
To Do
Overwrite the PDF Ctrl + Shift + S, Ctrl + K then Save Annotations to existing PDF (CmdSaveAnnotations), tab context menu Save changes to existing PDF, or right-click the page → Annotations → Save changes
Save to a new PDF Ctrl + S, Ctrl + K then Save Annotations to a new PDF (CmdSaveAnnotationsNewFile), tab context menu Save changes to new PDF, or right-click the page → Annotations → Save to new file
Throw the changes away Ctrl + K then Discard Changes (CmdDiscardChanges), tab context menu Discard changes, or right-click the page → Annotations → Discard changes. It reloads the file from disk
In Edit PDF mode the Save button at the end of the Edit PDF toolbar does the same. Hover over it for the other two choices.
Saving to a new PDF suggests <name> Copy.pdf next to the original. After saving, SumatraPDF reloads the saved file.
If you close the document (or SumatraPDF) with unsaved changes, the Unsaved changes dialog asks what to do:
  • Save to existing PDF overwrites the PDF.
  • Save to new PDF asks for a file name.
  • Discard changes loses what you filled in.
  • Cancel keeps the document open.

Make the filled form final #

A saved form can still be edited in SumatraPDF and other PDF programs. To turn the filled-in values into ordinary page content, bake the PDF. See Flatten PDF forms and annotations.

Tips #

  • Use Tab to go through the text fields of a page without the mouse.
  • Use Save to new PDF to keep the blank form for next time.
  • Use Ctrl + Z to take back a change, and Ctrl + Shift + Z to redo it. Inside an open text box, Ctrl + Z undoes typing in that box.
  • Bake the form before you send it if the recipient shouldn’t change the answers.

See also #

SumatraPDF documentation
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Fill a PDF form
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