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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; Ctrl + S saves to a new PDF.
  • Undo: Ctrl + Z.
You don’t need Edit PDF mode to fill a form: 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: 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; 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; it’s not part of the file.
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: 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 — 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; Ctrl + Shift + Z redoes 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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