How to Fill PDF Forms on Mac and Windows without Hassle

iskysoft

• Filed to: Mac Tutorials

"I got a form but in PDF format. How can I fill out PDF form?"
"I cannot fill PDF forms in Adobe Reader. What can I do?"
Many of such questions can be found from the Internet. And you will find a number of PDF form filler that allows you to fill out PDF forms easily and conveniently. The ability to fill forms without altering the overall layout of the file or document comes especially important for legal, medical, employment and even bank forms. For this purpose, here we will show you the easiest way to fill out PDF forms with original layout preserved. You just need: PDFelement Pro .

Part 1. How to Use PDF Filler for Mac (10.15 Catalina included)

Scenario 1. How to Fill out a PDF Form on Mac

PDFelement Pro for Mac - The Best PDF Form Filler

A full featured PDF editing program that works on Mac (10.15 Catalina included) with great PDF form filling feature is PDFelement Pro. Besides its standard editing features like annotations, import, export and adding text or images, this PDF filler for Mac has excellent support for PDF forms.

Filling out interactive PDF forms on a Mac OSX powered machine has never been easier, thanks to PDFelement Pro for Mac. Since interactive forms are recognized by the program, users need to simply click on the field to fill it out and begin typing. Meanwhile, users could also add annotations as a text field for non-interactive PDF forms.

Key Features of This PDF Filler:

  • Easily create and fill PDF forms.
  • Import and Extract PDF Forms Data freely.
  • Convert PDF to images, Word, Excel, PPT, EPUB and more formats.
  • Easily mark up and annotate PDF files with multiple markup tools.
  • Combine multiple files into PDF and split PDF into several files.
macOS 10.15 Catalina


Fill PDF Forms on Mac in Easy Steps (10.15 Catalina included)

Step 1. Load Your PDF

To use this PDF filler on a Mac computer, simply launch the program and import the file by clicking the "Open File" button. You will then have the ability to fill out forms without hassle.

open pdf

If the file has interactive forms, the forms would be highlighted indicating that the fields can be filled out with any value. By clicking on any of the highlighted text fields, users can easily fill out the forms.

Step 2. Fill PDF Form

In the event that the file has forms that were not set as interactive forms, a user can fill out non-interactive PDF forms by clicking on the "Comment" tab. After that a user can click on the "Text Comment" button to input texts to the form.

fill in pdf forms

Another amazing feature the program has is importing and exporting PDF form data so that filling out the forms does not have to be done manually. This handy ability makes the task quicker and easier.


Scenario 2. How to Create a PDF Form on Mac (10.15 Catalina included)

PDFelement Pro also comes with another advanced feature. That is, to create PDF forms. Aside from its support for predefined and built-in PDF form functions, the app has other form specific tools that aid in the creation of a form. These tools include Text Fields, Radio Button, Check Box, List box, Button and Drop Down Menu.

Step 1. Import PDF from Local Computer

To create the form, simply click the "Open File" button to open the file with the Pro version of iSkysoft PDFelement Pro for Mac. After the file has been fully loaded, you can then proceed.

Step 2. Create a PDF Form

On the page, click on the "Form" button and then you can create a PDF form with various kind of tools including Text Field, Check Box, Radio Button, Dropdown, List Box and Button. Finally, save your work.

create a pdf form


Part 2. How to Fill PDF Forms on Windows

PDFelement Pro for Windows - The Best PDF Form Filler for Windows

PDFelement Pro also works wonderfully as PDF filler for Windows. You can enjoy the same great features as the Mac OS compatible counterpart. The Windows version of PDF form filler also has the capability to edit PDF documents and, of course, fill out predefined PDF forms. Files saved as an office type could also be imported to be edited as PDF for the necessary changes and updates.

Key Features of This PDF editor:

  • Easily create and fill PDF forms on Windows.
  • Import and Extract PDF Forms Data freely.
  • Combine multiple files into PDF and split PDF into several files.

1. Directly Fill a Form in PDF

Simply click the "Comment" button and then select the Sticky Notes and Text Boxes that you want to use and drag it to anywhere on PDF file. You can then just type the information that you want to add. The color for both can be changed.

For non-interactive form, you can go to "Edit" bar and choose the "Add Text" tool to fill out the form. This is true to all documents saved in any format that supports fillable forms.

fill out pdf forms on windows

2. Convert PDF to Fillable Form

The iSkysoft PDF Editor can also convert the files from PDF to different Windows formats. This functionality comes in handy when the recipient does not have a PDF software and needs to use a different program for any reason. This also allows for easy editing which includes adding text and images.

To do this, click the "Convert" tab then choose the format to which you wish to convert the file. Default options include MS Word, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint among others. After such, the file could be exported or saved to any desired format including PDF.

convert pdf to other formats

PDFelement Pro is undoubtedly able to maximize the ideal features and characteristics of PDF to the delight of its users. As it lets users edit PDF documents on either Mac OS (10.15 Catalina included) or Windows OS powered computers easily and effortlessly, it is no wonder that this program is among the top software used for this purpose. With increasing support to a number of platforms, it effectively widens the margin for productivity. Whether in the field of education, commerce, medicine or law, its extensive features have been proven to be very beneficial when editing or filling out forms. Truly, this program is a dependable partner for such purposes.


Part 3. How to Fill PDF Form from Excel on Mac (10.15 Catalina included)

To be able to fill PDF forms from Excel, the best application to use is PDFelement Pro for Mac. You can use this program to convert PDF form to Excel format, and then edit the form data in Excel directly. The following is what you will need to do.

Step 1. Launch the PDF editor

First, you will need to make sure that iSkysoft PDFelement is installed on your Mac. Once you have installed the application, launch it.

convert pdf

Step 2. Convert PDF form to Excel

Now drag and drop your PDF files to the pop up window that will come up. Alternatively, you can click on the Add Files button and then import the PDFs that you would like to convert.

Once the PDF files have been imported, you will need to click on the "Convert" button to view the output format menu. In the list, choose Excel. If you are converting a scanned PDF document, you will need to turn on the OCR feature. After that, you will need to customize the page range and then click on "File" > "Export To" to start the conversion. When finished, you can start filling out PDF form in Excel.

convert pdf to excel

Tip 1. Convert PDF to fillable form using PDFelement Pro
Tip 2. Easily write on PDF forms using PDFelement Pro


Part 4. Cannot Fill Out PDF Form in Adobe Acrobat? Fixed!

When filling out your PDF form in Adobe Acrobat editor, you may encounter the following problems.

1. A warning message that keeps telling you this: "Can't fill out or save PDF form"

To resolve this issue, you will need to enable the Typewriter tool if the PDF does not gave form fields. It is found under "Tools" in the program's interface. It this does not work, try upgrading to the latest version of Adobe Acrobat.

2. "This operation is not permitted"

If you get this error when trying to fill out or submit your PDF form, check for hidden objects or embedded fonts by going to choose Files, and then Properties, and then the Font tab.

3. "The file you have opened complies with PDF/a standard and has been opened as Read Only to prevent modification."

When you get this error, it is probably because you do not have form fields. You will need to use the Typewriter tool or add the fields manually.

4. You are unable share the PDF form with via email

To resolve this issue, you will need to create a regular button instead of a "Submit" button and then go to the dropdown to "Submit". After that, click on the "Submit" tab and then choose "PDF" as the file type to send.

5. The PDF file does not have interactive form fields

When you face this problem, you will simply need to use the Typewriter tool or the Form Field Recognition tool to create form fields.

iskysoft

Ivan Cook

chief Editor

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