About fillable PDF forms and determining their capabilities

The free Adobe Reader cannot create fillable forms. You need the full Acrobat product to create forms that Reader users and other Acrobat users can fill in.

In Acrobat 9 and Acrobat X, you can create interactive forms that other Acrobat or Reader users can fill in and submit. Another option in Acrobat Professional or Pro Extended lets you save a PDF as a simple form where users can type information directly onto the PDF.

Acrobat 10.x: 

• Create forms using Acrobat
• Enable Reader users to save form data

Many companies, organizations, and government agencies use Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Capture to convert their paper forms to PDF (Portable Document Format) forms. PDF forms can be accessed over the Internet or via email. If a PDF form includes form fields (for example, text fields, buttons, list boxes), you can fill the form onscreen with an Acrobat product. (Acrobat products include Adobe Reader, Acrobat 3D, Acrobat Professional, or Acrobat Standard.)

With Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions, you can create a rights-enabled PDF form. With a rights-enabled form, Adobe Reader users can comment on, fill, save, distribute, submit, and add digital signatures to the form. When you open a rights-enabled PDF form in Adobe Reader, a dialog box appears outlining the extended capabilities of the PDF file.

For more information about Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions, see the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/products/server/readerextensions.

The following Acrobat products enable you to work with PDF forms:

Adobe Reader provides the following forms capabilities:

• View, navigate, and print PDF forms, including form field data
• Search forms (requires Adobe Reader with Search)
• Fill fields within a PDF form (cannot save changes to a PDF form)

If a PDF form is rights-enabled, Adobe Reader provides these additional capabilities:

• Save forms and data locally
• Fill and submit forms online
• Distribute forms to others for review and comment
• Add digital signatures

Acrobat Standard contains all the capabilities of Adobe Reader, in addition to the following:

• Export and save PDF forms in Forms Data Format (FDF). FDF is a text file format specifically for data exported from PDF form fields. FDF files are smaller than PDF files because they contain only form field data, not the entire form.
• Save or Export PDF form information as a PDF file or in XFDF format for XML-based FDF files.

Acrobat 3D and Acrobat Professional contains all the capabilities of Acrobat Standard, and allow you to create Adobe PDF form fields. On Windows only, Acrobat 3D and Acrobat Professional 6.0 and 7.0 include Adobe LiveCycle Designer 6.0 or 7.0. More advanced features in Adobe LiveCycle Designer let you use scripting objects, integrate a form with a data source, and create dynamic forms.

To determine whether you can fill a PDF form onscreen, check to see if it contains interactive form fields and check for restrictive security settings. (For more information about PDF security settings, see the Acrobat or Adobe Reader Help.)

To determine whether a form contains interactive form fields, do the following:

Note: If you use Acrobat 3D or Acrobat Professional, you can verify that a form contains form fields by selecting a form tool. Acrobat then highlights any form fields. On Windows XP, form fields are highlighted in blue.

If the PDF form doesn't contain form fields, you have the following options for completing the form:

• Print the form and fill it manually.
• Use the Text Box tool (formerly the Free Text tool) or the TouchUp Text tool to type text in the document. (For more information about using the Text Box tool and TouchUp Text tool, see Acrobat Help.)

If you use Acrobat 3D or Acrobat Professional, and the PDF form doesn't have restrictive security settings, you can use form tools to create form fields. For information about creating form fields, see the following sources:

• "Creating and Filling Out Adobe PDF Forms" in the Acrobat 6 Professional Help. (In Acrobat, choose Help > Complete Acrobat 6 or 7 Help.)
• "Create PDF Forms" in the Acrobat Professional 6 Help. (In Acrobat, choose Help > How To > Advanced Editing.)
• "Creating Adobe PDF Forms" in the Acrobat 3D or Acrobat Professional 7.0 Help
• Acrobat Forms JavaScript Specification at http://partners.adobe.com/asn/acrobat
• Acrobat Forms Data Format (FDF) Toolkit SDK at http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/acrobat/fdf/topic.html

To check the security settings of a PDF form:

You can fill PDF versions of certain IRS tax forms onscreen with any Acrobat product, available from the IRS on the Small Business Resource Guide CD-ROM 2002. To obtain the Small Business Resource Guide CD-ROM 2002, call the IRS at 800-829-3676 and request IRS Publication 3207, or visit the IRS website.

Note: You cannot electronically submit filled PDF forms to the IRS. However, the IRS now provides rights-enabled PDF forms so you can save filled form information using Adobe Reader.