5 Tools to Create Fillable PDF Forms

To create a fillable PDF for work, school, college, university or just for yourself, you need the right solution for this non-trivial purpose. The most popular program that allows you to read, create and edit PDF files and fillable forms is, of course, Adobe Acrobat DC, which you can download from the official website. It’s easy to create fillable forms with this great and easy to use tool, but you have to sign up for a paid subscription, which can be a huge hurdle for many of us.

If you can’t afford to use Adobe Acrobat DC, you may want to consider a free alternative tool. In this article, you will find the 5 best programs that also work.

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ONLYOFFICE DOCUMENTS

ONLYOFFICE DOCUMENTS An open source online office suite designed for text documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and fillable forms. It is fully compatible with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files and even supports ODF formats. That’s why ONLYOFFICE Docs is a good alternative to other well-known office suites, such as Microsoft Office and Google Docs.

With ONLYOFFICE Docs, you work with documents through your web browser. ONLYOFFICE documents are published on a server, and you can easily integrate them with many file sharing platforms and document management solutions, including Nextcloud, Redmine, Nuxeo, ownCloud, SharePoint, Alfresco, Moodle, Confluence, Plone, Chamilo, etc. You can also create a personal desktop in the cloud, which is free for teams of up to 5 users, if you don’t want to install the self-hosted version.

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The good news for regular users is that ONLYOFFICE comes with free desktop and mobile apps for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android.

When it comes to filling out forms, ONLYOFFICE Docs lets you create blank templates from scratch or use existing DOCX files and convert them into fillable PDFs. You can insert text fields, images, radio buttons, drop-down lists, combo boxes, and check boxes, and modify their properties. Ready-to-use templates with interactive fields can be saved in PDF format.

You can also save your form in ONLYOFFICE Docs as an OFORM file. This is a special format for online fillable forms.

ApowerPDF

No doubt, ApowerPDF It is one of the easiest PDF editing tools to use as it has a very user friendly and intuitive interface with a beautiful design.

The solution comes with a variety of PDF editing options to choose from. You can use ApowerPDF to easily add images and text, edit your graphics, add watermarks to PDF files for better protection, and more. The software is not only ideal for individuals but can also be very beneficial for businesses.

ApowerPDF allows you to create your own PDF files from scratch or convert various compatible file types to PDF. This tool also has a decent amount of page view modes that can be used for different purposes. You can read your PDF files in two page view, one page view or you can even use scrolling page view as per your requirement.

When it comes to fillable forms, ApowerPDF offers many interactive form controls, such as push buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, combo boxes, list boxes, and text fields. Each form control has editable properties so you can design your document the way you want. You can also import and export data to fill out PDF forms with a single click. All these features are available on the Forms tab.

ApowerPDF is completely free but you can always upgrade to a paid version if you need more editing features.

Gotform

Gotform It is an online form builder and PDF converter for those who don’t want to install software. The tool allows you to create custom PDF forms that users can easily fill out and send from their digital device, be it a laptop, tablet or mobile phone. So you can create digital forms and collect all the data online and upload them later if needed.

This tool allows you to add fillable form fields of different types. You just need to drag and drop to easily add the PDF file you want to edit and add forms to the PDF file. With Jotform, you can insert text fields, check boxes, and multiple choice questions. Another useful feature is the signature field where other users can enter their names.

When the form is ready, you can email it or embed it on your website or blog so other users can fill it out digitally. You also have the option to send the form link directly to the people you work with.

With Jotform, you can select templates from the official library. You can find models for any purpose there. However, the free pricing plan allows you to use a limited number of templates. If you need more templates, you will need to upgrade to a paid version.

DocHub

other online service, DocHub, is a web-based PDF editor that is quite similar to Jotform. It provides a huge set of PDF editing and publishing functions and allows you to collect responses from other users over the Internet. It comes in a free version with some limitations and a professional version with full features.

Since DocHub is a fully web-based tool, you can not only work with PDFs and interactive forms in a web browser, but there is also a separate app for smartphones. It allows you to comment on documents, add fields, merge files, and add pages and blank text.

The editing layout is simple with all the tools displayed in the toolbar. It supports drag and drop functionality to add almost any element to the document.

Google Drive and Dropbox integration makes it possible to access documents from anywhere and from any device. Documents are automatically saved and can be shared with a URL. It is a multilingual service with SSL encryption protection. Besides PDF, formats like DOC, PPT, XLS, TXT, DOCX, and PPTX are also supported.

DocHub is compatible with all native PDF fields. The built-in field manager lets you edit fields and create new fields for checkboxes, signatures, initials, and more. You can assign roles to models, allowing multiple parties to implement contracts. Each recipient can fill out their own files to send back to you, and any copies you receive can be conveniently organized within your main template.

PDFEscape

PDFescape It is an online form builder that allows users to create PDF forms for free even without registration. It also comes with a PDF editor, which allows editing and viewing of created PDF files. PDFescape also allows you to print or download the created forms for offline use. Moreover, there is an online sharing option that you can use to share your document with other users in real time.

One of the big advantages of PDFescape is that it has a very intuitive interface that makes it easy to create files and add fields. It allows you to insert text and images as well as form fields of various types, such as text paragraphs, check boxes, radio buttons, list boxes, drop-down lists, reset buttons, and submit.

All essential features of PDFescape are available for free and without registration. However, it may be a good idea to create an account if you want to use this solution regularly.

The free version of PDFescape has some limitations. For example, the maximum size of PDF files you can upload is 10MB. Also there should be no more than 100 pages max per file and you can keep only 10 files.

conclusion

Here are the 5 best software tools for creating fillable PDF forms, both online and offline. All the solutions on the list are good enough when it comes to filling out forms. However, all of them have advantages and disadvantages. The best advice we can give you is to try each solution yourself and decide what works best for you.