Filling out PDF forms digitally is the best way to prevent the use of pen and paper at work. Only some people are fans of chunks of writing. It's the best and quickest way to solve modern problems.
As technology progresses, you will have to deal with different types of situations. Preparing yourself ahead for the future is a clever way to outsmart your competitors. That's why you need to learn how to fill out a PDF form on Mac. This article will guide you on how to do it with three methods, and at the end of the article, you will find a detailed comparison of the three methods.
Method 1. How to Fill in a PDF Form on Mac with UPDF
PDF forms are about marking the checkboxes or filling out the static fill-in-the-blanks. Filling in a PDF form on Mac is pretty easy if you have a PDF editor. PDF editors are the only way to penetrate any PDF file. You can't access or edit its content without having a PDF editor. For this purpose, we recommend to use UPDF.
UPDF for Mac and Windows is an all-in-one PDF software that allows you to fill out a PDF form on Mac easily. With the Form Field Recognition feature, it can highlight the fillable fields automatically for you. Besides, you can easily align the text in the form fields with the tools it provides. In addition, it also supports form creation!
Download it for a free trial now!
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Other Features of UPDF:
- Read PDF: You will get one of the best reading experiences. It provides different viewing modes to read PDF documents.
- Edit PDF: It allows you to edit every content present in the PDF document. From text to images, you can easily insert, delete, edit, copy, cut, and paste them.
- Convert PDF: It allows you to convert your PDF files to other formats, such as Word, Excel, PPT, image, HTML, XML, etc.
- Organize PDF Pages: You can also rotate, replace, insert, extract, split, crop, reorder, or rearrange the PDF pages by dragging and dropping the page's thumbnails.
- OCR: With Optical Character Recognition (OCR), you can convert scanned PDF documents into editable PDFs.
Well, these are some other features that you'll find in UPDF, you can purchase it to unlock more powerful features. Now, move forward on how to fill out a PDF form on Mac using it:
Step 1: Open a PDF
To fill in a PDF form, you need to open the file. Click on the "Open File" button and select the file from your device. Click the "Open" button to open the PDF file on your Mac.
Step 2: Fill in the PDF Form
Fillable forms are shown with blue boxes that you can click and enter information. Now, start to write down the information in the form. It can also select the yes or no questions in the form.

Step 3: How Do I Sign in the Form
UPDF for Mac supports you to sign the form in PDF. Just click the "Comment" icon on the left menu and then tap the "Signature" to add a signature to the form. Click the "Create Signature" button, write down your signature, and then click "Create" to create a signature, you can save it and reuse it the next time. Now you can select the signature which you create and sign in the form.

Video Tutorial on How to Fill Out a PDF Form on Mac
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Supports macOS 10.14.6 or later100% secure
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Method 2. How to Fill Out an Interactive PDF Form on Mac with Preview
There's another method to fill out an interactive PDF form on your Mac device, and it's completely free. But this method has some disadvantages as well. You can't wholly rely on Mac's Preview app. It doesn't have advanced features like OCR that you would find on UPDF.
Steps of Filling out Forms on Mac Preview:
- Step 1: Open up the PDF form on the Preview app you want to fill.
- Step 2: Click the "Show Form Filling Toolbar" button.
- Step 3: Everything is now set for filling in the empty spaces. Check on the fields and start typing your text. After filling it out, you can save and export it to PDF format.

Using the Mac Preview app to fill out PDF forms may also come with some disadvantages.
Considering that there are no advanced features in Preview, you can switch it to UPDF. UPDF offers more features, including the AI-powered OCR feature to turn scanned PDFs into searchable and editable PDFs, the smooth editing feature to let you make changes to the existing text, images, and links, the convert feature to enable you to convert PDFs to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Download and try it now.
Supports Windows 7 or later100% secure
Supports macOS 10.14.6 or later100% secure
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Method 3. How to Fill Out a PDF Form on Mac with Adobe Acrobat
Filling out PDF forms using Adobe Acrobat is almost similar to UPDF. Here's the step-by-step guide on how to fill out PDF forms on Mac using Adobe Acrobat:
- Step 1: Open Adobe Acrobat and import the PDF document file that needs to be filled.
- Step 2: Click the "Fill & Sign" button on the right toolbar.
- Step 3: Now, select text boxes and fill the form by adding text into fields. You can also add checkmarks to fill the checkboxes or radio buttons.
- Step 4: After finalizing the forms, you can save and share the PDF with others.

As we all know Adobe Acrobat is very expensive, and you need to pay US$239.88 per year for the Pro DC version. So many people switch to an Adobe Acrobat alternative to enjoy the same feature at a much more reasonable price. UPDF is the best choice, as it is the most cost-effective one among all the competitors, and it offers a complete PDF toolkit. Give it a shot.
Supports Windows 7 or later100% secure
Supports macOS 10.14.6 or later100% secure
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If you still have doubts, you can check the comparison chart among the three tools to make a wise decision.
Comparing the Three Methods to Fill out PDF on Mac
So far, you've seen how to fill out PDF on Mac using three different tools. You would be wondering which way to go. That's why we've prepared a comparison table of these tools to help you find the right one.
Platforms | Pricing | Ease of Use | Interface | OCR | Edit PDF | Convert PDF | Slideshow | Stickers |
UPDF | US$39.99/Year US$59.99/Perpetual Plan | 4.8 | UPDF has a friendly and attractive interface to give users a delightful experience. | PDF to Word, Excel, Csv, PPT, HTML, XML, Text, RTF, Images (JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, GIF) | ||||
Preview | Free | 4.6 | General | PDF to JPEG and PNG | ||||
Adobe Acrobat | US$239.88/Year | 4.3 | A little complicated to use, especially for beginners. | PDF to Word, Excel, PPT, HTML, XML, Text, RTF, Images (JPEG, PNG, TIFF) |
Every tool has its own set of features that helps users to fulfill their tasks. Similarly, every user has requirements that can only be fulfilled by a specific tool that holds the elements required to complete the job. Some people prefer to work with multiple free tools. To save money on tools, they put safety and productivity at high risk. Choosing a reliable and cost-effective PDF editor can solve most of the PDF-related problems!
Conclusion
In the same way, the article on how to fill out PDF forms on Mac gives you three choices to make. It's up to you which way you want to go. Seeing the comparison chart closely, UPDF would be an exciting choice for filling out your PDF documents on Mac. It comes with a low price tag and has the same features as Acrobat. You can check the detailed comparison between Adobe Acrobat and UPDF. UPDF has more advanced features when compared with Preview, and it has a more reasonable price when compared with Acrobat. What are you waiting for? Try it now.
Supports Windows 7 or later100% secure
Supports macOS 10.14.6 or later100% secure
100% secure
100% secure