Create & Fill Forms with UPDF on Mac

No more filling out printed forms and scanning them to share with others. UPDF has solved this problem with its Ultimate Form Solution. You can now create, edit, fill, and even sign forms directly in the UPDF app for Mac.

All the features you need, such as text fields, checkboxes, dropdown menus, form field recognition, and more, are available. Creating one form and making multiple copies with options to customize according to your needs has never been easier.

This comprehensive step-by-step guide will teach you how to create, edit, and fill out forms in any PDF document. Alternatively, you can watch the video guide below to learn more about these features.

If you still do not have UPDF on Mac, you can click the button below or go to the App Store to download UPDF.

And you can upgrade to the pro version at a very low price now.

1. How to Create Fillable PDF Forms from Scratch on Mac

You can easily create different fillable forms and adjust them as necessary by following the steps below:

Step 1. Go to “Tools ” at the  home page, choose the Blank option under the “Create PDF”. After this, select the paper style, then click on the Create to create one blank PDF.

Step 2. Now, you can click the Form mode from the Tools menu at top left side. Now, the menu of PDF forms will appear.

Text Field

Click on this button and draw it on the place where you want to add. You can easily add a text field/box anywhere on the PDF document where you want the form filler to enter information.

You can click to select it. Here, you can increase or decrease the text box size by dragging the side of the box, and change the position by dragging and dropping.

Moreover, you can double-click on the text field to change its properties. Here you can change its general information like name, tooltip, default value, etc, its style, and actions if needed.

Check Box

If need to select one or more options from a question, you can add check box to PDF forms. Just click on the Check Box. Draw to add it to the PDF. Same as a Text Field, you can also change its position, size, and properties as shown in the screenshot below.

Radio Button

When you need to select only one option from a group of options, you can use the Radio Button. Double-click it to reveal its properties panel on the right-hand side, as displayed below after adding it to your PDF.

To create one group of radio buttons, you need to make sure the names for the different radio buttons are the same and sort the Radio Button Choice like Choice1, Choice2, and Choice3... for each radio button.

Dropdown

With this option, you can create a dropdown menu in the form from which your fillers can select the most appropriate option. You can change its properties by adding a name, add tooltip, add the selectable items, allow user to enter custom text, and more by double clicking on the added dropdown menu.

List Box

The list box allows you to list out all the options and select one or more options from it. You can also customize its properties like name, tooltip, items, multiple selections, and more (according to the screenshot below).

Button

You can use this OK button if you want any button added to your form that does a specific action. You can choose the layout for the button, like Label Only, Icon Only, Label Over Icon, and more. Then, enter the label text and select the icon if needed to create the button.

If you need to create an action button, you can click on the Actions, select the trigger, action, and add an action to it.

Image Field

You can also add an Image Field to let others upload the image here. What you need to do is click on the Image Field icon, draw to add the image field, and customize the properties if needed. As shown in the screenshot, you can change the General, Style, and Action properties of an image field.

Date Field

To add a date field to the PDF, click on the Date Field and draw to add a date field to the PDF. You can go to General to change its name, tooltip, and more, and go to Style to change its date styles like its Format, Appearance, Alignment, etc.

Digital Signature

You can also add a digital signature field to get it signed. Click on the Digital Signature, draw to add, and customize its properties accordingly.

Step 2. When you finish customizing the PDF forms, you can go to the Save icon and choose the Save As option from the menu. Following this, you can save your prepared form on your device's specific location.

2. Create PDF Fillable PDF Forms Automatically

When you have one non-fillable PDF form and want to make it fillable in one click, you can use UPDF's   Form Field Recognition to do it. Here is the guide.

Step 1. Open the PDF form with UPDF on Mac. Navigate to the Tools > Form > …More options> Form Field Recognition. Click on it, and UPDF will analyze the PDF form and convert your non-fillable PDF forms into fillable ones.

Step 2. You can click on the Save icon to save your fillable PDF form on your device.

3. How to Fill Forms in PDF Documents

After creating the forms, you can fill them out on your own or ask others to fill out them. You can use UPDF on Mac to fill out them easily. Here is the guide.

• Just open the PDF. You can go to “Tools” > “Comment” mode.
•  Now, you can click on the fillable form and enter the text to fill.
• Similarly, the checkboxes and radio buttons will fill up when you click them.
• The dropdown menus will work as intended, so you can see different options and select as needed.
• Select the Save option once you make all the necessary changes, and choose Save As to save it in another format or file.

4. Tips to Create and Fill Your Fillable PDF Forms

UPDF for Mac has more than the features mentioned above. We will list all the tips with some excellent features to help you create and fill PDF forms better.

Duplicate Across Pages

If you need to duplicate the fields in one page to several pages, you can choose the textbox, field, etc., select the Duplicate Across Pages option, choose the pages you want to duplicate the elements, and apply it by clicking OK. Save the document to save all the changes you have made.

Create Multiple Form Copies

After you have added one field like a dropdown menu or a checkbox, you can use the Create Multiple Copies to duplicate them. Just select the field you need to create copies, click on Create Multiple Copies, enter the Numbers of Fields, and customize other settings as shown below, click on OK lastly.

Align Fields

You can change the alignment of your forms or elements using this feature, like aligning in six different directions or changing distributions. You need to select all the fields by holding the CMD keyboard plus clicking, then click on the Align and select the option you need.

Clear Form

If your forms are filled with wrong contents and want to clear them all, you can open the form with UPDF and click on Clear Form in UPDF to clear them in one click. For this, access the menu for …More and choose the Clear Form option from the drop-down menu.

Import and Export Data

To import and export data, you can go to the Tools > Form > …More  > Import or Export Data.

Hope you can create and fill your fillable PDF forms with no effort with this guide.