QuickMergeCreate a Fillable PDF
Place text boxes, checkboxes, dropdowns and date fields onto any PDF, then save it as a form people can type into — or flatten it so the answers become part of the page. The document is rendered and rewritten in your browser and is never uploaded.
How do I make a PDF fillable?
Drag a PDF here
or click to browse — the pages render below and you place fields on them
No fields yet.
How to create a writable PDF document from one you already have
A fillable PDF is an ordinary PDF with form fields laid over the page: named boxes a reader can type into, tick or choose from, using nothing but the PDF reader they already have. It is the right answer whenever a document has to be completed by someone who does not have your software — an application form, a booking sheet, a consent form, a timesheet. They fill it in, save, and send it back, with no account and no app between them and the task.
The work is placing the fields. Load the PDF, pick a field type, and click where it should sit; drag to move it, drag the corner to resize it, and give it a name so the values are identifiable when they come back. Text boxes take typed input, checkboxes take a tick, dropdowns take a list you define, and a date field is a text box you have labelled as one. When the layout is right, save it as a fillable PDF and it works in Acrobat, Preview, Chrome, Edge and everything else that reads the standard.
Flattening, and why the search volume for it is so high
Flattening a PDF converts the form fields into ordinary page content. The text stays exactly where it was, but it stops being a field: nobody can edit it, no reader will offer to, and the values cannot be changed or extracted as form data. That is what you want at the end of the process rather than the start — a completed form that has been flattened is a record, and one that has not is a draft anyone can alter.
It is also the reliable fix for two problems people meet constantly. A form that displays differently in different readers usually stops doing so once flattened, because the reader is no longer rendering the fields itself. And a form somebody keeps accidentally editing stops being editable. Both buttons are here for that reason: save fillable while the form is being filled, flatten when it is done.
Adding text to a PDF without making a form at all
A good share of people looking to create an editable PDF only want to add text to one: a date in a blank, a name on a line, a note in a margin. Place a text box, type the value into it as the default, and flatten — the text becomes part of the page and the file is a normal PDF again. It is quicker than any editor and it does not require the document to be re-typed.
What this does not do
It does not edit the text that is already in the PDF. Changing a paragraph that was written into the document means either re-typesetting the page or covering it, and any tool that offers to do it in place is doing one of those two things whether it says so or not. If you need to rework the content rather than add to it, export it to Word, edit there and export back — the layout will shift, and that is the honest cost. If you need something gone permanently rather than covered, redact it. And if the PDF is a scan, there is no text to work with at all until you run OCR on it.
Nothing is uploaded
The pages are rendered with pdf.js and the form is written with pdf-lib, both running in this browser tab. Forms are exactly the documents that should not be passing through a third party on their way to being built — they collect names, addresses, signatures and account details by design — so the file stays on your device from the moment you drop it in.
Next steps
Before this step
- run OCR on a scanned form first — a scan has no text layer to work against.
- settle the page order first — fields are placed against the pages in front of you.
Related tools
- rewrite the content instead — when the text itself has to change rather than be added to.
- remove something permanently — covering it with a field is not removal.
What to do with the result
- password-protect the finished form — before it goes to someone outside your organisation.
- number a multi-page form — so returned pages can be matched up.
Browse all PDF tools, or see every QuickMerge tool.
Frequently asked questions
Load the PDF above, choose a field type and click where it should go. Drag to move a field and drag its corner to resize it. Give each one a name, then save as a fillable PDF — it opens as a form in Acrobat, Preview, Chrome and any other standards-compliant reader.
Place fields on it. The original page is unchanged; the fields sit on top of it, so a printed form or an exported document becomes something people can type into without you rebuilding it.
It turns the form fields into ordinary page content. The text stays exactly where it was but stops being a field, so nobody can edit it and no reader offers to. Flatten a completed form to turn it into a record; leave it fillable while it is still being filled in.
Place a text box, type your text as its default value, and use Flatten instead of Save. The text becomes part of the page and the file is a normal PDF again — quicker than any editor and it does not need the document re-typed.
No, and it is worth being clear about why. Editing existing text means re-typesetting the page or covering it, which is what every tool offering it actually does. To rework content, export to Word and accept that the layout will shift. To remove something permanently, redact it.
Flatten it. That is exactly what flattening is for — the values become page content and there is no field left to change. If the whole document also needs to be locked, add a password afterwards.
No. Rendering uses pdf.js and the form is written by pdf-lib, both in this browser tab. That matters more here than almost anywhere on the site — forms exist to collect names, addresses and account details, so the blank one should not be passing through a third party either.