Tag
Fillable Forms
Interactive PDF forms: filling them, building them, and working out why the one in front of you has no fields at all. Covers AcroForms, flat forms that only look interactive, and scanned forms that are just pictures.
19 posts
XFA Forms Explained
XFA (XML Forms Architecture) is the more powerful, more complex, and increasingly deprecated form technology in the PDF ecosystem. XFA forms support dynamic…
EPUB vs MOBI: Which eBook Format Should You Use?
If you've bought ebooks for more than a few years, you've ended up with a mixed library: EPUBs from Kobo, MOBI files from old Kindle purchases, AZW3 from newer…
How to Export PDF Form Data (and Actually Use It Downstream)
Once your form is filled, the data sitting inside the PDF is rarely the final destination. It needs to feed a database, populate a CSV, trigger a workflow, or…
How to Import Data Into a PDF Form (Pre-Fill Without Re-Authoring)
If you have ever needed to send the same form to 50 customers with each customer's name, account number, and address pre-filled, you have met the case for data…
How to Add a Signature Field to a PDF Form
A signature field is a specific PDF form field designed to capture a signature, either an electronic signature drawn or typed in the moment, or a digital…
How to Add Validation to a PDF Form (So Your Data Stays Clean)
A PDF form is only as good as the data it produces. Without validation, users will leave required fields blank, type "N/A" where you expected a number, enter…
How to Add Calculations to a PDF Form (Subtotals, Totals, and Real Math)
A fillable PDF that does arithmetic for the user is dramatically more useful than one that asks them to fill in every total themselves. Quantity times price…
How to Add Checkboxes to a PDF Form (Single Choice and Multi-Select)
Checkboxes are deceptively simple. A square with a check mark, what could go wrong? In practice, the choice between a single checkbox, multiple checkboxes, and…
How to Add a Dropdown (Combo Box) to a PDF Form
Dropdowns, what the PDF spec calls combo boxes, are the right field type when you need users to pick one option from a long list. Countries, US states…
PDF Form Field Types Explained
When you open a fillable PDF and click in a box, you are interacting with a form field. Behind that simple interaction sits a small zoo of field types, each…
The DOCX Format Explained for Non-Developers
DOCX is the most common document format in the world, and most people who use it daily have no idea what it actually is. Understanding the basics, what a DOCX…
PDF/E Explained: The Engineering Format for CAD, BIM, and Technical Drawings
Walk into any engineering office, manufacturing plant, or construction site and you will find PDFs everywhere, drawings being marked up, datasheets pinned to…
PDF/X Explained: The Print Industry Standard for Reliable Output
If you have ever sent a PDF to a commercial printer and received a frantic email about missing fonts, low-resolution images, or the wrong color space, you have…
PDF/A Explained: The Archival Format for Long-Term Storage
Most PDFs you create are designed to be useful next week. PDF/A is for documents that need to be useful in 50 years. The "A" stands for archival, and the…
A Brief History of the PDF Format
The PDF format is one of the most successful file formats ever made. Every tax authority accepts it. Every printer understands it. Every smartphone can open…
How to Create a Fillable PDF Form From Any Document
A PDF form that recipients can type into, save, and email back is one of the most useful artefacts in office life. It cuts the print-fill-scan-send cycle that…
A Complete Guide to PDF File Formats: PDF vs. PDF/A
"PDF" is not one format. It is a family, and several members of it are ISO standards defining what a conforming file may and may not contain. PDF/A is the one…
The Ultimate Guide to Making a PDF Fillable
You built a form in Word, exported it to PDF, and sent it out. Half the recipients printed it, filled it by hand, photographed it, and emailed back a crooked…
How to Fill Out a PDF Form Online for Free
Before you fill in a single field, work out which of the three kinds of PDF form you are holding. It determines everything about how the job goes, and it…