Turning a plain PDF — a template, a scanned layout, a blank page — into something people can actually type into: upload it, type a field name, pick Text field, Checkbox or Dropdown, and drag it onto the page.
Repeat for every field, then download a real fillable PDF, ready for Fill PDF Form.
By ShinobiTools Team · Last updated: August 2026
This adds empty fields — it doesn't fill them in. A text box, checkbox or dropdown you drag onto the page becomes a real, interactive AcroForm field with nothing typed into it yet — the opposite of Fill PDF Form, which types answers into fields that already exist. Build the form here, then hand the result to Fill PDF Form (or any PDF reader) to actually fill it in. Your file is only ever handled in memory here, never written to our disk.
Text field creates a single-line box someone can type into. Checkbox creates a tickable box, off by default. Dropdown creates a list of options you set yourself (comma-separated) — the person filling in the form picks one. All three are real AcroForm fields: standard, interactive, and readable by any PDF viewer, not just ours.
How do I create a fillable form in PDF? Type a field name, pick Text, Checkbox or Dropdown, and drag it onto the page; repeat for every field. That is how to create fillable PDF document templates from an uploaded file, and how to create fillable PDF files one after another. Whether you want to create a fillable PDF document for clients or create a fillable PDF file for an internal checklist, the steps are the same. The result is a real fillable PDF document, not a static page with boxes drawn on a picture, and it costs nothing: create fillable PDF free, with no locked tier. That is all there is to how to create fillable PDF forms here: a fillable form in a few minutes.
Whether the source already has a layout or is blank, it works the same: to convert PDF pages into a form, upload the file and drag Text, Checkbox or Dropdown fields onto them. This is also how to make an editable PDF without retyping the original, so you don't need to create a PDF from scratch, and you can make PDF forms from old scans too. You get an editable PDF free of charge, and the fields stay usable for as long as the file exists.
Starting from an existing PDF rather than a blank one — a template someone emailed you, a form you scanned in — works the same way: upload that file here and add fillable fields directly onto its pages, free, with no limit on how many forms you build.
These are opposite operations, and it matters which one you reach for. This tool adds new, empty fields to a PDF that may not have had any. Fill PDF Form does the opposite: it lists the fields a PDF already has and types answers into them. Building a template for other people to fill in? Start here. Have a form that already has fields and just need to answer it? Skip straight to Fill PDF Form.
Building more than one form? Repeat the same steps per document, one at a time. If you're looking for how to create editable PDF file layouts or how to create editable PDF forms rather than fillable ones, the answer is the same: the fields you drag on are editable and fillable at once, whatever the label, and any standard reader can open and type into the result.
Your PDF is processed entirely in memory on our own machine and handed back in the response — it is never written to our disk for this tool, and nothing is kept afterwards.
Built the fields and want to answer them right away? Fill PDF Form lists every one as a normal box, checkbox or dropdown. Need a signature on the page instead of a typed field? Sign PDF draws, uploads or types one directly onto the page. Want the finished, filled-in form locked so nobody can change the answers afterwards? Flatten PDF bakes them in.
It is a simple PDF form maker: text fields, checkboxes and dropdowns on any PDF you upload. It does not do calculated fields, radio button groups, date pickers or validation rules; for those you need Acrobat Pro or a similar editor.
Think of it as a PDF form creator with three field types and nothing more. A few practical tips: give every field a different name, or two boxes will share the same answer; make a text field about as tall as a line of text, since it holds a single line; and for a multi-page questionnaire, place the fields page by page before you press Create once. Up to 500 fields fit in one file.
Upload the PDF, type a field name, pick Text field, Checkbox or Dropdown, then drag a box onto the page. A dropdown also needs at least one option, comma-separated. Press Create and download the blank form. Create PDF fillable form fields this way on as many pages as you need.
Open the downloaded file in Fill PDF Form: every field you just created is listed there as a normal text box, checkbox or dropdown, ready to type into.
Text fields, checkboxes and dropdown lists, the common AcroForm field types that any PDF reader recognises as fillable. Real fields are what makes a PDF a form rather than a picture of one. It does not do calculated fields, radio button groups, date pickers or validation rules.
No. This only creates text, checkbox and dropdown fields. To place a signature on a page, use Sign PDF instead; it draws, uploads or types one directly onto the page.
500 fields per file, which comfortably covers even a long, hand-dragged form, and 25 pages and 250 MB per file on the free tier (200 pages and 500 MB with a pass). There is no account, no watermark and no daily cap.
Right here: upload your PDF, drag text fields, checkboxes or dropdowns onto the page, and download a form any standard PDF reader can fill in. You can create a fillable PDF form free of charge, with no Adobe subscription, and create free fillable PDF forms one after another.
Yes. You can create PDF fillable form free of charge, with no account, no daily cap and no watermark added to your document. To create fillable form PDF files for a whole team, repeat the steps per document; nothing is metered.
Yes, whatever form of PDF you start from: a scan, a printed form you photographed, an existing digital layout or a blank page. With a scanned PDF create fillable form fields the same way as with a digital one; the content underneath stays unchanged. To create a PDF document from scratch, upload a blank page and add the fields to that.
In any standard reader: Adobe Reader, Preview and browser PDF viewers all open it, because the fields use the standard AcroForm format rather than a proprietary widget. To create PDF form fillable fields that work everywhere, nothing else is needed, and the result is a PDF form fillable in any reader.
A simple one of each. You create forms in PDF files by dragging text, checkbox or dropdown fields onto any form PDF file you upload, and you can use it to create form fillable PDF pages from an old template. For calculated fields or validation rules you need Acrobat Pro or a similar editor.
Word's Developer tab can add content controls, but they don't always survive as real PDF form fields once exported. So how to create fillable PDF forms in Word really comes down to converting first: turn the Word file to PDF with Word to PDF (or save the document to PDF from Word), then upload it here and drag the fields on.
Only from a PDF; this doesn't capture a live web page. Use print to PDF in your browser on the web form, which keeps the layout but flattens any interactive fields, then upload that web form PDF here and rebuild the fields as real, fillable ones. That is the reliable route from web form to PDF with working fields.
No, this only adds fillable fields; it doesn't add a hidden text layer. To create searchable PDF files, use OCR PDF first, then add fields here if you need both.
That is a different format from a fillable form; see PDF to PDF/A. Add the fields here first, then convert the result if your archive needs PDF/A.
ShinobiTools · KvK 42147182 · info@shinobitools.com