How-To

How to Make a PDF Fillable for Free: Create Form Fields in Minutes

Sep 10, 2026 · 5 min read

Quick summary: To make a PDF fillable for free, open it in LibreOffice Draw (View → Toolbars → Form Controls), add text fields, checkboxes, and dropdowns, then export as PDF with “Create PDF form” enabled. On Mac, Preview can add basic text boxes but not true interactive form fields. LibreOffice works on both Mac and Windows and produces standard fillable PDFs compatible with any viewer.

A fillable PDF lets recipients click fields and type directly — no printing, no scanning. Creating one used to require Adobe Acrobat Pro. Today, free tools on every platform handle the job in a few minutes. Once the form is filled out, recipients can also upload the completed PDF to our AI-powered document reader to summarize or extract the key information instantly.

Fillable PDF vs. flat PDF: what’s the difference

Type	How it works	Who fills it
Flat PDF	Text is fixed on the page — it’s an image or a printed layout	No one — they’d need to print and handwrite
Fillable PDF	Interactive form fields let recipients type, check boxes, and sign digitally	Anyone with a PDF viewer

Making a flat PDF fillable means adding interactive form fields on top of the existing layout.

How to make a PDF fillable for free on Mac — Preview

Preview can add text fields for simple forms:

Open the PDF in Preview.
Go to View → Show Markup Toolbar.
Click the Text tool (the “A” icon).
Click on the page where you want a field and type a placeholder label (e.g. “Name:”).

Limitation: Preview’s text boxes are static annotations, not true interactive form fields — they are visible but cannot be tabbed through or submitted electronically. For true form fields, use LibreOffice or the online method below.

How to make a PDF fillable for free — LibreOffice Draw (Mac and Windows)

LibreOffice is a free, open-source office suite that creates proper interactive PDF forms:

Download and install LibreOffice from libreoffice.org.
Open LibreOffice Writer or Draw.
Go to View → Toolbars → Form Controls to show the form toolbar.
Use the toolbar to insert:
- Text Box — for single-line text input
- Text Area — for multi-line responses
- Check Box — for yes/no options
- List Box / Combo Box — for dropdown menus
- Push Button — for submit or reset actions
Click on the page to place each control. Right-click → Control Properties to set the field name and default value.
When done, go to File → Export as PDF.
In the PDF export dialog, check “Create PDF form” and choose PDF format for the submission format.
Click Export and save.

The result is a proper fillable PDF that any viewer — Acrobat Reader, Edge, Preview — can tab through and fill.

How to make a PDF fillable online — free

Several browser-based tools let you add form fields visually without installing anything. Search for “create fillable PDF free” and choose any well-reviewed option:

Upload your PDF.
Use the form editor to drag and drop text fields, checkboxes, and signature fields.
Download the fillable PDF.

Privacy note: Your file is uploaded to a remote server. For confidential documents, use LibreOffice locally instead.

How to create a fillable PDF from scratch

If you do not have an existing PDF to convert, the fastest path is:

Design your form in LibreOffice Writer, Microsoft Word, or Google Docs.
Add form controls (LibreOffice) or content controls (Word: Developer tab → Controls).
Export as PDF with form fields enabled.

In Word, enable the Developer tab via File → Options → Customize Ribbon → check Developer. Then use Insert → Content Controls to add text fields, checkboxes, and dropdowns.

How to make an existing scanned PDF fillable

A scanned PDF is an image — there are no text layers, so you cannot place interactive fields over the content directly without first converting it. Options:

Re-create the form — use the scan as a visual guide and rebuild the layout in LibreOffice Writer or Word, then add form fields.
Use OCR + form detection — Adobe Acrobat Pro’s “Prepare Form” tool detects text and places fields automatically. This is the fastest option but requires a paid subscription.
Overlay text boxes — for simple forms, place text box fields manually on top of the scanned image using LibreOffice Draw. Recipients can type into them even though the background is an image.

Tip: flatten the form before archiving

Once a recipient has filled out the form and returned it, flatten the PDF before archiving. This merges the filled data into the page permanently so the values cannot be accidentally cleared or edited.

How to type on a PDF for free — add text without creating full form fields
How to edit a PDF for free — make changes to the layout before adding fields
How to flatten a PDF for free — lock the filled form before sharing or archiving

Common questions

What is the difference between “create a fillable PDF” and “make a PDF editable”?

A fillable PDF has designated form fields — text boxes, checkboxes, dropdowns — that recipients fill in. An editable PDF lets anyone modify the actual document content (text, layout). Fillable PDFs are more controlled; editable PDFs are more flexible. See our guide on how to edit a PDF for free for the editing approach.

Can I make a PDF fillable on iPhone for free?

Native iOS tools do not support creating proper interactive form fields. For occasional use, place text boxes with the Markup tool (see how to type on a PDF). For true form fields, create the form on a desktop using LibreOffice, then distribute it from your phone.

How do I make a PDF form that recipients can submit by email?

In LibreOffice’s PDF Export dialog, set the Submit format to “FDF” or “PDF” and add a submit button linked to a mailto: address. When the recipient clicks Submit, their email client opens with the filled form attached.

Can recipients save a fillable PDF after filling it in?

Yes — any modern PDF viewer can save a filled form. Acrobat Reader, Edge, Chrome, and Preview all preserve filled field values on save. The only exception is browser-rendered PDFs where the viewer explicitly blocks saving, which is rare.