User Guide Cancel

Fill and sign PDF forms

  1. Acrobat User Guide
  2. Introduction to Acrobat
    1. Access Acrobat from desktop, mobile, web
    2. Introducing the new Acrobat experience
    3. What's new in Acrobat
    4. Keyboard shortcuts
    5. System Requirements
  3. Workspace
    1. Workspace basics
    2. Opening and viewing PDFs
      1. Opening PDFs
      2. Navigating PDF pages
      3. Viewing PDF preferences
      4. Adjusting PDF views
      5. Enable thumbnail preview of PDFs
      6. Display PDF in browser
    3. Working with online storage accounts
      1. Access files from Box
      2. Access files from Dropbox
      3. Access files from OneDrive
      4. Access files from SharePoint
      5. Access files from Google Drive
    4. Acrobat and macOS
    5. Acrobat notifications
    6. Grids, guides, and measurements in PDFs
    7. Asian, Cyrillic, and right-to-left text in PDFs
  4. Creating PDFs
    1. Overview of PDF creation
    2. Create PDFs with Acrobat
    3. Create PDFs with PDFMaker
    4. Using the Adobe PDF printer
    5. Converting web pages to PDF
    6. Creating PDFs with Acrobat Distiller
    7. Adobe PDF conversion settings
    8. PDF fonts
  5. Editing PDFs
    1. Edit text in PDFs
    2. Edit images or objects in a PDF
    3. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
    4. Edit scanned PDFs
    5. Enhance document photos captured using a mobile camera
    6. Optimizing PDFs
    7. PDF properties and metadata
    8. Links and attachments in PDFs
    9. PDF layers
    10. Page thumbnails and bookmarks in PDFs
    11. PDFs converted to web pages
    12. Setting up PDFs for a presentation
    13. PDF articles
    14. Geospatial PDFs
    15. Applying actions and scripts to PDFs
    16. Change the default font for adding text
    17. Delete pages from a PDF
  6. Scan and OCR
    1. Scan documents to PDF
    2. Enhance document photos
    3. Troubleshoot scanner issues when scanning using Acrobat
  7. Forms
    1. PDF forms basics
    2. Create a form from scratch in Acrobat
    3. Create and distribute PDF forms
    4. Fill in PDF forms
    5. PDF form field properties
    6. Fill and sign PDF forms
    7. Setting action buttons in PDF forms
    8. Publishing interactive PDF web forms
    9. PDF form field basics
    10. PDF barcode form fields
    11. Collect and manage PDF form data
    12. About forms tracker
    13. PDF forms help
    14. Send PDF forms to recipients using email or an internal server
  8. Combining files
    1. Combine or merge files into single PDF
    2. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
    3. Add headers, footers, and Bates numbering to PDFs
    4. Crop PDF pages
    5. Add watermarks to PDFs
    6. Add backgrounds to PDFs
    7. Working with component files in a PDF Portfolio
    8. Publish and share PDF Portfolios
    9. Overview of PDF Portfolios
    10. Create and customize PDF Portfolios
  9. Sharing, reviews, and commenting
    1. Share and track PDFs online
    2. Mark up text with edits
    3. Preparing for a PDF review
    4. Starting a PDF review
    5. Hosting shared reviews on SharePoint or Office 365 sites
    6. Participating in a PDF review
    7. Add comments to PDFs
    8. Adding a stamp to a PDF
    9. Approval workflows
    10. Managing comments | view, reply, print
    11. Importing and exporting comments
    12. Tracking and managing PDF reviews
  10. Saving and exporting PDFs
    1. Saving PDFs
    2. Convert PDF to Word
    3. Convert PDF to PPTX
    4. Convert PDF to XLSX or XML
    5. Convert PDF to JPG
    6. Convert PDF to PNG
    7. Convert or export PDFs to other file formats
    8. File format options for PDF export
    9. Reusing PDF content
  11. Security
    1. Enhanced security setting for PDFs
    2. Securing PDFs with passwords
    3. Manage Digital IDs
    4. Securing PDFs with certificates
    5. Opening secured PDFs
    6. Removing sensitive content from PDFs
    7. Setting up security policies for PDFs
    8. Choosing a security method for PDFs
    9. Security warnings when a PDF opens
    10. Securing PDFs with Adobe Experience Manager
    11. Protected View feature for PDFs
    12. Overview of security in Acrobat and PDFs
    13. JavaScripts in PDFs as a security risk
    14. Attachments as security risks
    15. Allow or block links in PDFs
  12. Electronic signatures
    1. Sign PDF documents
    2. Capture your signature on mobile and use it everywhere
    3. Send documents for e-signatures
    4. Create a web form
    5. Request e-signatures in bulk
    6. Collect online payments
    7. Brand your account
    8. About certificate signatures
    9. Certificate-based signatures
    10. Validating digital signatures
    11. Adobe Approved Trust List
    12. Manage trusted identities
  13. Printing
    1. Basic PDF printing tasks
    2. Print Booklets and PDF Portfolios
    3. Advanced PDF print settings
    4. Print to PDF
    5. Printing color PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
    6. Printing PDFs in custom sizes
  14. Accessibility, tags, and reflow
    1. Create and verify PDF accessibility
    2. Accessibility features in PDFs
    3. Reading Order tool for PDFs
    4. Reading PDFs with reflow and accessibility features
    5. Edit document structure with the Content and Tags panels
    6. Creating accessible PDFs
    7. Cloud-based auto-tagging
  15. Searching and indexing
    1. Creating PDF indexes
    2. Searching PDFs
  16. Multimedia and 3D models
    1. Add audio, video, and interactive objects to PDFs
    2. Adding 3D models to PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
    3. Displaying 3D models in PDFs
    4. Interacting with 3D models
    5. Measuring 3D objects in PDFs
    6. Setting 3D views in PDFs
    7. Enable 3D content in PDF
    8. Adding multimedia to PDFs
    9. Commenting on 3D designs in PDFs
    10. Playing video, audio, and multimedia formats in PDFs
    11. Add comments to videos
  17. Print production tools (Acrobat Pro)
    1. Print production tools overview
    2. Printer marks and hairlines
    3. Previewing output
    4. Transparency flattening
    5. Color conversion and ink management
    6. Trapping color
  18. Preflight (Acrobat Pro)
    1. PDF/X-, PDF/A-, and PDF/E-compliant files
    2. Preflight profiles
    3. Advanced preflight inspections
    4. Preflight reports
    5. Viewing preflight results, objects, and resources
    6. Output intents in PDFs
    7. Correcting problem areas with the Preflight tool
    8. Automating document analysis with droplets or preflight actions
    9. Analyzing documents with the Preflight tool
    10. Additional checks in the Preflight tool
    11. Preflight libraries
    12. Preflight variables
  19. Color management
    1. Keeping colors consistent
    2. Color settings
    3. Color-managing documents
    4. Working with color profiles
    5. Understanding color management

Before you begin

We're rolling out a new, more intuitive product experience. If the screen shown here doesn’t match your product interface, select help for your current experience.

In the new experience, the tools appear on the left side of the screen.

Overview

You can easily fill, sign, and share your documents using Acrobat's Fill & Sign tool. The topics below provide information about:

Adobe Acrobat deeplink

Try it in yourself
Fill and sign your documents in a few simple steps.

Types of PDF forms

  • Interactive forms: These contain fields that you can select and fill in. See how to Fill in interactive forms.
  • Flat forms: These do not have interactive fields. It could be a paper form or PDF that hasn’t been optimized for form filling. The Fill & Sign tool automatically detects the form fields like text fields, comb fields, checkboxes, and radio buttons. You can manually add text and other symbols anywhere on the form using the Fill & Sign tool if required.

You can complete the forms by entering information and adding your signatures. Acrobat also allows you to send your completed forms to others and securely save them in Adobe cloud storage.

Fill and sign PDF forms

To complete and sign PDF forms, open the form in Acrobat and then select E-Sign from the global bar. Alternatively, you can select All tools > Fill & Sign.

It displays the Fill & Sign tools in the left pane. You can now fill in the form fields and sign the form using the sign tools described in the following topics.

To fill text fields:

  1. From the left panel, select Fill in form fields , and then select the field where you want to add text.
    It displays a text field along with a toolbar.

  2. Select the text field again and enter your text.

  3. To reposition the text box to align it with the text field, select the textbox and hover over it. Once you see a plus icon with arrows, move the textbox to the desired position.

  4. To edit the text, select the text box. Once you see the cursor and keypad, edit the text and then click elsewhere to enter.

  5. To change the text size, select A or A as required.

    fill-text-field

    Note:

    Resize the first annotation you place to fit the check box or radio button in the document, and the next annotations you add will be of the same size and will fit the rest of the box/circle fields.

  6. To change the text color, select the color from the quick toolbar and select a desired color from the color palette.

    The default color for signatures is black. To change the color of signatures, you must deselect the Keep signatures black checkbox. 

    text-color

  7. To change the text style from normal to combed, from the textbox menu, select ellipsis ( )> Character spacing.

    Select Character Spacing for combed text.

    It changes the text style from normal to combed. To increase or decrease the spacing, you can select the blue arrow icon and then drag it as desired.

    Evenly spaced characters of text.

    Note: Combed Text is a text style where each letter of the text is equally spaced out with the help of a sequence of boxes. 

  8. Once done, select the next field space and then enter your text in the text box. Use the formatting options as desired.

    Repeat the step to fill all the required fields in the form.

To fill radio option fields:

  1. Hover over the field with the radio option.

    It automatically displays the default checkmark or the selected radio field symbol.

    fill-checkbox

  2. Select the radio option field to enter the symbol.

  3. To change the symbol, select the field again, and then from the menu, ellipsis ( ) and then select another symbol.

    It marks the field with the selected symbol.

    change-radio-symbol

To Add signature and initials:

  1. Create your signature and initials if not already done. To do so:

    1. From the Quick action toolbar, select Add your signature or initials  
    2. To add a signature, select Add signature. In the dialog that appears, type or draw your signature and then select Done.
    3. To add your initials, select  > Add initials. In the dialog that appears, type or draw your initials and then select Done.

    Note: You may also add an image as your signature or initials. To add an existing image, tap the image icon from the top menu. To take a new picture to be added as your signature, tap the camera icon and follow through with the workflow.

  2. To add a signature:

    1. From the left panel, select your signature, move over to the field where you want to add it, and then select there to place the signature.
      From the Quick actions toolbar, select Add your signature or initials   and then select your signature.
    2. Your signature appears in the field.
      Note: Once you add a signature or initial to a form and save it, you cannot edit it again.
    3. To adjust the placement of your signature, hover over the signature till you see a plus icon, and then click and move the signature as desired. 
    4. To adjust the size of your signature, hover over the blue circle at the corner and then hold and drag it as desired.
    add signature

    resize-signature

    Caution:

    Once you add a signature or an initial to a form and save it, you cannot edit it again.

  3. To add your initials:

    1. From the left panel, select your initial, move over to the field where you want to add it, and then click to place the signature.
      From the Quick actions toolbar, select Add your signature or initials   and then select your initial.
      Your initials appear in the field.
    2. To adjust the placement of your signature, hover over it until you see a plus icon, and then click and move the signature as desired. 
    3. To adjust the size of your signature, hover over the blue circle at the corner and then hold and drag it as desired.
    Note:

    If you want to use an image as your signature or initials:

    • Sign your name in black ink on a clean, blank sheet of white paper. Sign in the middle of the paper so you don't photograph or scan the edges.
    • Photograph or scan your signature. If you are taking a picture of your signature, make sure that the page is lit and that no shadows fall across the signature.
    • Transfer the photo or scan to your computer. Acrobat/Reader accepts JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, TIF, and BMP files. You do not need to crop the image. Acrobat/Reader imports just the signature if the photo or scan is fairly clean.

Share forms

After you complete and save your form, you can take any of the following actions:

To share the form with others to view or comment:

  1. From the top-right corner, select Share.

  2. To share the document with specific people, enter the name or email address of the person you want to share the form with. It opens the Invite people dialog box. 

    • Continue adding names of people you want to share with.
    • Modify the message if necessary.
    • To make the form view-only, deselect the People can comment on this file toggle.
    • To add a review deadline, select Add deadline and enter a date.
    share-with-others-2

  3. Select Invite

    It sends a link to all the people you added to the form.

To share a certified copy of the PDF:

  1. From the Sign panel on the left, select Save a certified copy.

    It creates a certified copy of the form and displays a certificate banner at the top, as shown below.

    sign-panel

  2. From the sign-in prompt in the left panel, select Next

    It asks you to sign into your account again to help protect your signed agreements.

    Select Next on Protected data dialog.

  3. In the dialog that appears next, select Continue and then enter your account credentials to sign in.

    Select Continue on Sign in dialog.

  4. Once you sign in again, the certified copy displays the file information and sharing options. Select a desired sharing option to share the form. 

    certified-1

    certified-4

To share a link to the form:

  1. Select Share from the top right. 

  2. To share the form via a link, select Create a link to share  . The form uploads to Adobe cloud storage and a shareable link is generated and copied to your clipboard. You can paste the link anywhere you want to share the form.

    A PDF form is opened in Acrobat and the Share options are diaplyed.

You can modify the Share settings. Select Link setting from the Share dialog box. To make the form view-only, deselect the People can comment toggle and select Apply. 

The share dialog box is open and the Link Setting option is highlighted.

To share forms via a website or any online portal

From the Sign panel, select More options and then select Create a web form. Follow through the workflow to add the form to your website and share links to collect data online. 

sign-panel-with-options

 Adobe

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