Fill in a PDF form in Word, then save it back as a PDF

The short answer: four steps

1. Convert the form to Word with PDF to Word.
2. Type your answers in the Word file, at the lines and boxes.
3. Save it as a PDF again with Word to PDF.
4. Check the result and the size before you upload. If a size limit applies, shrink it with Compress PDF to 200 KB or Compress PDF to 100 KB.

Both conversions run in your browser, so your answers, which often include your name, address and ID numbers, are never uploaded. This works well for simple typed forms. Forms with many boxes lose their boxes, so the second half of this post helps you decide whether this is the right method for yours.

First, check whether you need this method

There are three kinds of PDF form, and only one of them needs this post:

• A fillable form. Its fields are real, and you can click and type directly in most PDF readers. If you can do that, you don't need Word. Type your answers and save.
• A printed-style form. A plain PDF with lines to write on, with no fields. You can't click into it. This is the kind for this post, or you can print it, fill it by hand, scan it and upload the scan.
• A scanned form. The whole page is a picture. PDF to Word can't turn it into text, because it doesn't do OCR, so each page would go into Word as a picture. Print and fill by hand, or ask for a typed copy.

To know which you have, open the form and try to select a word. If you can select it, the file is typed text and this method can work. If the whole page is selected like a photo, it is a scan.

Step 1: convert the form to Word

Open PDF to Word on your phone or computer, and add the form with Choose PDF files. Press Convert to Word and then Download. The Word file has the form's name with .docx: form.pdf becomes form.docx.

Here is how forms come across, from our tests:

We tried two forms. A one-page form with 20 words, 34 KB, became a 7.0 KB Word file in 0.2 seconds, with all 20 words, the typed answers as text and the tick boxes as ☒ and ☐, and it was 1 page in LibreOffice. A tax certificate form with many boxes, 1 page and 321 KB, became an 8.3 KB Word file with 267 of its 268 words, without the boxes, and it grew to 2 pages in LibreOffice, as the text spread out. That second result is the warning for forms full of boxes.

Step 2: type your answers

Open the Word file in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, WPS Office, LibreOffice or any app that opens .docx files. On a phone, the Word, Google Docs or WPS Office app works.

• Click on the line and type. The lines the converter made are for your answers.
• For a tick box, replace the empty box symbol ☐ with the ticked one ☒. You can copy the ☒ from a box that is already ticked, or paste it from anywhere.
• For dates and numbers, type them as the form shows them. Check every digit twice: a form with a wrong ID number is much harder to fix than a typed-wrong word.
• For your signature, check what the form asks. Some want a signed copy as a picture. Don't type a signature unless the form says typing is fine.

If the answers don't line up with their labels, don't worry yet. Fix the layout in the next step before you worry about the look.

Fix the layout before you save

Three things usually need a check:

• Fonts. A PDF's fonts aren't copied into the Word file. Fonts that come with Office are kept; others become Arial, Times New Roman or Courier New. Letters can be a little wider, so a page can run onto an extra page. Make the font a little smaller, or the margins a little narrower, in Word.
• Tables. Rows come across as lines with tab stops. If you want a real table, select the rows in Word and use Insert, Table, Convert Text to Table, with Tabs as the separator.
• Page count. If the form had a fixed number of pages, check you have the same number. Each page of the PDF starts a new page in Word, so text added on one page pushes only that page's text down.

A one-page form that should stay one page is the common worry. Make the text smaller in small steps and watch the page count at the bottom of the Word window, or reduce the spacing between lines.

Step 3: save it as a PDF again

Many word processors can save a PDF themselves. If yours can't, or you only have a phone, open Word to PDF, choose your .docx and download the PDF. It writes the PDF itself, with the fonts inside it, so it looks the same everywhere, and with real text you can search and copy. Hindi and other Indian scripts are handled with open fonts, so letters and joined letters come out right.

Name the file so you can tell it from the blank form, like form-filled.pdf. Many portals have rules for file names, such as no spaces, so check the notice.

Step 4: check the size limit

A form you typed into is usually small, because it is made of text rather than pictures. In our tests, the one-page form was 34 KB as a PDF and 7.0 KB as a Word file, and a one-page application form was only 33 KB. If the portal wants a PDF under 100 KB or 200 KB, check the size before you do anything else. A file that is already under the limit can be uploaded as it is.

If it is over, use Compress PDF to 100 KB or Compress PDF to 200 KB. Typed text and fonts are copied exactly as they are, so words stay sharp; only pictures, like a pasted signature or photo, get smaller. If the result says "Over", the file can't get any smaller as typed text. The post Typed PDF over 200 KB? Why it won't shrink and how to fix shows what to try.

When this method won't work well

• A form full of boxes. Our box-heavy tax form lost its boxes and grew to two pages. If the boxes matter, because a reviewer or a program expects them, print it, fill it by hand in dark ink, photograph or scan it, and make a PDF with JPG to PDF. The post How to scan documents to PDF with your phone has the steps.
• A scanned form. There is no text to convert. Print and fill by hand.
• A form in Hindi or another Indian script. Many such PDFs don't store joined letters in a way that can be read back. In two Hindi PDFs we made to test this, many words lost vowel signs or joined letters. The result warns you when that happens. Compare the Word file with the form and fix the words by hand, or fill the printed form by hand.
• A form with a digital signature or a lock. A digital signature stops being valid when a file is changed, and a PDF that needs a password asks for it on its row first. Ask the issuer if a changed copy is acceptable.
• A form where the exact layout is checked. Some offices only accept their original layout. Read the notice. If it says "do not alter the form", fill the original by hand instead.

Check it like the person who reads it

• Open the final PDF and read every answer against your documents: names as on your ID, dates, numbers.
• Check that no text runs off a page, no page is missing and the page count is right.
• Check that tick boxes show ☒ where you wanted them and ☐ where not.
• Keep the blank form, the Word file and the final PDF together in one folder. If the portal asks for corrections, you can edit the Word file and make a new PDF in a minute.

Your answers stay on your device

A filled-in form holds your name, address and ID numbers. PDF to Word, Word to PDF and the compressor have no upload step and never send your files anywhere. They run inside your browser. The page contacts only this site and Google's ad service, which shows the ads that keep the tools free, and our code never gives your files to the ad code. The privacy policy has the details.