Forms
Convert a PDF form to an online form
A PDF that people print, fill in by hand and scan back is a form with three extra steps in it. Uploading that PDF gives you the same questions as a web form on a link, with the answers arriving as rows rather than images.
Why a PDF reads better than a photo
A digitally produced PDF carries its text as text, so there is nothing to guess at. Labels, section headings and option lists come across exactly. This is the highest fidelity input the converter takes, so if you have a choice between photographing the printout and uploading the file it was printed from, upload the file.
Tick boxes, tables and signature lines
A row of tick boxes with mutually exclusive options becomes a radio group, and a row where several can apply becomes checkboxes. A ruled table of line items becomes a table field with the same columns, which respondents add rows to. A signature line at the bottom becomes a signature field people draw or type into, and it prints into the response PDF the same way.
What a scanned PDF changes
A PDF made by scanning paper is an image in a PDF wrapper, so it is read the same way a photo is, with the same weaknesses on small print and rotated text. If the file was scanned rather than exported, expect to check the field list more carefully.
Keeping a PDF at the end of it
Converting does not mean giving up the document. Every submitted response can be downloaded as a tidy PDF with the answers in place, uploaded images rendered inline and attached PDFs merged in. Whoever needed the paper copy still gets one, without anyone rekeying it.
How it works, in three steps
Step 1
Attach the PDF
One file up to 10 MB, or several if the form is split. A PDF exported from a word processor reads better than a scan of the same page.
Step 2
Name the awkward fields in the prompt
Say which line is a signature, which block is a table, and which questions are required. Those three notes remove most of the editing afterwards.
Step 3
Publish and keep the PDF output
Publish the link for the people who will fill it in online, and use the response PDF for the people downstream who still want a document.
The full walkthrough with screenshots is in the guide Convert a paper form into a web form.
Limits worth knowing
- Attaching a file is a paid plan feature.
- A scanned PDF is read as an image, so it behaves like a photo rather than a text PDF.
- Existing AcroForm fields in the source PDF are not carried across as fields. The form is rebuilt from the questions on the page.
- Files are capped at 10 MB each, five per generation.
See it on a finished piece
Questions people ask
Does it keep the design of my PDF?
No, and it should not. It rebuilds the questions as a web form with your chosen theme. If you need the original look on paper, use the separate PDF layout, which you can style yourself.
What happens to a signature line?
It becomes a signature field a respondent draws or types into, and it appears in the response PDF. If the document needs to be signed by several parties by email, use the e-signature field instead.
Can I get a fillable PDF back out?
Yes, from the Starter plan. That gives you a real form-field PDF people can type into in a reader, which is different from the flat blank template.
Make your own form
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match yours, generate, then edit anything you like.
Create a form with OneCraftRelated pages
Make a fillable PDF from a form
A fillable PDF is a document with real form fields in it. People open it in any reader, type into the boxes, save it and send it back. It is what you need when the recipient will not use a link but will use a computer.
Convert a Word form to a web form
Most office forms are Word documents with a table of boxes and a row of underscores. Export that document to PDF, attach it, and the questions come back as real fields with the right types.
Edit a PDF flyer without the original file
Print PDFs outlive the people who made them. When the artwork file is gone and only the export survives, the useful question is not whether a PDF can be rebuilt but how much of it comes back, and the answer depends on something most people would never guess: the PDF is read as pictures, not as text.
More finished work of this kind is on the form examples hub.