Make a fillable PDF form for free

You can make a fillable PDF form for free with PDF, the PDF app in Madosuite. Its developers list filling and authoring forms as good today, so you can add fields to a PDF, test them and save the result, all in a browser tab.

Nothing is uploaded to us. The file stays in the Linux machine that Madosuite runs in your browser, on your own device.

Start with the page

A fillable form is an ordinary PDF with fields placed on top of it. So first you need the page: the labels, lines and boxes people will see.

If you already have the form as a PDF, skip ahead. If not, write it in Word, the word processor in Madosuite. Type the questions, leave space for the answers, and export the document as a PDF. Word’s PDF export keeps the text selectable.

Keep the layout simple. Leave enough room next to each label for a field, and line things up so fields are easy to place.

Open the PDF

Go to the Madosuite desktop. No account is needed.
If the PDF is on your computer, open Files, press Upload and pick it. If you made it in Word, it is already in Files.
Open the file with PDF.

Add the fields

To find the form tools, open the command palette with Cmd-K and type “form”, or browse the All tools catalogue.

PDF works with these kinds of field:

Text fields, for names, dates and short answers.
Checkboxes, for yes or no and “tick all that apply”.
Radio buttons, where only one answer in a group is allowed.
Lists, for picking from set options.
Signature fields, for a place to sign.

Work through the page one question at a time:

Place a field over the space next to each label.
Give each field a clear name, such as full_name or start_date. The names are what you will see when you look at the answers later, so make them readable.
For radio buttons, put every option for one question in the same group.
Open the Fields panel to see every field in the document with its current value. Check that nothing is missing or named twice.

PDF also runs form JavaScript in a sandbox, so a form that carries scripts keeps working while you test it.

Test it before you send it

Turn on field highlighting so you can see every field on the page.
Fill in the form yourself, as the person receiving it would. Type in every text field, tick every box, pick every option.
Check that long answers fit, and that radio buttons only allow one choice per question.
Use Clear form to empty it again before you save, so the person receiving it gets a blank form.

Save and send

Save the form. You can save as a new PDF, which keeps your starting document as it was.
Open Files and download the PDF to your computer.
Send it the way you normally would, by email or a shared folder.

The fields stay interactive, so the person receiving it can fill it in with their own PDF reader. If you need to gather several forms into one file later, combining PDFs keeps form fields interactive as well.

Limits

PDF is alpha. That is the app’s own status. Test every form before you send it.
No full XFA forms. XFA is an older, different kind of PDF form. It is listed as thin or missing, so build with ordinary fields as above.
Basic signatures only. The app has basic digital signatures. Signature tokens and online long-term validation are listed as missing, so do not rely on it for signatures that need those.
No office-to-PDF in this app. PDF cannot turn a Word file into a PDF itself, which is why the steps above use Word to export the PDF first.
No printing from the browser. The web build of the app cannot print. Download the form and print it elsewhere if you need a paper copy.
Clearing the site’s data in your browser deletes the files in Madosuite’s home folder, so download your form once it is done.

PDF is one of the ArtCraft team’s open-source Crafting Apps (MIT or Apache-2.0), shipped in Madosuite under the name PDF.

If you only need to fill a form in

If someone sent you a form and you just need to fill it in, you don’t need to author anything. Open it in PDF, type into the fields and save. The fill a PDF form page covers that.

For the short version of this guide, go to create a PDF form, or see the PDF app page.