Fill and create PDF forms

This article shows how to fill in a PDF form, add fields, export the entered data and check a document before sending.

Requires Business edition or higher

Filling forms and exporting form data to CSV are free. Creating fields (Text Field, Checkbox) and Mail Merge need Business or higher. Preflight needs Pro or higher. See pricing.

All form tools are on the Form tab.

Fill in a form

1. Open the PDF form, then select Form › Fill Form. The Fill Form panel opens on the right.
2. Click a field on the page and type the value. Press Tab to move to the next field.
3. Click a checkbox to tick or clear it.
4. Save the document with File › Save (Ctrl+S) or Save As.

Each value is written to the form when you leave the field. The entries stay editable for the next person who opens the PDF.

When you select a field, the panel shows its properties, such as Field name, position and size. If the PDF has no fillable fields, the panel says so. You can then add fields as described below, or use Edit › Typewriter to type on the page.

Add text fields and checkboxes

1. Select Form › Text Field or Form › Checkbox. The Form field properties panel opens.
2. Enter a Field name. Use a short, unique name without spaces, for example job_title. The name matters for CSV export and Mail Merge.
3. Drag a rectangle on the page where the field should go. A single click places a field with the default size.
4. The field is added and selected. The panel shows "Field added. Fill it on the PDF or adjust its properties here."
5. Adjust the properties and click Apply properties.
6. Click Place another to add the next field, or Fill fields to switch to filling.

Available properties:

To move a field, drag its Move handle. To move it to another page, click Move to page…. Delete field removes the selected field. Font settings do not apply to checkboxes.

Export form data to CSV

1. Fill the form, then select Form › Export Form to CSV.
2. The Form to CSV panel opens with Export form data to CSV selected under Operation and the active PDF listed under Documents.
3. Click Process locally. The Windows Save As dialog opens with the name form-data.csv.

The CSV file has two columns, Field and Value, with one row per field. A ticked checkbox is written as true. The file opens in Excel with the correct characters, including Indonesian text.

Generate many PDFs with Mail Merge

Mail Merge fills one copy of a form for every row of a spreadsheet. For example, you can create a registration form for every participant in a list.

Prepare the data in Excel:

• Save the file as .xlsx. The first sheet is used.
• The first row contains the column names. Each name must match a form field name. Upper and lower case are ignored.
• Each following row becomes one finished PDF.
• For checkboxes, enter yes, ya, true, 1 or x to tick the box. Any other value clears it.

Then follow these steps:

1. Open the form PDF and select Form › Mail Merge. The active PDF is used as the PDF form template. Its field names are listed at the bottom of the panel.
2. Click Choose spreadsheet… and select the .xlsx file. The panel shows the file name and the number of rows.
3. To use a different template, click Choose template….

When both files are loaded, the panel switches to the generate step:

4. Check the Data preview and the line below it. It tells you how many form fields match a column.
5. Set the File name pattern, for example document-{{full_name}}. Use {{ColumnName}} to insert data from each row. Farino PDF fills in the first column for you.
6. Leave Flatten the finished PDFs on if the results should not be edited. Their fields become plain text.
7. Click Generate All & Download ZIP, then choose where to save the ZIP file in the Windows Save As dialog.

Check a document before you send it

Select Form › Preflight. The Pre-flight Check panel checks the active PDF and lists what it finds. If nothing needs attention, it shows "No blocking problems found".

Preflight looks for:

• Blank pages.
• Images below 150 dpi, which look soft in print.
• Files larger than 25 MB, the limit many mail servers accept.
• Fonts that are not embedded.
• Mixed page sizes.
• Filled-in metadata, such as author, title and producer, that recipients can read.
• Password protection.

Each item explains the issue and suggests a fix, such as running Compress PDF. Click Check another file to check a different PDF.