Filling and saving forms

Filling and saving forms

PDF Tools fills AcroForm forms — text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, drop-down lists and list boxes — and saves the values into the PDF file, like any other document you edit in VS Code.

Fill mode

A PDF with editable form fields opens in Fill mode (you can change this with pdfTools.default.mode, see Settings); the mode you pick for a file is remembered. Fields can be filled in every mode: Fill mode only adds the form tools.

• Highlight fields tints every fillable field; turn it off for a cleaner view.
• Previous / Next field (Tab and Shift+Tab also work inside the form).
• Next required empty field jumps to required fields that are still empty; the button shows how many are left.
• Clear form sets every field back to its default value (usually empty), after a confirmation.

The Form Fields panel

The sidebar's Form Fields panel lists every field with its value, grouped as:

1. Changed — values you changed and have not saved yet;
2. Required, empty;
3. then by page.

Filter by field name or value; click a field to go to it.

Saving

• Save: the toolbar's Save button, Ctrl+S, or Save in the … menu. The tab shows the usual dot while there are unsaved changes, and auto save works.
• Save As… (Ctrl+Shift+S) writes a filled copy.
• File: Revert File discards unsaved values.
• Hot exit: unsaved values survive a VS Code restart.

Changes are written as an incremental update: the original content of the file is preserved byte for byte, and the values are appended.

Several editors on the same file stay in sync: a value typed in one appears in the other. When the file changes on disk, PDF Tools reloads it — or asks first if you have unsaved changes.

Moving values between copies of a form

Export Form Data… and Import Form Data… (… menu, Form section) save all values to a JSON or XFDF file and load them into another copy of the same form — for example to fill a new copy of a sheet with last year's answers. See Exporting.

Limitations

• XFA forms (dynamic forms made with Adobe LiveCycle/AEM Designer) are not supported: PDF Tools shows a warning. A PDF that contains both an XFA and a standard form is filled through the standard form.
• Characters the field's font cannot encode. Many forms use the non-embedded Helvetica font, which covers Western European characters only. Values with other characters (for example ō or ū) are saved, but the field is marked to be redrawn by the viewer that opens the file (NeedAppearances). Viewers that honor it show the value; some simpler viewers may show the field empty until it is edited.
• Signature fields cannot be signed.