Create a fillable PDF form
Lay fillable fields on the page: text, checkbox, list, date, signature. Name them after the document’s own words, set their look, and have them compute from each other — sum, product, average or formula.
Free · 100% local — nothing is uploaded- 1Open the PDF that is to become a form.
- 2Lay the fields on the page and name them.
- 3Add the calculations if any are needed, then download the form.
How to create a fillable PDF form
Open the document that is to become a form, and lay the fields on the page: text, checkbox, radio button, dropdown list, date, signature. Each one moves, resizes and adjusts — background, border and its style, thickness, font, size, ink color, minimum and maximum values for a number. Vélin offers the field’s name from the words printed next to it on the page, which avoids the fields called “Text1”, “Text2” that nobody can read back six months later. The resulting form is filled in Acrobat, in a browser or on a phone, and needs no account at all. Everything is built inside your browser, without the document going to a server, and the resulting form depends on no service: it is a file, sent and archived like any other.
Fields that compute
A quote, an expense claim, a purchase order all need a total. You choose the operation — sum, product, average, minimum, maximum, or a free formula — and you point at the source fields by clicking them on the page, rather than typing their names. The order of calculation is worked out from the dependencies: a subtotal that feeds a total is computed before it, without your having to arrange the fields. A circular dependency — two fields waiting on each other — is refused and named, rather than computed wrongly.
Does the total show everywhere?
This is the trap of computed forms: a PDF’s calculations are JavaScript, and many readers do not run it — mail previews, phone viewers, extraction tools. A total that is right on screen then becomes an empty box in print. Vélin also writes the computed value into the field as plain text, so that it shows and prints even without JavaScript, while still being recomputed as soon as a source changes for whoever fills the form in.
Frequently asked questions
Which kinds of field can I lay down?
Text field, checkbox, radio button, dropdown list, date and signature field. Each one moves, resizes and adjusts: background, border, thickness, font, size, ink, and minimum and maximum bounds for numbers.
Can fields compute?
Yes: sum, product, average, minimum, maximum or a free formula across several fields. You point at the sources by clicking them on the page, the order of calculation is worked out on its own, and a circular dependency is refused and named rather than computed wrongly.
Does the total show for whoever receives the form?
Yes, including in readers that do not run PDF JavaScript: the computed value is also written into the field as plain text, so a preview or a printout shows the right total.
Can I turn a scanned paper form into a fillable one?
Yes, that is the commonest use: you place the fields where the dotted lines are. The document keeps its look; only the fields are added.
How do I stop the answers being changed afterwards?
Once the form is filled, flattening brings the values into the page: nothing unticks or empties any more.
Do I need an account or a subscription?
No. Computed fields are reserved for paid software at most vendors; here everything happens inside your browser, free of charge, and the document is sent nowhere.