[cycomachead]

saving from a print menu would work but you wouldn't be able to reedit the document later if you needed.

[tuqqer]

The best (and free) solution I've found for filling out all sorts of PDFs—both ones designed to be typed into, as well as any PDF that you want to fill out and sign—is the free FormulatePro PDF. You can still find it on VersionTracker or MacUpdate. It allows you to write text ANYwhere on a PDF, check off lists, and most importantly, drop a image of your signature. We use FormulatePro multiple times a week at our office. It's so great to have someone send a long PDF and then tell us to "fax a signed copy back to us." We hate faxes, so it's great to see their surprise when we email the signed doc back to them. FormulatePro is one of those tiny, brilliant little apps that does exactly what you need to.

[CJSweatt]

Thanks, cycomachead. My point exactly!

[cycomachead]

I also remember that preview used to be able to write anywhere on a pdf, sort of like a text box, yet i can't find this in the latest version of preview...


Also, I think a different but much bigger issue would be that changed made and saved to pdf in Preview don't necessarily show up in another viewer. I've had problems viewing crops and comments in acrobat and skim.

[LukeWilson]

Something that I have done with PDF copies of job applications before... bring them into Pages, and then use text boxes to fill everything in. Somewhat awkward, to be sure, but the results look good!

[tuqqer]

that's actually a great method, Luke. Good idea.

[RetiredOldGuy]

While you can't input information into a pdf form imported into Pages, you "can" with Numbers. I imported all my pdf tax forms into Numbers. Then, for each pdf field on the form, I defined and overlaid a table with one cell. (I use one-cell tables because usually multiple cells do not line up well with multiple fields in an arbitrary pdf form.) You can write into the cell, or you can program the cells to compute and interact with one another. I did my entire tax return this way. Numbers is beautiful for this because it adopts the paradigm of a page, which can hold a pdf form and multiple spreadsheets. And you can have multiple pages in a file. And the whole thing prints out beautifully (either as hard copy or another pdf form). I had all my federal and state tax forms, and all supporting data in one Numbers file. Each tax form was a page, and there were many 1-cell spreadsheets on each page.

[tuqqer]

Very cool, RetiredGuy. I will try out Numbers next time. I especially like the idea of just one giant cell, instead of trying to line up a table.

[tremolux66]

Even if you do run across a PDF file that allows form filling & printing but not saving or print-to-PDF with Adobe Reader, a workaround has been available for at least 5 years. What you do is create a virtual printer that writes to a PDF file instead of actually printing, and then have Adobe Reader print to that.

The details for doing this have varied over the years (and OS X releases), but the instructions should still be available on the web. The saved PDF files are placed in a common folder, typically kept on the Desktop. Historically, getting a distinct, meaningful file name was kind of a hassle, but the latest incarnation names the files with a job_xx- prefix followed by the filename and the .pdf suffix.

(My motivation for finding this method in the first place was to be able to keep soft-copy of filled-in insurance claims and other forms from my employer.)

[RSchoeneman]

NOW4REAL954, on 14 April 2009 - 10:51 AM, said:

OK well I don't get it?
once you fill the form...go to print...then click on PDF button and save as PDF
how simple is that? built into OS X...
enough said

I can't get Preview or Adobe Reader to type put text into a form my lawyer sent me. It is a PDF form. I checked the Cy\ustomise tools to include the typewriter tool. Preview makes you copy and paste into form. Not handy. Am I missing an add on to Adobe Reader, Are they just angry at Mac for having Preview. Is there a shareware or free program to make the Adobe Reader work like it used to. I had a Pro version of Acrobat but no more. So I know what I used to do in both Reader and Pro. How can I use Snow Leopard and fill in form and print it , send it back to my son, lawyer etc.

I have spent two days trying things. Futility.

[wmckelvey]

RSchoeneman, on 18 March 2011 - 11:54 AM, said:

NOW4REAL954, on 14 April 2009 - 10:51 AM, said:

OK well I don't get it?
once you fill the form...go to print...then click on PDF button and save as PDF
how simple is that? built into OS X...
enough said

I can't get Preview or Adobe Reader to type put text into a form my lawyer sent me. It is a PDF form. I checked the Cy\ustomise tools to include the typewriter tool. Preview makes you copy and paste into form. Not handy. Am I missing an add on to Adobe Reader, Are they just angry at Mac for having Preview. Is there a shareware or free program to make the Adobe Reader work like it used to. I had a Pro version of Acrobat but no more. So I know what I used to do in both Reader and Pro. How can I use Snow Leopard and fill in form and print it , send it back to my son, lawyer etc.

I have spent two days trying things. Futility.

You could try PDFpen. I use it for my business.
http://smilesoftware...Fpen/index.html

[shabbelle]

Yesterday I made a 4 page pdf document fillable and then opened it in Preview to double check for accuracy. Everything was good except the text box fields I formatted to be Numbers (specifically numbers with no decimals and with the currency symbol (for example $4,500). In Preview, however, those fields accepted alpha and numerical input. Numerical input had no commas or currency symbols (for example 4500). Perplexed I asked a friend with Windows to open the same document in PDFX Change Viewer and the fields in question appeared normally formatted with commas and currency ($4,500). Anyone have any insights to this weird scenario? Thanks.