Fillable PDF forms allow you to streamline data gathering in your organization and help eliminate the need for physical papers. It also provides a consistent experience for your employees and allows them to complete a form wherever they have access to a computer. To help you get started, we have provided the basic steps to create the PDF form with Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat. While we may not be able to address every situation, we hope that it provides you with a starting point.

This resource is a courtesy to help you create and set up a basic PDF form and may not cover every situation. If you need further assistance setting up and using Microsoft Word or Adobe software, please consult Microsoft Office/Adobe support or your IT professional.

We offer a video training for this topic on Arcoro Learning.

Creating a PDF Form

1. Create the document in Microsoft Word that you want to turn into a form. While creating the form, you can prepopulate any parts of the form with expected data so it does not need to be filled in every time (e.g., a specific supervisor's name, dates, etc)
2. Close the document.
3. Click Create, then Create a PDF in Adobe Acrobat. 
   
4. Click Select a file and select the document you created. Click Create. It can take a few minutes to create the PDF. 
   
5. Click View More to show additional options and click Prepare a Form. 
    
6. Enable "This document requires signatures" and click Create Form. 
   
7. A message will appear to save a copy of the PDF first. Save the PDF with a distinct name or add a prefix/suffix so it is easier to identify (e.g., prepared.2025form.pdf).
8. Acrobat will show the form with field boxes that it automatically generated. The field boxes may not match, but we can correct them. 
   
9. Click on a text field that should be corrected and resize it by clicking and dragging the anchor points along the sides. You can move it by clicking and dragging the text field. 
   
10. Towards the right-hand side in the "Fields" section, right-click the field name and click Rename to give it the appropriate label. 
    
11. For any fields missing a text field, click Text field under the "Add Form Components" section on the left-hand side.  
    
12. Place the field box on the form. Do not worry if the size does not match, as you can adjust it after placing it. You can also place multiple text fields to save time. After placing the text fields, press ESC twice on your keyboard. 
    
13. Adjust the new text fields to match the form and other text fields.  
    
14. Rename the text fields under the "Fields" section and drag the text fields so they are in the correct order. 
    
15. Repeat steps 9-14 to correct and add text fields to your form as necessary.
16. If any text fields have matching field names, rename the fields so they are distinct (e.g., if you have two "State" fields, clarify what each "State" field is for.)
17. If the incorrect field was generated by Acrobat, such as a text field in the signature line, delete the erroneous text field by clicking it and pressing Delete on your keyboard. 
    
18. Click E-signature field under the "Add Form Components" section on the left-hand side.  
    
19. Place the signature field on the form. Press ESC twice on your keyboard when satisfied. Resize the signature field based on the previous steps. 
    
20. After confirming the placement of the text/signature fields, the name of the fields, and their order, save the PDF form to your computer. 
    
21. When saving the PDF, use a distinct name or add a prefix/suffix so it is easier to identify (e.g., finalized.2025form.pdf).
22. With the PDF Form created, you can refer to the following article on how to create a workflow for your employees to complete.