> Can an iPad fill PDF forms?
I’m hoping to replace my old Macbook air and move my work to an ipad pro. Is there an app for the ipad which supports completion of pdf forms and adding photos to them, in the way that preview does in macos?
Until relatively recently there was little support for Acrobat PDF documents built into the iPad, but this changed with iOS 11. Apple hasn’t yet delivered a bundled app comparable to Preview for viewing PDFs and completing forms, but there are some good quality third– party solutions which are either free or inexpensive.
Most popular are two free apps from Adobe: Acrobat Reader for PDF (bit.ly/ ml161rdrpdf) and Fill & Sign (bit.ly/ ml161lsgn), the second of which is aimed particularly at completing and sending PDF forms. As with all Adobe products, both apps use a special version of Adobe’s own engine for reading and rendering the PDF, and tend to cater for a wider range of forms than products from other vendors. This is because Adobe supplies its proprietary form design software to businesses and governments.
Another contender is PDF Pro 3 (bit. ly/ml161pdfpro3), which uses the PDF engine built into iOS. The iPad version enables you to add images to annotations, which could be invaluable, and it also works well with a wide range of forms. Unlike Adobe’s apps, this requires a modestly priced subscription of $1.49 per month.
Because PDF forms can vary so widely, it’s essential that you try these apps out first with examples of the forms you need to complete, to see which one is most compatible and does everything that you need.