The Word steps with the Developer tab, why the form stops working once it becomes a PDF, and how to send a fillable PDF that anyone can open.
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Turn on the Developer tab, put content controls (Plain Text, Check Box, Drop-Down List, Date Picker) where the answers go, and protect the document with Restrict Editing so only the controls can be filled. It works in desktop Word for Windows and Mac, not in Word for the web, and Save as PDF turns the controls into flat text. For a form people outside your office can fill, make a fillable PDF from the same document.
The form tools live on the Developer tab, which Word hides by default. On Windows it is under File, Options, Customize Ribbon; on a Mac under Word, Settings (Preferences in older versions), Ribbon & Toolbar. Tick Developer.
Type the labels and use a table to line up questions and answers. A two-column table, labels on the left and answers on the right, is the easiest layout to fill and to keep tidy.
Click where an answer goes and pick a control on the Developer tab: Plain Text or Rich Text for typed answers, Check Box, Drop-Down List or Combo Box for choices, Date Picker for dates. On a Mac the options are Text Box, Check Box and Combo Box.
Select a control and choose Properties on the Developer tab (Options on a Mac) to add the list items, a title or placeholder text, or to stop the control from being deleted.
On Windows choose Developer, Restrict Editing, allow only filling in forms, then Yes, Start Enforcing Protection. On a Mac choose Developer, Protect Form. People can now type in the controls but not change the rest of the page.
2 minutes 13 seconds on a synthetic equipment loan form: upload the .docx, check the fields AI found, export a PDF with real form fields, and reuse the layout as a template. Detection is probabilistic, so you review the fields before you send the form out.
Creating the form needs desktop Word. Microsoft says creating fillable forms is not available in Word for the web; you build it in Word for Windows or Mac. The result is a .docx, so the person filling it needs Word or an app that handles Word content controls. That is fine inside an office where everyone has Microsoft 365, and often a problem for clients, applicants and anyone on a phone.
Printing works: Microsoft notes the boxes around the content controls do not print, so a paper copy looks clean.
Save As PDF and Export write a flat page. The content controls come out as printed placeholder text, not as PDF form fields, and Microsoft’s answer to exactly this complaint is that there is no option in Word to create a PDF form. The layout survives; the fields do not.
So when the form has to go to people outside your office, send a fillable PDF instead: keep Word for the layout and add the fields to the PDF.
Upload the .docx as it is. It is converted to a PDF, and field detection places a field on each underscore line, empty table cell and box character it finds. Check them, set Text, Checkbox, Radio or Dropdown and the font size, and export a PDF with real form fields that works in Acrobat Reader, a browser or a phone app.
If the document already has content controls, check the preview: depending on the control, it may come through as a field or only as its placeholder text. For the cleanest result, leave an underscore line or an empty table cell where each answer goes. The Word to fillable PDF page lists what detection finds and where it needs a hand.
Uploading the file, detecting fields, drawing and naming them and previewing the result is free. Downloading the PDF with clickable fields needs a one-time pack ($7, 25 clean downloads) or a monthly plan. The first clean copy of a form you filled yourself is free, but it is flattened, so it has no fields left. Anyone you send the fillable PDF to can type into it in Acrobat Reader, a browser or a phone app without a JustFill account.
Upload the file, see which fields are detected and decide afterwards.
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