One of the common petition I get from readers is for software that let you fill out PDF shape . Of of course , if a PDF was really produced as a full - featured form with editable fields , the detached Adobe Reader and ( in Tiger , at least ) OS X ’s ownPreviewlet you fill in those fields . Unfortunately , I get a plenty of PDF forms thatdon’tinclude editable theater — the transmitter expects me to print out the form , occupy it out , and then telefax or post it back . The result for me has been to apply one of a turn of commercial software titles that let you add school text to such PDFs , such as SmileOnMyMac ’s $ 50 PDFpen and $ 95 PDFpenPro , full reading ofAdobe Acrobat , the $ 30FormMate , or even the $ 30 GraphicConverter .
( There ’s actuallya kludgy wayto employ Microsoft Word , Pages , or OmniGraffle to fill out forms — by using the PDF as a background layer — but it wreak only with single - page PDFs and it ’s , well , kludgy . )
Andrew de los Reyes offer a low - price option to these commercial-grade products in the form — no wordplay intended — ofFormulate 0.0.1 (; payment requested ) . This tiny app does one thing , and one matter only : it allow you type schoolbook onto PDFs .
alas , Formulate ’s port is n’t the most visceral I ’ve used . Instead of clicking somewhere on a PDF frame to get a school text boxwood and then typing the desire textual matter , you rather type the textbook — into Formulate ’s text - ledger entry box — first , then press Return , then press the location on the page where you desire the text to go . ( If you “ miss , ” do n’t worry , you’re able to embroil the text edition around to aline it properly . ) You repeat this operation — eccentric , Return , click — for each act of textual matter you want to let in in the PDF .
If you settle you require to move or delete textbook , just click the “ show / hide draftsman ” button to view the listing of text edition detail you ’ve added to the PDF . Select one ( which turn that text crimson on the page for profile ) and you ’ll be able to move it around the page or — by clicking “ Delete choose entry”—delete it all .
( I like that the developer has commingle a “ user manual ” and a tutorial in a unmarried PDF filing cabinet ; you start the PDF in Formulate and play along along as it explains how to tot school text to that PDF . )
Once you ’ve finished adding text to the varlet , you’re able to print it , salvage it as a new PDF ( using OS X ’s “ Save as PDF ” option in the Print dialog ) , or save it ( via filing cabinet : Save ) as a Formulate setting charge . The latter option does n’t neuter the original PDF in any mode ; instead , it creates a preferences ( .plist ) file , in the same folder as the original PDF , that contains all your school text entrance . The next metre you spread out that PDF single file in Formulate , as long as that .plist file is in the same folder as the PDF document , Formulate will add your text edition entries to the document .
That ’s the extent of Formulate ’s feature set . You ca n’t change the font or style of text entry ; you ca n’t supply thing other than basic text ( for good example , drawing objects or a graphic image of your signature ) ; you ca n’t edit or alter the original PDF ’s text edition ; and multi - page PDFs come out in Formulate as a single , long page rather than as distinct pages . Still , if all you need is a meretricious way to contribute text to PDFs , Formulate is just that and works well .
Formulate requires Mac OS X 10.3 ( Panther ) or later and is a Universal double star .
