An independent legal assistant cut scanned form filling from 20 minutes to 5

One project brought 20 to 25 of them, due the next morning. Each one took 15 to 20 minutes, and the tools that could have helped either cost more than the job paid or couldn’t fill a document at all.

A client organization prints an authorization form, runs it through a scanner, and emails a picture of it. The information still has to be returned the same day it was requested, and a photo of a form doesn’t accept keyboard input.

• A scan is not a form. The fields were printed lines on an image. Without a paid editor, there was no way to type into them.
• The deadline was the next morning. She had 20 to 25 forms to fill and return before the project was due.
• Nothing else fit. One tool cost more than the job paid. One couldn’t fill a document. One capped her at 3 documents a month.

pdf.net makes a scanned form fillable in the browser. The document stays exactly as it arrived, and nothing is rebuilt or retyped. The difference is that a cursor can land where a pen would have gone.

• Makes a scan typeable. Make PDF Fillable turns the printed lines into fields that accept text.
• Puts the text on the line. Each field is dragged into position instead of landing where a fixed layout decides.
• Fills the boxes too. Checkboxes are detected along with the text fields and ticked in the same pass.
• Keeps the original document. Nothing is rebuilt or retyped, so what goes back is the form that arrived.

A completed form now takes about 5 minutes instead of 15 to 20. The fields come from the printed lines, the checkboxes are ticked in the same pass, and the project went back on time.