Digital fillable forms are rapidly replacing their paper counterparts, but the number of form creation tools in the market can make it hard to see the wood from the trees. Let’s dive deeper into the matter and try to find the best tool for your needs.
Popular Form Formats
First things first, let’s start with possible form formats. Among the most popular would be Word. Let’s look at pros and cons of this format:
Pros
- Word is a familiar tool that doesn’t require additional deep tech knowledge
- The format is supported in the majority of services so can be shared easily
- Ease of creating and editing by you and people you share the form with.
Cons
- No ability to set up required fields
- No protection of filled in data
- Form can look different depending on device
- No digital signature.
When we speak of Apple devices, the suggested alternative to Word would be Google Docs, which has slightly different menu and capabilities, but the form will look very similar.
A similarly popular form format is a PDF. One of the crucial differences between PDF and Word formats would be that a PDF can’t be easily edited by people to whom you send it. Moreover, you can protect it from any changes with a password.
As for the pros and cons of PDFs, let’s mention the main ones:
Pros
- Uniform appearance which is critical for business and legal documents
- PDF remains intact regardless of device or operating system
- Forms can be made to look similar to a paper form, making the switch from paper to digital much easier for non-techy team members who worked with paper forms for years
- Digital signature
- Security (it’s possible to make fields required, hidden, view-only, etc.).
Cons
- Form creation requires tech skills
- Difficult to edit a form layout.
Online forms are becoming more popular. They can be created and then downloaded in different formats.
Pros
- Quick form creation with no special skills required
- Easy form edits/changes
- Form security is generally good, depending on which tool is used
- Simple and clear form layout.
Cons
- The form creation/editing toolkit is often limited
- Online access requires stable internet connection.
Form Creation Tools
Each format requires a service where the form can be created. Let’s not limit ourselves to MS Word, which is familiar to most of us from our school days. It is worth mentioning, however, that a Word form can be converted in MS Word into a PDF form with a click of a button. But that will be a non-fillable form. To make it fillable, you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Pro.
Adobe Acrobat
Despite multiple alternatives, Adobe Acrobat remains the most popular tool when it comes to fillable form creation. The first step is buying a license. Then you’ll need to watch or listen to a few tutorials about form creation. The good thing is that there are plenty of such articles and videos.
Those not looking to spend hours in Adobe doing a PhD in form creation would most likely prefer an online tool.
Online Services
There are plenty of online form creation tools. Your paramount task would be to find a tool that will not require payment after you’ve spent a couple of hours on form creation. That’s a frustrating sales tactic used by plenty of online services, many of which also have limited functionality. But not all online services are bad, you just have to find the good ones!
Speaking of the good ones, let’s learn how to create a fillable form in Fluix.
Creating a Fillable Form in Fluix
It has to be mentioned from the very beginning that Fluix is not a form creation tool; it’s a document management and workflow automation software for businesses. However, document management starts with form creation. Fluix offers a built-in Form Builder which allows you to both create a new PDF or web form, and add fields to an existing PDF.
The beauty of the Fluix Form Builder is that there are no technical skills needed to create a form. The menu and overall interface are specifically designed to be simple yet powerful enough to create professional looking forms with ease.
Check out the Fluix form building experience in this 1-min video tutorial.
Once a form is created, Fluix allows you to create a workflow for your team and add the form to it. From there, your team can fill in the form, add images, sign and send the form for review or approval, and share the final result with customers and stakeholders. Better still, Fluix Admins can see where the form is at every step of the process, ensuring full traceability and transparency.
Create fillable forms easily & push them right to workflows!
