PDF is popular.
When Adobe released the PDF format in 2008 as an open standard, people have known PDF as the most convenient, pocket-sized, and ideal document format for every type of industry.
However, PDF is more than that.
More than its ability to maintain high-quality texts and images, you can still stretch the wonders of PDFs and learn its hidden hacks–you will be surprised at how beneficial it can be. We came up with five things that you can do to make the most out of PDFs:
Table of Contents
1. Edit and style your PDF online
3. Convert PDFs to Fillable Forms
4. Save your PDF files online via cloud
7. Connect your PDF forms to various applications
What is a PDF?
Invented by Adobe, PDF was developed in 1993, and later on, became standardized in 2008. Back in the day, PDF wasn’t that popular. It was commonly used in desktop publishing companies, where the creation of documents using page layout software happens. When it became an open standard in 2008, the use of PDF continues to soar up until today–not just to the desktop publishing industry, but to every single practice.
What makes PDF better than other formats?
Aside from its ability to be adjustable in size, PDF remains the desired document format for companies because of its security. Highly confidential documents such as agreements, contracts, and loans are sent in PDF format to retain their integrity. PDFs are difficult to modify–it also includes security encryption that can enable you to send PDFs with passwords.
The rise of PDF in the digital world
As the world continues to be digitalized, the use of PDF consistently soars. Work from home and online class set-ups also contributed to the emerging popularity of PDF–using this document format in everyday transactions such as sending of employee documents, insurance agreements, school projects, and more.
Because of this, people are seeking after pdf designers and applications on the web. Now, you can freely upload and edit PDFs online.
Make the most out of your PDF
Did you know?
PDF is more than a document format. With the right PDF designer and software, you can do so much more than the usual document creation out of it–you can convert PDFs to web forms, submit PDF forms online, and many more!
1.) Edit/Style your PDF online
Yes, you can also personalize PDFs!
Edit and customize your PDFs online with our easiest drop and drag tools here in PlatoForms. With our beginner-friendly navigation, you don’t have to be an A-grade tech-savvy just to get things done with your PDF.
There are more features for you to uncover in PlatoForms that most PDF form creator tools don’t have. This includes the Form Designer feature. With this feature, you can adjust the form width, the color of the input background and border, the page and form background, the label and title color, and a lot more. You can use this to white-label your PDF form according to your brand or preferred style.
2.) Combine multiple PDFs
Needing a PDF that requires to be filled with numerous and shared information? It can be tiring to fill them up one by one–thankfully, combining multiple PDFs by linking them with each other is now possible. Our Master Forms aim to create one fillable PDF–and can be generated into multiple copies. Simply link multiple PDFs that need the same information and share the link to your colleagues in minutes.
3.) Convert PDF to Fillable Forms Online
Fillable forms are life-changing–now, we don’t have to deal with complicated PDFs anymore. The best thing? PlatoForms can convert your PDFs to online forms: Making it easier for you and your clients to achieve a higher completion rate.
To convert your PDF to an online form, go to the form builder dashboard in PlatoForms. Once you are directed to your dashboard, look at the menu on your left side.
Find the button or option “Start to build” from the left menu navigation pane.
Then after clicking that, a pop-up box will appear. You will see 3 options, namely:
- Create an online form existing PDF
- Create a Master form
- Create a PDF from scratch
Select “Create an online form from existing PDF”.
After that, you can select what type of form you want to build. The page will give you two options:
- Online Web Form – this is a shareable and fillable form that you can generate and edit and share with anyone using a link.
- Online PDF Form - will keep an intact PDF format accessible to Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. Once you are done choosing, you can now edit, convert, design, and publish your work.
Once you are done choosing, you can now edit, convert, design, and publish your work.
4.) Save your PDF files online via cloud
Aside from turning your PDFs into fillable forms, you can also store your PDFs to your preferred drive. With PDF, you don’t have to go through several drawers and boxes just to store them.
Aside from saving physical space, cloud storage is more secured than physical ones–safe from disasters, unexpected events, and theft. Accessing via cloud storage is also possible anywhere, anytime. Here are some of the most common cloud storage. used today:
- Google Drive
- Dropbox
- OneDrive
- Box
5.) Share PDFs easily
Once your clients or colleagues submit their PDF forms online, you can now easily share them! With PlatoForms, there are pretty easy ways to share your PDF fillable form. Here are some that you might want to try out:
- Public URL
You just need to secure the random URL assigned to your PDF! You can just then send the URL to those you want to share the PDF with.
To find the URL, just log in to your PlatoForms account. Then, on the Dashboard, hover to your target PDF fillable form. Hover to the top right corner of the form and click on the settings icon. Then, click on Share.
- Embed Script
Another way to share your PDF fillable form is by Embed. It can be used to publish the form on a website. If you want to level up your ways of sharing a PDF form, you can have the form show up on your own website by embedding the script.
Just copy and paste the script and paste it into your page to display the form. Else, if you don’t know your ways with HTML codes, just secure the code and provide it to your web developer.
- Custom Domain
The custom domain works the same way as the public URL. The only difference is that you can opt to use your own domain name to make your PDF fillable form appear to be more white-labeled.
6. Turn your PDFs to web form
Have an existing PDF? PlatoForms allows you to use your business PDFs in two ways—you can use it as an online form or turn your PDF to web form for a much easier interface. Web forms are your typical online forms; only it’s created from the PDF you’re converting. Users prefer web forms for many reasons, including:
- It’s easier to fill-out than PDF
- PDF design is quite complex—web forms provide a less complicated appearance
- Because it’s convenient, it boosts form completion rate
Turning your PDFs to web form can make your form-filling process easy—and less complex even for beginners. Learn how to create web forms here.
Read more: How PlatoForms Online Forms Can Empower your Hospitality Business
7. Connect your PDF forms to various applications
Aside from making online fillable PDF forms, you can also empower your PDF forms by connecting them to various applications! Integrating your PDFs to apps can help you save time from manual connection—taking forms from point A to point B is a huge waste of time.
We at PlatoForms know the importance of automation—that’s why me provide app integration that can help you do the job. You can connect your PDF forms to these apps for convenience:
- Zapier: For app integration—you can connect your PDF forms to numerous apps hosted by Zapier.
- Slack: Be notified of your PDF form opens, submissions, and more.
- Cloud Drive: For storage reasons.
- Stripe: Yes, you can now collect payments from your PDF online forms through Stripe!
Read more: PlatoForms App Integration
8. Embed password for your PDF
If you’re not keen to using Adobe Acrobat for your PDFs, you can use Microsoft Office to create password for your PDFs. Note: This will just work for a document you created using office.
You can do this by saving your document as PDF. Click the option, “Encrypt with a password”. This way, you can secure your PDFs with password for security.
9. Reduce the size of your PDF
For non-users of Adobe Acrobat, you can reduce the size of your PDFs by compressing the pictures.
Since PDF documents are already compressed to provide smaller size, you need to compress the images inside the PDF itself to reduce it size. Either way, you can reduce the size of your PDF to send out smaller size for emails.
Make the most of your PDF with PlatoForms
The benefits of PDFs are endless. As we continue to use PDF for our daily transactions, make sure you make the most out of it by choosing the right PDF designer and software that can suit your needs.
Need an online PDF software that can let your convert your PDFs to online form? Check out our awesome features here at PlatoForms.
