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Sometimes it’s the smallest features that make the biggest long-term difference in our work. Spell check, for example, is a small yet crucial feature we’d find it hard to live without.
For PDF forms, the ability to tap and type in your name, address, and more makes all the difference in filling out forms. In Apple’s 2023 WWDC keynote, scanned paper forms and PDFs that don’t have built-in form fields get that same treatment in iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma. Among the other features coming to Apple devices, Apple’s adding AI-powered features to make PDF and paper forms smart, to make it as easy to fill out a paper form as it is to fill out an online form.
Here’s how they work, once the final versions are released this fall.
How to Scan a Document or Form on iPhone, iPad, or Mac
It all starts with a PDF or scanned form. Which, if you already have one you need to fill out, you can jump to the next section and see how to fill it out more quickly with Apple’s latest changes.
If you don’t have a PDF yet, though, your iPhone or iPad can do double-duty as a scanner—even in older versions of iOS. It’s perhaps the best reason to use an iPad camera.
To scan a paper document or form, open the Notes app on your device. Add a new note, tap the camera icon, then choose Scan Documents. Point your device’s camera toward a document—ideally one lying flat on a table or desk, with enough lighting to get a clear shot. Apple Notes will recognize the edges of the document and scan it automatically. If your document or form has more than one page, just replace the first page with the next one and iOS will snap the next page moments later.
Save the scanned document, then you can view it in Notes anytime. Or, tap the document’s name (auto-generated from the text Apple recognizes on the top of from paper) and choose Share to send your PDF or save it to your Files app.
Want to scan a paper form on your Mac instead? Macs can’t scan documents with their built-in cameras, but they can import a scanned document from an all-in-one printer or dedicated scanner. To scan a document on a Mac, open Preview, click the File menu, and select Import from PRINTER_NAME with your printer or scanner’s name instead. Moments later you’ll have a preview of your paper document or form that you can save as a PDF and share.
Now, it’s time to fill out your form with Apple’s new form field recognition.
AutoFill a Print or PDF Form on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
Preview on Macs and the Files app on iPads and iPhones have long included basic form features. If you scanned a document or opened a PDF that didn’t include fields, you could tap the Form Filling button (a rectangle with 3 dots and a pencil) then add text fields manually. Or, you could use your finger or an Apple Pencil to check off boxes and write info on a form, like Uber’s vehicle inspection form.
iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma are smarter than that. They can recognize the text in your scanned forms and add fields to fill them out automatically.
On iPhone and iPad, open a PDF from the Files app or as a preview from most other apps, and tap the Form Filling button when it appears. On a Mac, open the scanned paper form in Preview, then tap the Form Filling button.
The app will automatically recognize most common paper form fields and highlight them in blue. It worked with both rectangle boxes and underlined fields on forms in our tests. Tap a field, perhaps a Name field, and your device will recognize that the form wants your name, and will suggest it from your Contacts card. Select your name and the correct address, as in the animation above from Apple’s demo video, and each of your contact details will be auto-filled.
That worked perfectly with common contact info, including names, address details, phone numbers, and email addresses when we tried it. In the current beta, you’ll need to tap each field and select the info from above your keyboard, choosing your name, email, address, and more individually. In the final version, as in Apple’s demo, each of those fields should get filled in automatically.
That means you can fill out a paper form faster on your iPhone or iPad than on paper. Scan the paper form with Notes, open the PDF preview, tap the Form Filling button, then tap each field and select the suggested text above your keyboard. Moments later, you’ll have the form filled out and ready to share.
Rebuild Your Paper Form in Seconds With AI
There are still some times when paper forms are better. They’re cheap and easy to use. All you need is a clipboard and a pencil for people to fill them out, perfect for quick registration forms and maintenance checklists. And if you’ve already spent time making paper forms for your events and business, perhaps it’s easier just to keep using them.
But if you do want to digitize your forms, Fillout just might be your best option. We’re biased, but if time’s the reason you’ve held off migrating your forms, we’ve solved that for you with our new AI form builder.
Here’s how it works. Sign up for a free Fillout account, create a new form, then click the purple star button beside the Search Fields box to generate form questions with AI. Select the Multiple questions option, then type in your questions one after another (or, even better, use iOS or macOS’s text recognition, and just copy the text from your paper form and paste it into Fillout).
To recreate the Art in the Park form above, I typed the following in the box:
Add the following questions to my form:
- First name
- Last Name
- Address, including city, state, and zip code
- Email address
- Phone number
- Special Requests, with a long text field
- Signature
When you’re finished, click Add questions, and moments later Fillout AI will add the correct fields to your form. From start to finish, you’ll have your paper form turned into an online form in a minute, tops.
Then you’re ready to change your form workflow. Copy your Fillout form link to share it in emails, on social media, or embed it in your website. Or, to replace a paper form in the real world, you could turn the link into a QR code with free tools from Adobe or Bitly, then print it out and let your guests fill out forms on their phone where they would have previously filled out a paper form.
With a Fillout form, you can do much more with your data than you could with a paper form. Fillout can automatically save every new form entry to Notion, Airtable, or Google Sheets—or you could use form integrations to notify your team in Slack, add contacts to your Salesforce CRM, send email notifications for new form entries, and more.
The next time you need to make a new form, you could start even faster with a Fillout form templates, with pre-made signup sheets, appointment forms, rental applications, petitions, and more. Or use Fillout’s AI to come up with form fields for you—tell it to make a contact form, and watch it work its magic.
You’ll never have to scan paper forms or drag-and-drop digital form fields again.
Written by
Matthew Guay is a writer and co-founder of Pith and Pip. He previously was founding editor of Capiche and Zapier’s senior writer and editor.
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