In this tutorial, you will learn how to fill in forms on PDF easily using Zapier and PDF.co automation. You will find out how to scan a form and fill it in with text.

What is Zapier?

Zapier is an online automation tool that connects your favorite apps, such as Gmail, Slack, Mailchimp, and over 1,500 more. You can connect two or more apps to automate repetitive tasks without coding or relying on developers to build the integration. It’s easy enough that anyone can build their own app workflows with just a few clicks.

We prepared this step-by-step tutorial with screenshots on how to make a Zap using PDF.co to fill scanned PDF forms. If you need to fill editable PDF form, then please check this tutorial instead.

Due to great variations of input sources, this tutorial will assume you have already set up the trigger phase before the “Do this” part, where PDF.co comes into play.

Before: basic-form.pdf (screenshot):

scanned basic pdf form.pdf

After: pdfedit.pdf (screenshot)

scanned pdf form with text and checkmark added

TL;DR:

  1. Under “Do this …” Choose App & Event search and select PDF.co from the list of apps
  2. Under Choose Action Event select PDF Filler
  3. Select or connect your PDF.co account to Zapier
  4. Under Customize Pdf filler set the Direct Link To Source PDF to a direct URL of your PDF.
  5. On the Send Data step click TEST & REVIEW, the returned URL is a direct link to the updated file.

Step by step guide:

1. Under “Do this …” Choose App & Event search and select PDF.co from the list of apps

2. Under Choose Action Event select PDF Filler

Zapier - PDF.co - Choose Action Event_v2

3. Select or connect your PDF.co account to Zapier

Connect Zapier to PDF.co

4. Let’s customize the PDF Filler.

  • In the Direct link to source PDF field, enter the source URL.
  • In the Text Objects field, enter the x and y coordinates, page number, and text in this format X;Y;page;text.

You may also add font size, color, font name like this: X;Y;page;text;fontsize;fontname;fontcolor

To find X and Y coordinates, just load your PDF into PDF.co’s Simple PDF Viewer with coordinates that displays coordinates under the cursor:

5. On the Send Data step click TEST & REVIEW, the returned url is a direct link to the new PDF file with the forms filled.

Check if everything works correctly and without errors then hit RETEST & CONTINUE

Give a name to your Zap at the top-left corner, then hit Done Editing, you can then TURN ZAP ON

Your Zap Is Ready

Depending on your Zapier plan and settings, your Zaps will trigger and the output and logs can be found in your Tasks History.

NOTE: if you need to fill fillable PDF forms, please check this tutorial.

In this tutorial, you’ve learned how to fill out a scanned PDF form with PDF.co and Zapier in a few clicks.

 

Zapier Video Tutorial