After you fill a PDF: download, lock, email, or save
After you fill a PDF: download, lock, email, or save
The result screen says Your filled PDF is ready and gives you more than a download button. Here is what each option is for.
Download PDF
The obvious one. The file lands in your browser's downloads.
By default the values are still form fields — clickable, editable by whoever opens it next. That is fine for a draft. It is not fine for something you are sending to an employer or a government office.
Lock values (flatten)
A checkbox next to the download button. Ticking it bakes the values into the page: the text stays exactly where it is, prints identically, and can no longer be clicked and retyped.
Flatten anything you send to someone else. An unflattened form is an invitation for values to be changed after it leaves your hands — accidentally or otherwise. It also stops PDF readers from re-rendering fields differently and shifting your text.
Keep it unflattened when you expect to revise it, or when the recipient has asked for a fillable copy.
Save to my Files
Keeps a copy in your account so you can find it later without re-filling. It counts toward your storage quota, so save the documents you actually sent and skip the experiments.
Email it to me
Sends the filled PDF to your account's email address. Useful when you filled it on a computer and need it on a phone, or when the next step is forwarding it to someone from your normal mailbox.
Edit directly
Opens the PDF editor on the filled document. Use it when the form needs something the fields cannot express — a note in a margin, a value in a box that was never a real field, a correction to placement.
In the editor you can:
- Add text anywhere on the page
- Place a profile value by picking the field from a dropdown, rather than retyping it
- Style what you have added — font, size, bold, italic, underline, colour
- Select several boxes at once and move, restyle, or delete them together
See When a PDF has no form fields for the case where this is the only route.
Advanced: FDF and XFDF export
Hidden behind Advanced export options. These export the values without the document — a data file that some desktop PDF software and older government systems can import into their own copy of the form.
- XFDF is the modern, recommended format.
- FDF is the legacy one, for tools that require it.
If nobody has asked you for one of these, you do not need one.
A sensible default routine
- Review the fields. See Review every field before you send.
- Tick Lock values.
- Download.
- Save to Files if this is a document you sent or will need to prove you sent.
That is four clicks and it produces something you can hand over without worrying.
Related
Frequently asked questions
- What does 'lock values (flatten)' actually do?
- It bakes the values into the page so they are no longer form fields. The text stays visible and printable but can no longer be clicked and retyped. Use it for anything you are sending to someone else.
- Should I save every filled PDF to my Files?
- Save the ones you sent or signed. Drafts and experiments just consume your storage quota.
- What are FDF and XFDF for?
- They carry the field values without the document. Some desktop PDF tools and government systems accept them. If you have never been asked for one, you do not need one — XFDF is the better choice when you are.