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Extract PDF Form Fields

Export form field names, types and filled values as CSV or JSON.

Processed locally in your browser. Your file is not uploaded to any server. How this works

  1. 01Add your file
  2. 02Extract PDF Form Fields
  3. 03Download

Runs in your browser · nothing uploaded

About extract PDF form fields

An interactive PDF form is an AcroForm: a field tree in the document catalogue whose entries each have a fully qualified name, a type, a value and one or more widget annotations placing them on pages. Because the values live in those field objects rather than in the page content, they are structured data — which is the good news, and also the frustration, because a stack of returned forms is a stack of structured records that most workflows end up transcribing by hand. This tool reads the field tree and exports it: every field with its qualified name, its type, its current value, and for choice fields the options available. That turns a filled form into a row you can put in a spreadsheet, and turns an empty form into the field inventory you need before writing anything that fills one programmatically.

How to extract PDF form fields

  1. 01

    Load the PDF form

    The AcroForm field tree is read from the catalogue, and widget annotations are matched to their fields.

  2. 02

    Review the field table

    Each field appears with its qualified name, type, current value and page, in tree order.

  3. 03

    Choose your export

    CSV for spreadsheets and data entry, JSON for scripts and integrations.

  4. 04

    Reuse the schema

    The same field names are what a filling tool expects, so an extract from a blank form doubles as its specification.

What this tool does

  • Fully qualified field names including parent prefixes, which is what identifies a field unambiguously
  • Field types distinguished: text, checkbox, radio button group, dropdown, list box, pushbutton and signature
  • Current values exported, including the on and off state names of checkboxes rather than a guessed boolean
  • Choice field options listed with both export values and display labels, which frequently differ
  • Read-only and required flags reported, along with maximum length where set
  • The page each widget appears on, so a field name can be traced back to its place on the form
  • Export as CSV for spreadsheets or JSON for code
  • Empty fields included in the output, so a blank in a data set is distinguishable from a missing field

Limitations worth knowing

Every PDF tool has constraints. Stating them plainly is more useful than discovering them halfway through your work.

  • A document with no AcroForm returns nothing. A printed-looking form with lines and boxes drawn on the page is page content, not fields.
  • Flattened forms have no field objects left. Flattening draws the values into the page permanently and discards the interactive layer, so the data is visible but no longer extractable.
  • XFA forms — the XML-based Adobe variant — are not read as XFA. Where a hybrid file carries an AcroForm alongside, that is what is exported.
  • Signature fields are reported as present with their state; validating a signature is a separate matter handled by the signature inspector.
  • Checkbox export values are whatever the form author chose, commonly but not always /Yes and /Off. The raw state name is reported rather than normalised, because normalising loses information.
  • Field values as stored may differ from what a viewer displays if a format script rewrites the appearance, and this reports the stored value.

How your file is handled

This tool runs entirely inside this browser tab. When you choose a file, your browser reads it from your own disk and hands the bytes to JavaScript running on this page — no network request carries your document anywhere. You can confirm that yourself: open your browser’s developer tools, switch to the Network panel, and run the tool. You will see no upload.

Nothing is stored after the fact. Closing or reloading this tab discards the file, the result and everything derived from them, because none of it ever left your machine. Read how local processing works.

Questions about extract PDF form fields

Why does my form show no fields?

Two usual reasons. It may not be an interactive form at all — a scanned or designed form with ruled boxes is a picture of a form, and the boxes are page content with no field objects behind them. Or the form was flattened, which permanently draws the values into the page and removes the interactive layer. In either case, try text extraction first; if that comes back empty the page is an image, which means a scan, and OCR is the route to the text — though it returns text, never named fields.

Can I get the data from many filled forms into one spreadsheet?

Yes — export each as CSV using the same field names as columns and append the rows. Because qualified field names are stable across copies of the same form, the columns line up. That is the ordinary way to turn a folder of returned forms into a data set without retyping anything.

What is a fully qualified field name and why does it matter?

Fields can be nested under parent fields, and the qualified name joins that path with dots — something like applicant.address.postcode. It matters because the short name alone can repeat in different branches of the tree, so only the qualified name identifies a field unambiguously. Anything filling a form programmatically needs the qualified form.

Why is my checkbox exported as /Yes instead of true?

Because that is what the file stores. A checkbox has an on-state name chosen by the form author, and while /Yes is conventional it is not required — plenty of forms use /On, /1 or something idiosyncratic. Reporting the raw state keeps the export faithful and keeps a round trip through a filling tool working.

Does extracting values change the form?

No. This reads the field tree and writes nothing. Your PDF is untouched, and nothing leaves your browser.

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