# PDF Forms > Create fillable PDF forms from TextControl form fields in Windows Forms, read the returned values with GetAcroFormFields and flatten forms for archiving. - **Product:** TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms - **Section:** Documentation - **Kind:** Topic - **Path:** TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms > PDF Processing > PDF Forms - **773 words** - **Web URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/ - **LLMs URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/llms.txt - **LLMs-Full URL:** https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/llms-full.txt --- Registration forms, order forms and consent forms often travel as PDF documents that recipients fill in with a PDF reader and send back. With TX Text Control .NET for Windows Forms, the form starts as a document with form fields in the `TextControl`, becomes a fillable PDF when it is saved and returns as data your application reads. At the end, the values can be fixed in a flattened PDF for signing or archiving. The first fillable PDF is built in [Create a PDF Form](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/getting-started/pdf/form/llms-full.txt) in Getting Started. How users insert form fields with the ribbon is covered in [Form Fields and Conditional Instructions](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/form-fields/llms-full.txt), and the form field classes in [Forms and Conditional Instructions](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-processing/form-fields/llms-full.txt). Form fields are part of the Enterprise edition, as [Editions and Feature Availability](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/overview/editions/llms-full.txt) lists. ### How a PDF Form Travels 1. **Design.** A document gets form fields: text boxes, check boxes, drop-down lists, combo boxes and date fields, inserted in code, with the **Form Fields** tab of the ribbon or loaded from a Word form. 2. **Create.** Saved with `StreamType.AdobePDF`, the form fields become AcroForm fields, the interactive fields of the PDF format, with their names and values. 3. **Fill in.** Users fill in the form in Adobe Acrobat Reader, in Google Chrome or in another PDF reader: ![A PDF form in Adobe Acrobat Reader with a filled text field for the company name and an open drop-down list offering United States, Germany and Italy.](https://docs.textcontrol.com/assets/img/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf-form-drop-down.8ca05713.webp) 4. **Read.** `Forms.GetAcroFormFields` returns the fields of the returned PDF with their values. 5. **Finalize.** The values go back into your document of the form, the fields are flattened into text and the result is signed or archived. TX Text Control reads the fields of an existing PDF but doesn't write values into it. A PDF with new or changed values is always saved from a document. ### Find the Right Page | If you want to | Read | |---|---| | Understand how form fields become PDF fields, convert a Word form and check the result | [Creating AcroForms](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/acroforms/llms-full.txt) | | Read the values of a filled PDF form and put them back into the editor | [Reading Form Fields and Values](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/reading-fields/llms-full.txt) | | Protect a fillable form with permissions, or replace the fields with their values | [Exporting Interactive and Flattened Forms](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/exporting/llms-full.txt) | | Fill in the form inside your own application | [Let Users Fill Out the Form](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/document-editor/form-fields/#let-users-fill-out-the-form) | ### Where to Start 1. [Create a PDF Form](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/getting-started/pdf/form/llms-full.txt), if you haven't saved a form as PDF yet. 2. [Creating AcroForms](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/acroforms/llms-full.txt): what ends up in the PDF. 3. [Reading Form Fields and Values](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/reading-fields/llms-full.txt): get the data back. 4. [Exporting Interactive and Flattened Forms](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/exporting/llms-full.txt): finish the document. ### Related Sections - [PDF Processing](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/llms-full.txt): passwords, PDF/A and fonts for the PDF documents that contain your forms. - [Mail Merge and Reporting](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/mail-merge/llms-full.txt): fill form templates with data. - [Digital Signatures](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/digital-signatures/llms-full.txt): sign completed forms. --- ## In This Section - [Creating AcroForms](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/acroforms/llms-full.txt): Turn TextControl form fields and Word forms into AcroForm fields in Windows Forms: field mapping, DescriptiveText tooltips and checking with GetAcroFormFields. - [Exporting Interactive and Flattened Forms](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/exporting/llms-full.txt): Save PDF forms fillable with access permissions or flattened in Windows Forms: GetTextFields and Clear, flatten single fields, and FormFieldMergeType.Replace. - [Reading Form Fields and Values](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/reading-fields/llms-full.txt): Get the values of a returned PDF form in Windows Forms with GetAcroFormFields: FormTextField, FormCheckBox and FormChoiceField, copied into the TextControl. --- ## Nearby - **Previous:** [Font Embedding and Substitution](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/fonts/llms-full.txt) - **Next:** [Creating AcroForms](https://docs.textcontrol.com/tx-text-control-dotnet-winforms/pdf/forms/acroforms/llms-full.txt)