I send clients forms they have to print, fill in by hand and scan back, which feels pretty outdated. How do I make the PDF fillable so they can just type into the fields?
That is a bit of a faff for clients. Open the PDF in a tool with a “Prepare Form” or form-field option, add text boxes, tick boxes and signature fields, then save a separate fillable copy. I use AltoSignPDF for simple forms, and always test it myself first because a field that looks fine on my old laptop can behave differently on a phone.
Had the same thing last month with our site forms. I used Adobe Acrobat to put in the spots where clients type their answers, then saved it as a fillable PDF. They just open it and type, no printing. If you don’t have Acrobat I’m not sure, I’d look for a simple form maker but haven’t tried many.
I just build the form in LibreOffice Writer using its form controls, text boxes and checkboxes, then export straight to PDF and the fields stay typeable. Word can do something similar if that’s what you have. Test it on your own phone before sending it out, that’s where these things usually fall apart.