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PureField PDF Tool

Open XFA forms, flatten fillable PDFs, show a form's field names, or make a dark PDF print-friendly. Choose a PDF, pick what you want, and download the result.

Your file never leaves your computer.

Everything happens inside your browser. Nothing is uploaded, stored or seen by anyone, the site's operator included.

Drop a PDF here, or click to choose
It is checked first, then you choose what to do with it.

Curious how it works, or how well it matches Adobe Reader? Read about PureField. Free and open source; voluntary payments welcome. Adobe, Acrobat and Reader are trademarks of Adobe; this tool is not affiliated with Adobe (third-party notices).

© 2026 Jason Cousineau Solutions Inc. — Built with intelligence, human and otherwise.
Q&A (for webcrawlers)
How do I use the PureField PDF tool?
  1. Drop a PDF onto the box above, or click it to choose a file. On a phone, tap it and pick the PDF from Files or Downloads.
  2. The tool reads the file and tells you what it found: an XFA form, a fillable form, comments, barcodes, dark pages, and so on.
  3. It shows only the options that apply to that file, with the recommended choices already set. Change any you like.
  4. Press the button. When it's done, choose Download, Preview, or Open in a new tab. Change an option and the file is made again.
Which options should I choose?

For most people, the ones already selected. They're set to produce what Adobe Reader would print. The other choices are there for special cases: getting real, scannable barcodes, leaving out comments, seeing field names, or making a print-friendly copy of a dark document.

Is my file uploaded?

No. Everything happens inside your browser, on your own device. The file is never sent to a server, so nobody, the site's operator included, ever sees it. Once the page has loaded, the tool keeps working even offline.

Does it work on iPhone, iPad and Android?

Yes, in Safari or Chrome. On an iPhone, save an emailed PDF to Files first (tap the attachment, then Share, then Save to Files), then choose it here. Tap Download when it's done, and the new PDF opens in any app. Very large files take longer on a phone than on a computer.

What does “Print-friendly copy” do?

It turns dark pages into black on white to save ink and toner. Dark backgrounds become white, light text becomes black, and colours become greys. Pictures and photos stay exactly as they are. Dark panels inside a page become a light grey tint by default, so they still stand out; choose white to save the most toner. The file is saved with “-print” added to its name.

Why is “Print-friendly copy” already ticked for my PDF?

Because the file has no form to flatten and no comments, and most of the pages the tool sampled have a dark background. It assumes that's why you're here. Untick it if you'd rather not.

What do “The XFA form” and “The fillable-field layer underneath” mean?

Some forms carry two versions of themselves: the XFA form, which is what Adobe Reader shows and prints, and an older set of plain fillable fields underneath, for viewers that don't understand XFA. Normally you want the XFA form. The fillable-field layer can be useful when it holds values the XFA form doesn't, or when you need the fields placed exactly where the original pages had them.

Should I run the form's calculations and scripts?

Yes, normally. Forms use them to add up totals, fill in today's date, format numbers, and show or hide sections depending on your answers. Adobe Reader runs them, so the result matches Reader only when they run. They run in a sandbox and can't reach anything outside the form. The Date to use for scripts sets what the form sees as “today”, which matters for forms that print the date or calculate an age.

What are the barcode options?

Many government and business forms carry barcodes that encode the form's data. Adobe Reader prints some barcode types as grey boxes, or leaves them off, and the tool tells you when your form has one of those. As Adobe Reader prints them matches Reader. As real, scannable barcodes draws them properly, which is useful when someone needs to scan the printout.

What does “Field names” do?

It prints each field's name where its value would go, instead of the value, so you can see which field is which. It's for anyone filling forms from other software, mapping a form to a database, or checking a form they built. Choose the colour, the smallest and largest text size, and whether to show short (LastName) or full names (form1[0].page1[0].LastName[0]).

What do the font options do?

Embed fonts (the default) puts the fonts the page needs into the file, so it looks the same everywhere. Standard PDF fonts only makes a smaller file, but it can show Western European characters only. For Chinese, Japanese or Korean text, you can also supply a TrueType font to embed; without one, the text uses Adobe's standard Asian fonts, which some viewers and printers can't show.

The tool says my PDF has “no form fields, comments or markup”. What does that mean?

There's nothing in it to flatten. It may already be flattened, or it may be an ordinary document. You can still make a print-friendly copy if it has dark pages.

It's asking for a password. Which one?

The password you'd type to open the file in Adobe Reader. Files that only restrict printing or copying open without one. Files protected with a digital certificate instead of a password can't be opened here.

What will my new file be called?

The original name with “-flattened” added, or “-print” for a print-friendly copy. For example, tax-form.pdf becomes tax-form-flattened.pdf. Your original file is never changed.

Can I do several PDFs at once?

The tool does one PDF at a time. For batches, developers can use the PureField library itself, which is free and open source on GitHub.

Can I type into the form here?

No. The tool prints the values already saved in the form. To fill in an XFA form, use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader on a Windows or Mac computer, save it, and then bring it here if you need a copy that opens everywhere.

The result doesn't look right. What can I do?

First try the recommended options. If it still looks wrong, open the details under the result to see any warnings, then get in touch. If you can share the PDF (or a blank copy of the form), it helps a lot.