Some PDF forms open to a single page saying "Please wait... If this message is not eventually replaced by the proper contents of the document, your PDF viewer may not be able to display this type of document." The message is never replaced. These are XFA forms, made with Adobe LiveCycle Designer: instead of fixed pages, the file holds a description of the form that the viewer has to lay out itself, and almost nothing but Adobe Reader does. Chrome, Edge, Safari, the Mac's Preview, phones and most PDF apps show only the placeholder. Government departments, banks, insurers and employers still publish them - Canadian immigration forms are the best-known example.
This page lays out the real form with the same open-source XFA engine Firefox uses, in your browser, with nothing installed and nothing uploaded. Fill it in, then save it one of three ways: as the same form with your answers in it, which still opens and works in Adobe Reader; through the print dialog, where "Save as PDF" gives an ordinary PDF with sharp text that anyone can open; or as a one-click PDF made of page images. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and once you have used it, it keeps working offline.
- Why does my PDF say "Please wait... If this message is not eventually replaced"?
- Because it is an XFA form and the viewer cannot lay XFA out. The page you see is a placeholder the form's author left for viewers that cannot. Chrome's and Edge's built-in viewers, Safari, Preview and most phone apps all stop there. Adobe Reader and Firefox can show the form, and so can this page.
- Which save option should I use?
- If the office expects the form itself back - to open it again in Adobe Reader, or to read the answers out of it - use Save filled form. If you only need a document that shows your answers, to print, email or upload, use Print or save as PDF and choose "Save as PDF" as the printer. Download as image PDF is the same in one click, but each page is a picture, so the file is larger and the text cannot be searched.
- Why don't the totals add up by themselves, or the "add another" buttons work?
- Those are scripts written into the form, and this page does not run them. The layout, fields, lists and checkboxes work; anything the form calculates or adds on its own does not. Fill calculated boxes in yourself, or finish in Adobe Reader if the form depends on them.
- Will an immigration office accept a form filled in here?
- Check what it asks for. Some Canadian IRCC forms have a Validate button that adds barcode pages, and that is a script, so it does not run here - which is also why those forms show a red "JavaScript has been disabled" line, as they do in Firefox. If the instructions say to validate the form or to use Adobe Reader, save the filled form here and open it in the free Adobe Reader to validate it before you send it.
- Is the form sent anywhere to be read?
- No. The PDF is read and laid out in your browser tab, and the saved files are made there too. Forms like these hold passport numbers, addresses and finances, which is exactly what should not go to a converter website.