OCR for Forms — Turn Scanned Documents into Fillable Forms
Upload a photo, scan, or image of any paper form and Formtly's AI-powered OCR engine automatically detects every text line, form field, table, checkbox, and label. The result is a ready-to-use fillable web form you can download as a standalone HTML bundle.
How to Turn a Scanned Document into a Fillable Form
- Scan or photograph the form — a phone photo is fine, as long as the text is readable.
- Upload it — PDF scans, PNG, or JPEG.
- OCR detects the structure — labels are paired with input areas, checkboxes become clickable, tables keep their rows and columns.
- Download the fillable form — a self-contained HTML bundle you can host anywhere; conversions stay in your dashboard for re-download.
Scanning forms that used to take an afternoon to rebuild by hand takes under a minute — no Adobe Acrobat, no manual field drawing, no re-typing.
What OCR Detects
- Text lines — Every printed or typed line, positioned exactly as in the original.
- Key-value pairs — Labels like "Name:", "Date:" are paired with input areas and converted to fillable fields.
- Tables — Row and column structures detected and preserved.
- Checkboxes and radio buttons — Selection elements identified and made interactive.
- Signature areas — Signature lines converted to digital signature fields.
Smart Form from OCR
Standard OCR gives you a form overlay on top of the scanned image. Smart Form from OCR goes further — it generates a fully structured web form with proper headings, labeled fields, radio groups, and page structure, delivered as clean semantic HTML you can restyle or extend after download.
OCR vs PDF Conversion
- PDF conversion — Use when you have a digital PDF with embedded form fields (AcroForm or XFA).
- OCR scan-to-form — Use when you have a scanned document, photo, fax, or image-based PDF with no embedded fields.
Industries Using OCR Form Digitization
- Healthcare — Digitize handwritten patient intake forms, insurance claims, consent documents.
- Government — Convert scanned applications, permits, and tax documents to online submissions.
- Construction — Turn paper inspection checklists and safety forms into mobile-friendly digital forms.
- Education — Scan enrollment forms, permission slips, and evaluation sheets.
- Finance — Extract data from scanned invoices, purchase orders, and expense reports.
Pricing
- Free trial — 2 OCR pages to start
- Pay as you go — $0.10 per page, credits never expire, no subscription
- Extra pages — $0.10 per page