Turn PDF Forms into Accessible Web Forms

Friendly Web Wizards for Users. Exact Official PDFs for Your Back Office.

Government agencies, insurers, banks, and healthcare providers often rely on hundreds of official PDF forms. While citizens and customers expect a modern, mobile-friendly web experience, downstream departments, courts, and regulators still require the exact official PDF layout—the Document of Record—at the end of the process.

Orbeon Forms gives you both: users fill out a responsive, WCAG-accessible HTML5 web form, and Orbeon Forms automatically populates your untouched official PDF template behind the scenes. And by connecting an AI agent to the Form Builder MCP, you can turn a complex PDF into a working web form in minutes instead of days.

How It Works: From PDF to Web Form in Minutes

1. Start With Your Existing Official PDF

Bring your existing fillable AcroForm PDF—such as a tax form, permit application, insurance claim, or regulatory filing—without modifying a single pixel of the layout.

  • No Renaming Fields in Acrobat: You do not need to edit your PDF to match internal control names. Orbeon Form Builder reads the AcroForm fields directly from your attached PDF template and lets you map any web control to any PDF field from a dropdown (learn more).
  • Migrating from Adobe LiveCycle or AEM Forms XDP? If your templates are currently maintained as .xdp files in AEM Forms Designer, simply export or save them once as standard AcroForm PDFs, attach them in Orbeon Form Builder, and retire the Windows-only Designer desktop tool for good.

2. Generate the Web Form with AI and the Form Builder MCP

Instead of recreating hundreds of controls, labels, and bindings by hand, point an AI agent at your PDF using the Form Builder MCP. In a couple of minutes, the agent reads the PDF and builds a complete form in Orbeon Form Builder:

  1. Sections & Multi-Page Wizards: Breaks dense, multi-column paper layouts into clear, step-by-step web sections.
  2. Typed Controls & Validations: Selects appropriate controls (text, dates, currency, radio buttons, SSN/EIN, ISIN/LEI) and carries over labels and hints from the PDF.
  3. Formulas & Conditional Visibility: Turns paper instructions like “If married filing jointly, skip Steps 2–4” or worksheet tables into live formulas and automatic visibility rules.
  4. Automatic PDF Bindings: Attaches your PDF template and maps every web control—including calculated fields—directly to the corresponding AcroForm field in the PDF.

3. Refine in Form Builder & Publish

Because the AI agent creates a standard Orbeon Form Builder form—not a black box of generated code—your team stays in full control. Use natural-language prompts for bulk edits or formulas, and use Form Builder’s visual editor in the browser to fine-tune layouts, add translations, configure workflows and permissions, and publish with one click.

Example: The IRS Form W-4

Below is the official IRS Form W-4 converted into an interactive web wizard in Orbeon Form Runner, followed by the exact IRS PDF populated automatically from the user’s answers (read the full walkthrough):

The W-4 sample form running in Form Runner
The W-4 sample form running in Form Runner

When the form is submitted, payroll receives the exact official IRS PDF it expects—with all credits calculated and fields mapped automatically:

The filled IRS W-4 PDF generated from the form data
The filled IRS W-4 PDF generated from the form data

Why Organizations Replace Downloadable PDFs with Orbeon Forms

Logos of Swiss Social Security, City of Brussels, City of Bristol, Government of South Tyrol

  1. Meet Accessibility Mandates (ADA Title II, Section 508, EAA) Without Expensive PDF Remediation: Remediating hundreds of fillable PDFs to pass PDF/UA and screen-reader audits can cost $50–$200+ per page and breaks every time a form changes. Orbeon web forms are WCAG 2.1 AA and Section 508 compliant out of the box—giving citizens an accessible web experience while routing the generated PDF strictly to internal back-office systems.
  2. Eliminate Mobile Abandonment & Broken Browser Plugins: Static PDFs require pinching and zooming on phones, and legacy Adobe XFA PDFs no longer open in modern web browsers at all. Orbeon Forms renders natively in every desktop, tablet, and mobile browser.
  3. Drastically Reduce Incomplete & Invalid Submissions: Paper and PDF forms rely on users reading pages of instructions and doing their own math. Orbeon Forms guides users step by step, hides irrelevant sections, computes totals automatically, and enforces validations on the server.
  4. Two PDF Production Modes (Templates + Automatic PDFs):
    • PDF Templates (Document of Record): Populate one or more official AcroForm PDF templates (including language-specific templates) with pixel-perfect accuracy.
    • Automatic PDF Generation: When a strict regulatory layout isn’t mandated, Orbeon Forms automatically generates a clean, bookmarked PDF with customizable headers, footers, and tables of contents with zero extra effort (see PDF production options).
  5. 100% Self-Hosted & Data Sovereign: Deploy Orbeon Forms on-premises or in your own private cloud (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) as a standard Java WAR or Docker container. Your forms and sensitive constituent data never leave your infrastructure.

Downloadable PDFs vs. Adobe AEM Forms vs. Orbeon Forms

Capability Downloadable Fillable PDFs Adobe AEM Forms (AFCS + Document of Record) Orbeon Forms
Mobile & Tablet Experience Fixed 8.5×11” / A4 page; requires pinching and zooming Responsive HTML5 (Adaptive Forms) Responsive HTML5 web forms & multi-step wizards
Accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA / ADA Title II) Requires costly manual PDF/UA tagging per page Requires custom theme & Core Component configuration Built-in WCAG 2.1 AA & Section 508 compliance out of the box
Official PDF Output (Document of Record) Native, but users can leave fields blank or enter invalid data Requires XDP/AcroForm mapping & AEM Document Services license Native PDF template mapping + built-in automatic PDF generation
PDF-to-Web Conversion N/A Automated Forms Conversion Service (often requires heavy post-conversion cleanup in AEM) AI Agent + Form Builder MCP creates sections, formulas & PDF bindings in minutes
Ongoing Maintenance Desktop PDF / XDP tools (Acrobat or AEM Forms Designer) Specialized AEM OSGi / Sling developers Browser-based Form Builder for business analysts & technical authors
Infrastructure & Licensing File hosting only (no database or workflow) Heavyweight AEM stack; custom enterprise quote Lightweight WAR / Docker container; transparent flat pricing

See It With Your Own PDF

Want to see how quickly one of your existing PDF forms can become an accessible web wizard that still outputs your exact official PDF?

  • Send Us a PDF: Contact us with one of your public or internal PDF forms, and we will walk you through turning it into a live Orbeon web form.
  • Try Orbeon Forms: Explore our live online demos (including the IRS W-4 form) or run Orbeon Forms PE locally in seconds with Docker.
  • Migrating from Adobe AEM Forms or LiveCycle?: See how Orbeon Forms compares to the Adobe AEM Forms stack.