Legal Document

I agree with ED, many forms do have stupidly tiny boxes for many aspects, they appear to have been created to prevent reliable completion.

After five hand operations, two on my eyes and a couple on my spine, writing is now possible, but not always comfortable or reliable. I tend to scan forms and complete them on the computer, only adding such as the signature by hand. That way if they show a tiny box for anything I use a tiny computer font and fit in most of the details, the signature may still sprawl out slightly, but I have not had a problem. This has worked for a range of forms to date, probate, and HMRC, NS&I, disabled user bus passes, hospitals, insurance claim forms and so on. No one has ever questioned that method of working except to say it was nice to have a readable form for once.

I had a look at my credit cards to see if I had even signed mine, (yes I had) and after years of doing so I did manage to do something similar on all of them. My problem was that at one time not all pens would work reliably on the surface and if the hand ‘had a moment’, the result could be suspect.

John, I they are already *.PDF files you can use something like Foxit reader to type directly into the form. The item is free to download, there are other PDF file editors that can be used. It is a little more difficult if the form has some sort of protection, a few do. Then you must print them out and rescan – as a *.PDF if you wish.

It is well worth spending a few moments to get the knack of editing such forms and a lot of time proof reading the result, – ideally on another day so you read the errors as errors as errors and do not just accept them. (Used the joke that the fastest way to find error in a document was to print out several copies and watch the printer spew out the errors.)

John, you should be able to just open a pdf file in OpenOffice. Only if it is protected will you get problems. It is worth figuring out how to do it as an increasing number of Government forms come in that way. LibreOffice certainly does, all you have to remember is switch to the edit mode once you have opened the file.

All I can say is that I am sorry that it would not work for you. I simply load up the reader – not the PDF editor version, then I select typewriter and bang in the text. I have used the picture editing mode in other programmes and, like you, I found problems with that way of working. The results were fuzzy rather than sharp. I hope that one way or another you can find a workable solution.