It’s fairly common for BSA forms to be available as a PDF. This is an electronic document format that can be downloaded from a website and printed. By using a PDF the exact layout of the form is preserved, along with colors, fonts, and so on. The only problem for the user is that these generally have to be printed out and typed or filled in by hand — it’s generally hard to use them as electronic files.
Sometimes forms are available as fillable PDFs; sometimes this is because Troop 160 converts them to fillable form and puts them on our website. In a fillable PDF, you can fill out the form and save it electronically without disturbing any of the formatting, colors, and fonts in the original. An example is the fillable Eagle application.
If you are using some PDF readers, such as Foxit, you will be able to fill out the form and save it without any additional complications. Foxit is free, and we’ve tested it with fillable PDFs.
Most people probably use the Adobe Reader for viewing PDFs. Reader is also free, and it comes from the people who invented PDFs. Unfortunately, while you can fill a fillable PDF in Reader and print the filled form, you can’t save it directly.
If you want to save a PDF you filled in using Adobe Reader — or for that matter, if you want to save any document as a PDF — you can use an additional piece of software such as CutePDF Writer. CutePDF Writer installs itself as a printer in Windows, so you can “save a document as PDF” by selecting “File |Print” and choosing the CutePDF printer. The CutePDF software will then prompt you for a file name and location. CutePDF is also free, and we’ve tested it in this application.
These particular pieces of software are mentioned only as examples; Troop 160 doesn’t endorse any of this software, nor do we guarantee that it will continue to be available or to work in the future. We have no recommendations about which software would be the best choices on other platforms, such as Macs or Linux boxes, except to note that there are software packages for those platforms that fill similar functions. If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to contact the Scoutmaster or the Troop 160 Webmaster.