T
Transliterate Blog
March 25, 202610 min read

How to Type Indian Languages in PDF Forms and Documents

A practical guide to entering Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and other Indian languages in PDF forms — covering fillable government forms, annotations, and creating PDFs with Indian language text.

pdf forms indian languages typing government
Ad 336x280

If you've ever tried filling out a government form PDF in Hindi and watched the text come out as garbled nonsense, you're not alone. PDF forms and Indian languages have a complicated relationship. Some forms work perfectly, others refuse to display Devanagari, and a few corrupt the text so badly that your submission gets rejected.

I've dealt with this across dozens of government and corporate PDF forms — passport applications, income tax declarations, bank KYC forms, university admission documents. Here's what actually works and how to handle the ones that don't.

Why Indian Languages in PDFs Can Be Tricky

PDFs aren't like web pages or Word documents. A PDF is closer to a printed page that's been digitized — text rendering depends on fonts embedded inside the PDF file itself. If the form creator didn't embed a Devanagari-compatible font, your Hindi text might not display correctly no matter what you do.

Three things need to align for Indian language text to work in a PDF form:

  1. Your system needs Hindi or the relevant language input configured
  2. The PDF reader needs to support complex script rendering
  3. The PDF form needs to have Devanagari-compatible fonts embedded or available
When all three line up, it works smoothly. When one fails, you get boxes, question marks, or garbled text.

Setting Up Hindi Input on Your System

Before dealing with PDF-specific issues, make sure your operating system supports Hindi input.

Windows 10/11:
  1. Settings → Time & Language → Language & Region
  2. Add a Language → Hindi (India)
  3. Switch between languages with Win + Spacebar
  4. Choose Hindi Phonetic keyboard for transliteration-style typing
macOS:
  1. System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources
  2. Add Hindi input
  3. Switch with Ctrl + Spacebar
Once this is working, you can type Hindi in any application that supports it — including PDF readers.

Typing Hindi in Adobe Acrobat Reader (Free)

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is the most common PDF reader, and it handles Indian language input reasonably well.

Filling Fillable Forms

  1. Open the PDF form in Acrobat Reader
  2. Click on a form field
  3. Switch to Hindi input (Win + Spacebar)
  4. Start typing — Devanagari text should appear in the field
  5. If the text looks correct in the field, you're good

What to Check If Text Looks Wrong

If the Hindi text appears as boxes or wrong characters:

Check the form field font: Right-click the form field → Properties (if accessible). Some forms restrict the font to Arial or Times New Roman, which don't support Devanagari. Unfortunately, in many government PDFs, you can't change this setting — the form creator locked it. Try a different PDF reader: If Acrobat Reader doesn't render your Hindi text correctly, try Foxit Reader or the browser's built-in PDF viewer. Different readers handle font fallback differently. Use the Typewriter/Add Text tool: If the form fields won't accept Hindi, you can type directly on the PDF using Acrobat's "Add Text" tool:
  1. Go to Edit → Add Text (or click "Fill & Sign" → "Add Text")
  2. Click where you want to type
  3. Switch to Hindi input
  4. Type your text
  5. Adjust font size to match the form fields
This method bypasses the form field's font restrictions and uses your system fonts instead.

Typing Hindi in Foxit PDF Reader

Foxit handles Hindi input similarly to Acrobat Reader, with a few differences:

  1. Open the PDF in Foxit
  2. Click on form fields or use the Typewriter tool
  3. Switch to Hindi input (Win + Spacebar)
  4. Type normally
Foxit sometimes handles font fallback better than Acrobat for Indian scripts. If Acrobat shows boxes where Hindi should be, try the same form in Foxit — it might work.

Foxit's Edit Text Feature

If you have Foxit PDF Editor (paid version), you can actually edit existing text in PDFs and change it to Hindi. Select the text → delete it → type Hindi in its place. Make sure to select a Devanagari-compatible font from the formatting toolbar.

Chrome and Edge Built-in PDF Viewers

Both Chrome and Edge can open PDFs and fill forms directly in the browser.

Advantages for Hindi Input

  • The browser's text rendering uses system fonts, which typically include Devanagari support (Nirmala UI on Windows)
  • If you have the Google Input Tools extension in Chrome, it works in PDF form fields too
  • No additional software needed

How to Use

  1. Open the PDF in Chrome or Edge (drag the file to the browser, or right-click → Open With → Chrome)
  2. Click on form fields
  3. Switch to Hindi input
  4. Type and fill the form
  5. Click the download/save button to save the filled form
For simple government forms with basic text fields, the browser PDF viewer often works better than desktop PDF readers for Hindi input. It's become my preferred method for quick form filling.

The Copy-Paste Approach (Works Everywhere)

When nothing else works — the form field won't accept Hindi input, the font is wrong, the reader is fighting you — copy-paste is the reliable fallback.

  1. Open transliterate.in in your browser
  2. Type your text in English: "Rahul Kumar" → राहुल कुमार
  3. Copy the Hindi text
  4. Switch to your PDF reader
  5. Click the form field and paste (Ctrl + V)
I use this method more than any other because it's universally reliable. The text from TranslitHub is standard Unicode, which every modern PDF reader can handle. Even form fields with restricted fonts will usually display pasted Unicode text correctly — the reader falls back to a system font that supports Devanagari.

Creating PDFs with Hindi Text

Beyond filling existing forms, you might need to create new PDF documents that contain Hindi text.

From Microsoft Word

The cleanest method is to type your Hindi document in Word (which handles Hindi input very well) and then export to PDF:

  1. Open Word → type your content in Hindi
  2. File → Save As → choose PDF format
  3. Under Options, make sure "Include non-printing information" is unchecked
  4. Save
Word embeds the Devanagari fonts in the PDF, so the text displays correctly everywhere. Use fonts like Mangal, Nirmala UI, or Noto Sans Devanagari for best compatibility.

From Google Docs

  1. Type your Hindi content in Google Docs
  2. File → Download → PDF Document
  3. Google embeds the fonts automatically
Google Docs uses Noto fonts for Indian scripts by default, which embed cleanly in PDFs.

From LibreOffice Writer

LibreOffice is a free alternative that handles Hindi PDFs well:

  1. Type in LibreOffice Writer with Hindi input
  2. File → Export as PDF
  3. In the PDF export dialog, ensure "Embed standard fonts" is checked
  4. Click Export

Government Form PDFs — Specific Tips

Indian government PDFs are their own category. They range from modern, well-designed fillable forms to scanned documents that barely qualify as digital.

Passport Application (MEA)

The passport application form is available as a fillable PDF. Hindi input works in most fields if you have the Hindi keyboard installed. For the name field in Devanagari, use Hindi Phonetic input or paste from a transliteration tool.

Income Tax Forms

ITR forms from the Income Tax department are mostly web-based now, but some supporting documents require PDF filling. The forms generally accept Hindi in fields marked for vernacular name entries.

State Government Forms

These vary wildly in quality. Some state government PDFs:


  • Only accept text in specific fonts (usually Mangal)

  • Have fields that appear to accept Hindi but corrupt it when saved

  • Are scanned images with no actual form fields


For scanned forms with no fields: use Acrobat's Add Text tool or print the form and fill it by hand — sometimes that's genuinely the fastest path.

SSC, UPSC, and Exam Forms

Competitive exam application forms usually have specific fields for Hindi name entry. These forms are typically well-built and accept standard Hindi Unicode input without issues. If a field specifically asks for "Name in Hindi," use your system Hindi keyboard or paste from transliterate.in.

Annotations and Comments in Hindi

If you're reviewing or commenting on a PDF in Hindi:

Acrobat Reader:
  1. Select the Comment tool from the sidebar
  2. Click where you want to add a comment
  3. Switch to Hindi input
  4. Type your comment in Hindi
  5. Click outside to save
Foxit Reader:
  1. Go to the Comment tab
  2. Select Note, Typewriter, or Text Box
  3. Switch to Hindi input and type
Comments in Hindi work reliably across PDF readers because they use the system font rather than the document's embedded fonts.

Saving and Sharing Hindi PDFs

Font Embedding Issues

The biggest problem with Hindi PDFs isn't typing — it's ensuring the text looks correct on someone else's computer. If the PDF doesn't embed the Devanagari font, the recipient might see boxes or fallback text.

To verify font embedding in Acrobat:
  1. File → Properties → Fonts tab
  2. Check that your Devanagari font is listed as "Embedded" or "Embedded Subset"
  3. If it's not embedded, the PDF might not display correctly on other systems
Fix: Re-create the PDF from the source document (Word, Google Docs) and ensure font embedding is enabled in the export settings.

PDF/A Format

For long-term archival or government submissions, PDF/A format is sometimes required. PDF/A mandates that all fonts are embedded, which means your Hindi text will display correctly regardless of the reader's system. When exporting to PDF, look for a "PDF/A" option in the settings.

Troubleshooting Common Problems

Hindi Text Appears as Boxes

The PDF or the form field doesn't have access to a Devanagari font. Solutions:


  1. Try the copy-paste method from transliterate.in

  2. Try a different PDF reader

  3. Use the Add Text tool instead of form fields


Text Appears Correct While Typing But Wrong After Saving

Some PDF forms have JavaScript validation that modifies text on save. This can corrupt Hindi characters. Save the form and reopen it to check. If the text is corrupted, try flattening the form (printing to PDF) to lock in the correct text.

Printed PDF Shows Wrong Characters

Even if the screen looks correct, printing can fail if the printer driver doesn't handle complex scripts. Try "Print as Image" in the print dialog — this rasterizes the text and bypasses font issues entirely.

Form Submission Portal Rejects Hindi Text

Some online portals that accept PDF uploads validate the text content. If your Hindi text was entered using a non-Unicode legacy font, it might fail validation. Always use Unicode Hindi input (system keyboard or transliterate.in) to ensure compatibility.

PDFs and Indian languages have gotten much better over the years — ten years ago, this was genuinely painful. Modern PDF readers, Unicode fonts, and the Windows Hindi keyboard have smoothed out most issues. The copy-paste workflow through a transliteration tool remains the most reliable universal method when things get complicated. Keep that browser tab handy.

Ad 728x90