A form is basically a legal document with spaces where you can write or choose, for instance, to sign a binding contract. The legal documents may have the same contents, of course, apart from those special boxes, but most forms contain blank areas. You fill in the required information, usually names and dates, and click on "submit" or "save." After a while, you will receive notification that your document is ready. If you are signing a binding contract, you may also be asked to provide other important documents, such as papers confirming your identity and phone numbers.
Many downloadable forms come in a spreadsheet-like format, and you can use this format to create PDFs (Portable Document Format). Most free software for forms available on the web includes support for this format. You can convert it to a Word application using one of the free tools available online, or download one of the many free word processors that supports PDF conversion. One way of saving the forms to a disk is to open them into your word processor, copy and paste the required information and then save as a PDF file. There are several software packages that allow you to download and install the necessary software to read, edit and convert PDF files. These include the Open Office suite, which includes word, spell checker, math and graphing tools; the KompoZer package, which is designed for creating, scanning and printing PDFs; the FastPDF eBook Reader, which is an open source eBook reader; and the Code Complete Guide to Adobe Acrobat Professional, which is designed to help programmers and authors learn about various Adobe technologies.
The free software you obtain, such as the free version of Microsoft Word or the free spreadsheet applications, are just the start. You can build up your skills by downloading various forms available on the Internet and experimenting with them. In most cases, it takes just a few minutes to download a form from the Internet, install it on your PC and then use it to create, modify or print PDFs from your PC. Once you have gained some experience in this field, you can gradually upgrade your skills to try out more advanced software packages.