How To Fill Out An Email Attachment On Android

Filling out email attachments (most specifically PDFs) has been the bane of email users since the invention of the PDF back in 1992. Doing so on your Android device? Well, that’s normally an even more infuriating task. 

Thankfully, today there is a free and accessible Adobe app – Adobe Acrobat Reader: Edit PDF – available on the Google Play Store, which makes signing and filling out email attachments on Android a piece of cake. 

To learn how to fill out a PDF email attachment on Android, simply follow our step-by-step tutorial below. For all other information, or if you have further questions which need answering, please refer instead to our FAQ section at the end of this article.

Note: If you have been sent a Microsoft Word or Google Doc document email attachment to fill out and/or sign, then you should use either the Microsoft Word or Google Doc app to do so. Both apps are free, and filling out these types of email attachments is fairly self-explanatory; hence why this article focuses on filling out PDF email attachments on Android. The only snag you may come across is that you may need to tap ‘Request Edit Access’ on one of these documents before you are able to fill out the fields.

How to fill out a PDF email attachment on Android

  1. On your Android device, tap on the Google Play Store app to open it
  2. Tap on the Play Store’s search bar at the top of the home page, and search for ‘Adobe Acrobat Reader: Edit PDF’
  3. Tap on the app once it appears in your search results, and then tap ‘Install’ and wait for your phone to finalize its installation

  4. Now, navigate back to your homescreen, and from there open up the email app to which you have received an email with the PDF attachment you need to fill out
  5. Log in to your email account via your preferred email app
  6. Locate the email with the PDF attachment you need to fill out and/or sign, and tap on the email with the attachment to open it
  7. Next, tap on the attachment you need to fill out and/or sign
  8. From the pop-up options (which ask you which app to open the PDF with), select ‘Adobe Acrobat Reader: Edit PDF’ (the app you have just downloaded from the Play Store)
  9. Your PDF email attachment will now open in the Adobe Acrobat Reader: Edit PDF app
    1. Note: First, you may need to sign into your (free) Adobe account, or create a new one if this is your first time
  10. Once the PDF email attachment has successfully opened, tap on the pen-shaped ‘Edit’ icon in the bottom-right of the screen
  11. From the pop-up options, select ‘Fill & Sign’
  12. Scroll through the document, and tap on each blank field you need to fill in turn. As you select each one, your device’s keyboard will pop-up, allowing you to type in your response
    1. Note: You can also add ‘X’ marks or check marks to the document by tapping the relevant icon at the bottom of the app screen and then tapping to place the mark in the relevant box(es) of the email attachment document
  13. To sign the document, tap on the line where you need to sign, then select the pen icon to the right of the two ‘A’ icons (this is the ‘Sign’ button)
    1. Note: If you have not created a digital signature before, you will be asked to do so now. Follow the on-screen instructions to create your digital signature.
  14. Tap the digital signature you wish to use, and then tap, hold and drag-and-drop it into place.
    1. Note: You can increase or decrease the size of your signature to your liking by dragging the double-headed arrow button to the right of it outward (increasing size) or inward (decreasing size)
  15. Once you’ve finished filling out and signing the email attachment document, tap the blue check/tick mark in the top-left of the screen
  16. Finally, tap the ‘Share’ icon in the top-right of the screen, then tap ‘Send a copy’ at the bottom, and lastly, select the email app icon (to which you received the original message) from the pop-up window
  17. You will be redirected to a new blank email template in your chosen email app, and you’ll see that your filled and signed PDF is attached to it
    1. Enter the recipient’s email address in the ‘To:’ line
    2. Enter additional recipients’ email addresses in the ‘Cc:’ line
    3. Enter text into the body of the email
    4. Enter a subject heading into the ‘Subject:’ line
    5. Send the email by tapping the ‘Send’ icon

And there you go! A bit of a laborious process, perhaps, but the quickest and most efficient and effective way to fill out an email attachment on Android all the same. For any other information, or if you still have questions, please see our FAQs below.

FAQs

When would I need to fill out an email attachment on Android?

Every now and then, you’re going to receive documents via email which the original sender is asking you to fill out, or sign, before sending them back to them. This can happen for any number of reasons, but most often the documents are of a legal nature. 

When moving into a new house, for example, your landlord will send you the lease documentation for you to sign and return to them. When starting a new job, your employer will send you your contract and ask you to do the same. You may be asked to fill out an email attachment for a warranty following a purchase of furniture or electrical goods, for example, or you might need to fill out an email attachment in order to apply for job posts, bank loans, and so on.

Ultimately, there are countless scenarios in which you may find yourself needing to fill out an email attachment. Of course, you don’t always have to fill out email attachments on your Android. You can still employ the old school method of downloading the attachment on your phone or computer, printing it out, signing it/filling it out, scanning it back onto your phone or computer, and then reattaching it to the email.

Alternatively, you could fill out the email attachment directly on your computer before returning it to the sender. However, there are many situations in which neither of these alternative options may be available to you. If you’re on the move, or don’t have access to either a computer or printer, then filling out email attachments on your Android is really your only option.

In the past, filling out and signing email attachments on Android has been a real chore. Thankfully, those days are gone, and today with just one free and accessible Adobe app, you can fill out email attachment forms to your heart’s content.

To learn how to fill out an email attachment on Android, simply follow our step-by-step instructions above.

What types of email attachments can you edit or fill out on Android?

There is really only one type of email attachment you’re likely to be asked to fill out on your Android smartphone or tablet device, and that is an Adobe PDF. PDFs (or ‘Portable Document Formats’) were developed by Adobe in 1992 to specifically make filling out and signing digital documentation streamlined and easy, hence why it’s almost always a PDF you’ll see attached to emails for you to fill out.

However, there is also a chance that you may be sent a Google Doc or Microsoft Word document to fill out or sign, too. In this case, the process is much the same as filling out a PDF, only utilizing a different app. 

How secure is filling out email attachments on Android?

It is completely secure to fill out email attachments on your Android smartphone or tablet device. There are lots of different functions set in place when filling out email attachments (especially PDFs), which ensure that your information is kept secure and private. For example, PDFs will typically be locked for editing once you’ve applied your digital signature to them, ensuring that no-one can mess with the content of the document you’re legally signing once it’s been signed.

If you’re worried about the security of other types of email attachments on Android, such as a Google Doc or Microsoft Word document, then we would advise that you get in contact with the original sender before filling out the attachment, and ask them to resend it with additional security measures (such as password entry) attached.

What’s the best app for filling out email attachments on Android?

There are different apps you can use to fill out email attachments on Android depending on the format of the file you are being asked to sign. If the file you need to fill out is a PDF (which it most likely will be), then you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader: Edit PDF from the Google Play Store. 
On the other hand, if you are being asked to edit or fill out and sign a Microsoft Word document, you should download the Microsoft Word app from the Google Play Store. Similarly, if you need to fill out a Google Doc email attachment, then you should download the Google Doc app from the Google Play Store (if it is not already pre-installed on your Android device).