How to open a form
To be able to fill in and save a PDF form, download and then open the form using the free Adobe Reader
Download means to save the file to your computing device for retrieval with software installed on your device.
- Right click or Control+Click (Mac users) on the download link and choose Save link as or Download Linked File as (Mac users) in a folder that you will easily find on your computer.
- Launch Adobe Reader.
- Browse to the folder where you saved the file, and open it from within Adobe Reader. You can now fill and save your PDF form.
Note:
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) fillable PDF forms have been tested for compatibility with Adobe Reader 10 and higher and may not be fully supported in other PDF viewers and on some mobile devices.
Also, note that many tablets/phones will not open these forms even with Adobe Reader. If you require an alternative version, please contact us.
You may be able to enable the automatic download of PDF files to your computer.
Select your preferred browser from the list below:
Google Chrome
-
Copy the following text:
chrome://settings/content/pdfDocuments
-
Paste the copied text into the address bar (located at the top of your browser) and press the Enter key on your keyboard
- On the right side of the browser enable/ turn on Download PDF files instead of automatically opening them in Chrome
Note: the toggle will turn blue when it is turned on.
Firefox
-
Copy the following text:
about:preferences#general
-
Paste the copied text into the address bar (located at the top of your browser) and press the Enter key on your keyboard
-
Scroll down to the Applications section
-
Locate and select Portable Document Format (PDF) under Content Type
-
Using the drop-down menu in the Action column, change the Action to Save File
Microsoft Edge
-
Highlight and copy the following text:
edge://settings/content/pdfDocuments
-
Paste the copied text into the address bar (located at the top of your browser below your tabs) and press the Enter key on your keyboard
-
On the right side of the browser enable/turn on Always Download PDF files
Note: the toggle will turn blue when it is turned on.
Safari
Safari will automatically download a PDF form if you click on the download link.
To open your downloaded application form:
- Ensure that you have installed Adobe Reader
- Click the Show Downloads button near the top right corner of the browser
- Double-click the downloaded PDF file in the downloads list to open it.
Note: to find out where a downloaded item is located on your Mac, click the magnifying glass next to the filename in the downloads list
Tips for completing dynamic (PDF-XFA) forms
Printing PDF forms:
Many forms have a print button included. There may be more than 1 print button in some forms. Each of the print buttons is configured to print a specific page or range of pages. Using other commands to reach the print function is not recommended. If you have clicked a configured print button, do not alter the "Pages to Print" information.
When the Print Dialog box appears, you should see a section titled Page Sizing and Handling. We recommend that you select "Actual size" and ensure the checkbox for "Choose paper source by PDF page size" is selected. This allows the software to print the pages as they are designed to be printed.
Completing dynamic (PDF-XFA) forms:
In Adobe Reader you should see a coloured information bar directly above the form. On the coloured bar, there is a button labelled "Highlight Existing Fields". It is highly recommended that you press the button so that fields are highlighted. This will enable you to easily see where the data portion of fields is located. It will also add a coloured outline to mandatory fields.
When working through a form, we recommend that you tab from 1 field to the next to have the fullest benefit of the built-in functionality.
Dates – most date fields will have a date picker calendar associated to the field which is accessed from the drop down arrow or by pressing the keyboard arrow keys. To quickly choose dates that are not in the current calendar, you may click the month and year headings.
You may also type the date into date fields; you do not need to type the dashes between the date components. Date fields in most forms are formatted to YYYY-MM-DD.
Many forms include helpful advice in "hover help". In order to view the help, you must hover your mouse over the field until it displays. It will not display very long, so you may need to move your mouse away from the field and then hover again to redisplay the help. If the help is complex, it will also be displayed in text format within the form.
Drop down lists – where possible we have developed our lists in alphabetical order and uppercase letters. To access the list begin typing in uppercase letters. You may also access the list with the keyboard arrow keys.
