Overview of Fillable Forms

What Are Fillable Forms?

Fillable forms are documents with fill-in-the-blank fields that are automatically filled with information from AbacusLaw. The form is always the same, but it can be filled with different case-specific information.

Fillable forms combine a source document with a smart database layer that hooks up your data to the interactive fields. This means that while you keep the flexibility of manually editing the text, you get the power of having your Abacus data automatically entered for you. Fillable forms have an .af extension and are stored in the Abacus folder in \v23\data01\Forms\Library.

Although supporting official court forms is the primary purpose of fillable forms, you can also use them to automate the filling of other useful forms, including custom productivity forms or even tax forms.

Three Ways Fillable Forms Save You Time

Nature abhors a vacuum, and Abacus abhors typing anything more than once. Fillable forms save and re-use your entries in these ways:

  • The information that’s already in your fillable forms database is entered into the form for you.

  • Fillable form templates let you save and re-use information that would be the same for other similar matters.

  • Non-Abacus information entered into a fillable form is captured back to a special "profile" database for that matter. This data is "replayed" into any future fillable forms that have the same field names.

Fillable Form Sets

Abacus Data Systems offers sets of fillable forms that are already configured to receive your data. These sets contain federal, state, and local court forms as well as other useful forms in specific legal practice areas. Abacus fillable form sets are updated regularly and subscribers may request update notifications by email.

Additional fillable form sets are being developed all the time. Contact Abacus Data Systems Sales for further information.

Fillable Form Types

Abacus uses the following types of fillable forms:

  • Adobe PDF: Based on an Adobe PDF file.

  • WordPerfect: Based on a WordPerfect file.

  • Microsoft Word: Based on a Word file.

  • Microsoft Excel: Based on an Excel file.