What is an XFA form?
An XFA form is a PDF form built with Adobe's XML Forms Architecture, usually in Adobe LiveCycle Designer or its successor in Adobe Experience Manager Forms. The form's layout and fields are described in XML inside the PDF, and only some readers, mainly Adobe Acrobat and Reader, can display them. XFA is deprecated in PDF 2.0.
Also called: XFA PDF, XML Forms Architecture, LiveCycle form, Dynamic PDF form
Updated October 15, 2026 · By the PDFZyro team
Why XFA forms say “Please wait”
A dynamic XFA form often contains only one ordinary PDF page, with a message asking you to wait, or saying that your PDF viewer may not be able to display this type of document. Readers that understand XFA replace that page with the real form. Browsers' built-in viewers, most phone apps and many other PDF editors don't, so the message is all you see.
Static XFA forms are less extreme: their pages are ordinary PDF pages, and some also carry standard form fields as a fallback that other readers can fill in. But the XFA copy and the standard copy of the answers can disagree, so the organization's software may not see what you typed.
XFA vs AcroForm
AcroForm is the standard PDF form technology, defined in the ISO PDF standard: each field sits on a page, and almost every PDF reader can fill it in. Adobe added XFA later for forms that change as you fill them, such as a table that grows a row at a time, with the layout, rules and calculations written in XML and scripts. It was never fully part of the ISO standard, it's deprecated in PDF 2.0, and PDF/A archive files can't contain it, so support keeps shrinking.
Government agencies, courts, insurers and banks still publish some XFA forms, although many have moved to standard PDF forms or online forms.
What to do with an XFA form
First, check whether the organization offers another version: many publish a standard PDF or an online form next to the XFA one. If not, open the form in Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can fill XFA forms. To work with it anywhere else, print the form to a new PDF from a reader that displays it. The copy is a flat, ordinary PDF that any editor can open, but its interactive features are gone, and some organizations only accept the original form, so ask before you send a copy.
How to handle an XFA form in PDFZyro
- PDFZyro works with standard PDF forms (AcroForms). It doesn't display or edit XFA forms: Prepare form tells you when a PDF has one, and a dynamic XFA form shows only its waiting page.
- If you have a flat copy, for example printed to PDF from Adobe Reader, open it with Fill: PDFZyro finds the blank lines and boxes so you can type into them, or you can type anywhere on the page.
- To turn the flat copy into a fillable form you can reuse, open it with Prepare form and add fields, or let PDFZyro detect them. Each save is a new version, so the copy you started from is kept.