PDF AI Editor Tutorial

This guide covers our three autonomous AI editors: W9 SmartFill (Burn), W9 SmartFill (Hybrid), and W9 Autofill (General). All three help you fill PDFs fast — with different levels of “burning” vs “drag & drop overlays.”

Burn: writes into the PDF

Overlay: draggable on top (editable)

Hybrid: burns the hard parts + overlays the rest

Voice: optional voice controls

0) Quick pick: which AI editor should you use?

✅ W9 SmartFill (Burn) — best for “final, locked-in” output

Location: left side of the navbar

Writes key values directly into the W-9 PDF.
Great when you want a clean final PDF with minimal editing.
Ideal for consistent W-9 revisions you’ve tuned already.

✅ W9 SmartFill (Hybrid) — fastest + most flexible

Location: right side of the navbar

Burns the tricky parts that must align perfectly (like SSN/EIN boxes, entity “X”, date).
Creates draggable overlays for things you may want to reposition (Line 1 name, business name, address, signature).
Perfect when the PDF layout varies slightly — drag and drop to finish.

✅ W9 Autofill (General) — for any PDF (not just W-9)

Location: Apps page → bottom-right “Autofill” section

Does not burn content immediately — it places overlays you can move and edit.
Use it to “autofill” general PDF documents quickly on the spot.
Best when you’re filling many different PDFs (not just IRS forms).

🧠 Pro workflow

Use Hybrid for speed + flexibility.
Once your placements are perfect and stable, use Burn for clean final output.
Use Autofill (General) for everything else (any PDF, any layout).

1) Upload a PDF

Click Choose file and select your PDF.
You’ll see a preview of page 1 with an overlay layer on top.
Tip: If a PDF is scanned (image-only), some auto-detection may be limited. You can still use overlays manually.

Important:

Some browser security policies block automatic downloads unless the click is a “real user gesture.” If you ever see “Guard blocked auto-download,” just click the Download button manually.

2) W9 SmartFill (Burn) — Left Navbar

Open W9 SmartFill (Burn) from the left navbar.
Upload a W-9 PDF.
Fill the profile fields (Line 1, Line 2, Address, Entity type, SSN/EIN as applicable).
If you have a signature pad: sign once and save the signature in-browser.
Click SmartFill.
Click Download PDF to save your filled file.

Best use:

When you want a clean “done” W-9 that requires little or no manual repositioning.

3) W9 SmartFill (Hybrid) — Right Navbar

Hybrid is designed for real-world PDFs where “perfect” burning is hard for every text field. It burns the precision parts and gives you draggable overlays for the rest.

Open W9 SmartFill (Hybrid) from the right navbar.
Upload a W-9 PDF.
Enter your W-9 profile values (Line 1 name, Line 2 business name, address, city/state/zip, entity type, SSN/EIN).
Click SmartFill.
You should see:
- Burned: SSN/EIN digits in boxes, entity checkbox “X”, date (and other tuned precision fields).
- Overlays: Line 1 name, business name, address, and a draggable signature overlay.
Drag overlays into perfect position as needed.
Click Download PDF for your final filled PDF.

Tip (Digits groups):

If you see SSN/EIN digits as draggable overlays and want to move them together: double-click any one digit to select the whole group (then drag as one).

4) W9 Autofill (General) — Apps page (Bottom Right)

Autofill (General) is for filling any PDF using overlays. It does not burn checkboxes or digits by default — it stays editable so you can handle many document formats.

Go to the Apps page and find Autofill (bottom-right).
Select a template (for example, W-9 overlay template).
Enter the values you want placed onto the PDF.
Click Autofill to generate draggable overlays.
Drag, resize, and position overlays as needed.
Download your PDF when done.

Best use:

Any non-W9 PDFs (general documents, contracts, clinic forms, vendor packets, etc.).

5) Voice controls (optional)

Use Start Voice / Stop Voice when available.
Example commands:
- smart fill
- sign here
- download pdf
- next page / previous page
Voice availability depends on your browser and microphone permission.

6) Troubleshooting / FAQ

A) “SmartFill is grayed out”

Make sure a PDF is loaded.
If it’s W-9 SmartFill: the app may require W-9 detection (text-layer identification).
If your W-9 is a scanned image-only PDF, detection may not trigger. Use Hybrid/Autofill overlays or a text-layer W-9.

B) “No PDF header found” / load errors

A valid PDF begins with %PDF-.
If a file download or fetch returns HTML instead of PDF, you’ll see header mismatches. Re-upload the actual PDF file.

C) Download didn’t start

Some browsers require a user click. Click Download PDF manually.
If you see a guard message in the console, it prevented an automatic download for safety.

D) Profile saving / privacy

W-9 profiles and saved signatures can be stored in your browser (localStorage) for convenience.
To clear saved data: use your browser site settings → “Clear storage/data” for this site.

Need help?

Open DevTools → Console and copy any errors shown (especially SmartFill-related messages). We can tune coordinates per form revision quickly.

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