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I built a 100% client-side tool to automate Excel-to-PDF filling

I built a 100% client-side tool to automate Excel-to-PDF filling

by Oscardeng·Mar 2, 2026·2 points·0 comments
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AI Analysis

●●SolidSolve My ProblemSlick

pdf-lib batch automation for sensitive forms, but ILovePDF and Smallpdf cover this cheaper.

Strengths
  • •100% client-side PDF manipulation with pdf-lib—zero server cost and true data privacy
  • •Batch templating workflow (map once, fill many) is genuinely useful for repetitive form-filling
  • •Zero sign-up friction; free tier (3 PDFs) lowers adoption barrier
Weaknesses
  • •pdf-lib is well-documented; the innovation is mainly UX wrapping, not novel architecture
  • •Competitors (ILovePDF, Smallpdf, native Adobe) have feature parity; privacy alone isn't a moat for this use case
Category
Productivity
Target Audience

HR professionals, accountants, invoicing teams handling sensitive employee or customer data

Similar To

ILovePDF · Smallpdf · Adobe Acrobat

Post Description

Hi HN,

I noticed people manually copy-pasting data from Excel into PDF forms, but existing solutions require uploading sensitive data (employee info, invoices) to third-party cloud servers.

I built FormFill to do all the heavy lifting entirely in the browser using pdf-lib. It parses the Excel file, maps the columns to your created PDF fields, and generates a .zip of filled PDFs locally.

Because it's 100% client-side:

1. User data never leaves their device.

2. Server computing costs are essentially $0.

You get a few free batch exports just by visiting (no sign-up required). I'd love to hear your feedback on the mapping UI and the pure frontend approach!

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