form (document)

This article is about the word "form" meaning a type of document. For other meanings, see Form (disambiguation).

A form is a document with spaces in which to write, for a series of documents with similar contents. The documents usually have the printed parts in common, possibly except for a serial number. Advantages of forms include:

one has to write less (while the printing is almost universally done in some automatic way)
one is told or reminded what information has to be supplied
uniformity, for convenience in processing

A form on a computer allows for conveniently typing in the variable parts (the input data). Forms, when completed, may be a statement, a request, an order, etc., e.g. a check may be a form. Also there are forms for taxes; filling one in is a duty to have determined how much tax one owes, and/or the form is a request for a refund. See also Tax return. Forms may be filled out in duplicate (for example triplicate, meaning three times) when the information gathered on the form needs to be distributed to several departments within an organisation. Forms have been around for a long time. Historians of law have discovered preprinted legal forms from the early 19th century that greatly simplified the task of drafting complaints and various other legal pleadings. In some jurisdictions, like California, many common types of legal pleadings must be submitted on official government forms.