fyllyoWhy Preview shows “Please wait…”
XFA is an older Adobe format that builds the form when it opens. Preview and browsers don’t support it, so they show the placeholder page instead.
PDF stuck on “Please wait…”? Open it on your Mac.
“If this message is not eventually replaced by the proper contents of the document, your PDF viewer may not be able to display this type of document.” That’s an XFA form. Preview and web browsers can’t show them. Fyllyo opens and fills them.
Part of Fyllyo Paid, $99 once · Free 5-day trial with an account, no card · Apple silicon, macOS 13 or later
How to do it in Fyllyo
Save the form to your Mac
Download the PDF instead of opening it in your browser.
Open it in Fyllyo
Drop it on Fyllyo’s Home screen, or choose Open. Fyllyo shows the real form, not the “Please wait…” page.
Fill it in
Type into the fields. Parts of the form that run its own scripts, such as adding rows or Validate, don’t work yet.
Save
Save the filled form. It’s still an XFA form, so check it in Fyllyo or Adobe Reader, then upload or submit it as the office asks.
Why Fyllyo
Common on government forms
Many immigration, tax and benefits forms are XFA, which is why they so often fail on a Mac.
No Adobe subscription
Forms that show “Please wait…” need Fyllyo Paid, $99 once. Try it free for 5 days, with no credit card.
Questions
Why does my PDF say “Please wait…” in Preview?
It’s an XFA form. Preview and web browsers can’t display XFA, so they show the placeholder page built into the file. Open it in an app that supports XFA, such as Fyllyo.
Can I open XFA forms without Adobe?
Yes. Fyllyo Paid opens and fills most XFA forms on a Mac, for $99 once instead of a subscription, and you can try it free for 5 days.
Will the filled form be accepted?
Check what the office asks for, such as printing the form or uploading it, and always review the filled form before you send it.
Do the form’s own buttons work, such as Validate?
Not yet. Fyllyo shows and fills the form, but buttons that run the form’s own scripts, such as Validate or Clear Form, don’t run, and the form may say JavaScript is disabled. Check the form yourself before you submit it.
Is XFA in the free version?
Forms that show “Please wait…” need Fyllyo Paid. Forms that also have ordinary fields open and fill for free.
More you can do with your PDFs
Reading, filling in, drawn signatures, page tools, combining, splitting, text recognition and passwords are free. Fyllyo Paid adds filling forms from your documents with AI, redaction, certificate signing, text editing, smaller PDFs and XFA forms, for $99 once.