How to sign a PDF
- Drop your PDF into the box above, or click it to choose the file.
- Create your signature: Draw it, Type your name in a handwriting style, or use a photo of the signature you sign on paper. Pick black or blue ink.
- Click Place on page, then drag the signature where it belongs and pull its corner to resize it. Use the page arrows to move through the document.
- Add the date or any text — your printed name, a job title, initials — the same way.
- Click Save signed PDF and download the file.
Your original PDF is not changed; the signed copy is a new file ending in
-signed.pdf. After saving you can keep adjusting and save again, and the
signatures you created stay ready to reuse on the next document until you close the page.
Three ways to create your signature
| Method | Best for | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Draw | A quick signature on a phone or tablet | Sign larger than you think; it is scaled down on the page |
| Type | A neat, consistent signature from a keyboard | Choose from three handwriting styles and compare them with your name |
| From a photo | Your real signature, exactly as you sign on paper | White paper, dark pen, even light, photographed straight on |
Drawn signatures are recorded as strokes and redrawn at several times screen resolution when you place them, so they stay smooth when the PDF is printed or zoomed. Small wobbles from a mouse or trackpad are smoothed out along the way.
Photo signatures are harder than they look. Pasting the picture as it is brings the grey paper along, and a single brightness cut-off fails the moment one side of the photo is in shadow. Here the tool estimates the brightness of the paper around every part of the picture, so it can tell ink from paper even when the lighting is uneven. What is left is only the ink, on a transparent background, trimmed to the signature and recoloured to the ink colour you chose. The clean-up strength slider decides how dark a mark must be to count as ink.
Adding the date, your name and initials
Many forms want more than a signature: a printed name under it, the date beside it, initials on every page. Type the text into the box and click Add text, or pick a date format and click Add date — today's date is filled in for you, as September 17, 2026, 17/09/2026 or any of the other common formats. Text is placed at a normal 12 point size and can be resized like a signature.
For contracts that need initials on each page, place them once, keep them selected and click Copy to every page. The copies keep the same position and physical size even in documents that mix page sizes, such as a letter-size contract with an A4 appendix.
Is an electronic signature legally valid?
For a great deal of ordinary paperwork — rental applications, permission slips, invoices, consent forms, many business agreements — an electronic signature is accepted. In the United States, the federal ESIGN Act and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act adopted by most states give electronic signatures the same standing as ink ones for most transactions. In the European Union, Article 25 of the eIDAS Regulation says an electronic signature shall not be denied legal effect or be refused as evidence solely because it is electronic.
There are exceptions. The ESIGN Act does not cover wills and testamentary trusts, adoption, divorce and other family-law matters, court orders and filings, or certain notices such as utility shut-offs, foreclosure and eviction notices, and product recalls. Some organisations also set their own rules. If a document says how it must be signed, follow those instructions. This section is general information, not legal advice.
Electronic signature or digital signature?
| Electronic signature (this tool) | Certificate-based digital signature | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Your signature image placed on the page | A cryptographic seal tied to an identity certificate |
| Shows later changes | No | Yes — viewers flag an altered file |
| Proves who signed | Only by context (email, witnesses, records) | Through the certificate issuer's identity check |
| Cost and setup | Free, nothing to set up | Usually a paid certificate or signing service |
| Typical use | Everyday forms, agreements, approvals | Regulated filings, some banking and government processes |
What happens to your PDF
- The signature becomes part of the page. It is drawn into the page content, not attached as a comment, so it looks the same in every PDF viewer and cannot be dragged away.
- Everything else stays as it was. Text remains selectable, links keep working, and fillable form fields are still fillable.
- Rotated and odd-sized pages are handled. A page stored sideways and displayed upright gets the signature exactly where you put it and the right way up.
- Protected files are refused up front. A PDF with a password or a permissions lock cannot be changed; the tool tells you as soon as you open it.
Need to prepare the document first? Combine several files with Merge PDF, turn photos of paper pages into a PDF with JPG to PDF, or remove pages you do not need to sign with Delete PDF Pages. If the signed file is too large to email, Compress PDF shrinks it while keeping the text sharp.
Want the signature as a file rather than on a document — for an email footer, a Word template or a form that asks you to upload one? The Signature Generator has this same pad and saves a transparent PNG or an SVG. To stamp a document as a draft or a copy instead of signing it, use Add Watermark to PDF.
Your documents stay on your device
Contracts and forms carry names, addresses, account numbers and signatures — exactly the things that should not sit on someone else's server. This tool opens the PDF, draws the pages and writes the signed copy inside your browser, and nothing about the document or your signature is sent anywhere. The Type tab fetches three small handwriting fonts the first time you open it, and that is all it needs. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on pages or documents. More tools for working with PDFs are listed under PDF tools.