Sign a PDF

How to sign a PDF

1. Drop the PDF you need to sign onto the box above.
2. Create your signature. Choose Draw and sign with a mouse, finger or stylus. Choose Type to turn your name into a script-style signature. Or choose Upload to use a photo or scan of your own signature, with the option to make its white background transparent. Pick black or blue ink and press Use this signature.
3. Place it. Browse to the right page, press Add signature to this page, then drag the signature to the signing line. Use the size slider to scale it. You can add it to several pages.
4. Press Sign PDF and download the signed document.

For fine positioning, select a signature and use the arrow keys. Press Delete to remove it.

Your document and signature stay with you

Signing is one of the most sensitive things you can do online, so this tool never uploads anything. The pages are drawn on your device, the signature is created in your browser, and the final PDF is assembled locally. The signature image exists only in memory while the page is open and disappears when you close it, so nobody else can reuse it. You can check the network activity in your browser’s developer tools; the FAQ explains how.

What kind of signature this is

The tool places an image of your signature on the page, the digital equivalent of signing a printout and scanning it. That is accepted for many everyday purposes, such as rental forms, permission slips, quotes and internal approvals. Some documents, regulated contracts for example, require a qualified electronic signature with a certificate, which an image cannot provide. The tool does not create cryptographic signatures. If you are unsure, ask the person who sent you the document what they accept.

Tips for a good result

• A signature drawn slowly and large looks better than a tiny one. The tool trims the empty space and keeps the transparency, so it sits cleanly on a signature line.
• When uploading a photo of a signature, use dark ink on plain white paper in good light, and keep the white-background option ticked.
• Rotated pages are handled correctly: a signature placed on a landscape page appears upright.
• The signature becomes part of the page, so keep an unsigned original.
• To sign several documents, repeat the steps; the signature has to be created again each time because nothing is saved.
• Need a date or a typed name beside the signature? Add that text with a PDF editor before or after signing, since this tool only places the signature image. To stamp page numbers or a watermark, use add page numbers.