Sign PDF: Draw, Type or Upload Your Signature

Sign a PDF without printing it

A lease, a permission slip, an offer letter or a delivery note arrives as a PDF and needs your signature. Printing, signing and scanning takes ten minutes and a printer. This free tool does the same job in your browser: make your signature once, tap the page where it belongs, and save a signed copy. Your PDF and your signature never leave your device.

There are three ways to make the signature:

Draw: sign on the pad with a finger, a stylus or the mouse. Strokes are smoothed and get slightly thinner when you move fast, a bit like ink. Pick fine, medium or bold and black or blue ink. Undo removes the last stroke.
Type: type your name and pick a script style. The styles come from fonts already installed on your device, plus a classic italic that every device has.
Upload: photograph or scan your signature on white paper and choose the picture. "Remove white background" makes the paper transparent and keeps the soft edges of the ink, so the signature sits cleanly on the page instead of in a white box. The picture is cropped to the signature automatically.

Placing the signature, the date and initials

Choose Signature or Date, then tap the page. Every tap places another one, on any page, so a contract that needs a signature on page 3 and page 7 takes two taps. Drag a placed item to move it and drag its round corner handle to make it bigger or smaller; on a keyboard, the arrow keys move a selected item and Delete removes it. The date is written in the format you choose, in the same ink color as your signature.

Some contracts ask for initials on every page. Tick "Initials on every page", type them, and they appear in the lower right corner of each page in the script style you picked. Drag them on any page and they move on all pages, in the same relative spot even when pages have different sizes.

Some PDFs store pages sideways together with a rotation setting, and some show only a cropped part of the page. The tool reads both and writes your signature exactly where the preview shows it, upright.

What the saved file contains

Signatures, dates and initials are flattened into the page content: they become part of the page itself, not a comment or a loose layer on top. They print, they show in every PDF reader, and they cannot be dragged away by accident. Everything else in your PDF, such as text, links, bookmarks and form fields, stays as it was. To fill in the form fields before you sign, use Fill PDF Form first, then sign the result here. To put signed pages together with other files, use Merge PDF.

What this kind of signature is, and what it is not

This tool adds a picture of your signature to the page. It is the electronic version of signing a printout and scanning it. It is not a certificate-based digital signature: there is no certificate that confirms who you are and no cryptographic seal that would show if someone changed the file after you signed.

Whether a picture signature is enough depends on the document and the law that applies. Two examples, as general information and not legal advice:

United States: the ESIGN Act (15 U.S.C. chapter 96) says a signature or contract in the transactions it covers may not be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form. It defines an electronic signature as an electronic sound, symbol or process attached to or logically associated with a record and adopted by a person with the intent to sign. The law lists exceptions, among them wills, family law matters such as adoption and divorce, court orders and certain notices, for example about utility shutoffs or foreclosure.
European Union: the eIDAS Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 describes three levels. A simple electronic signature is data in electronic form attached to or logically associated with other data and used by the signatory to sign; it may not be denied legal effect or admissibility as evidence just because it is electronic. An advanced electronic signature must, among other things, be uniquely linked to the signatory and make any later change to the signed data detectable. A qualified electronic signature is an advanced one created with a qualified signature creation device and based on a qualified certificate; the Regulation gives it the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten signature.

A signature made with this tool is at the simple level. For everyday paperwork that is often all the other side asks for, but some documents need more, or need ink on paper. When in doubt, ask the person or office that wants the signature what they accept, and for important matters get advice from a lawyer.

Tips for a clean result

For drawing with a mouse, the bold pen and a slower hand give the most natural line. On a phone, turning it sideways gives you a wider pad.
For an upload, sign with a dark pen on plain white paper, take the photo in daylight without shadows, and fill the frame with the signature.
Match the signature to the line it sits on: place it, then drag the corner handle until it is about as wide as the line and the bottom of the letters rests on it.
If you sign often on the same device, tick "Remember my signature". It stays in this browser only and is deleted when you untick the box. Leave it off on shared or public computers.

How to sign a PDF

1Open your PDF by dropping it on the box or choosing it.
2Draw your signature, type your name and pick a style, or upload a picture of it.
3Tap the page where the signature belongs. Add the date or initials on every page if the document asks for them.
4Drag and resize until everything sits on its line, then flip through the pages to check.
5Save the signed PDF. The copy downloads with "-signed" in its name, and your original stays untouched.

Built by Tobias Kurth, designer. Updated October 14, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Is my PDF or my signature uploaded?

No. Your browser opens the PDF, draws the preview and writes the signed copy. Neither the file nor your signature is sent to a server. If you tick "Remember my signature", it is kept in this browser on this device only, and unticking the box deletes it.

Is a signature added this way legally valid?

It depends on the document and the country. In the US, the ESIGN Act says a signature may not be denied legal effect just because it is electronic, but it lists exceptions such as wills and court orders. In the EU, the eIDAS Regulation gives a qualified electronic signature the equivalent legal effect of a handwritten one, and a picture signature like this one is not a qualified signature. This is general information, not legal advice; for an important document, check what the other side or the law requires.

Is this a digital signature with a certificate?

No. The tool places a picture of your signature on the page, like signing a printout and scanning it. It does not add a certificate or a cryptographic seal, so it cannot prove who signed or show whether the file was changed later. If a certificate-based or qualified signature is required, use a service or app that provides one. If your PDF already carries a digital signature or certification, note that this tool writes the whole file anew when it saves, so that existing signature will no longer be valid in the signed copy.

Can I sign several pages or place the signature more than once?

Yes. Tap every spot where the signature should go, on any page, as often as you need. You can also add the date as often as you like, and switch on initials to put them on every page at once.

Can someone remove the signature from the saved PDF?

The signature is flattened into the page content, so it is no longer a loose object that can be clicked away in a PDF reader. Someone with a PDF editor can still edit or cover page content, as with any PDF.

Why do the script styles look different on my phone?

Typed signatures use script fonts that are already installed on your device, so phones and computers can offer different styles. The style you pick is saved as a picture in the PDF, so it looks the same for everyone who opens the file.