Sign PDF

How the Sign PDF works

Tenancy agreements, permission slips, timesheets, quotes and freelance contracts all end with "please sign and return". Printing the page, signing it with a pen and scanning it back takes ten minutes and a printer you may not have, and the result is a blurry image of the whole document. Placing your signature straight onto the PDF keeps the text sharp and searchable and takes a few seconds.

How to sign PDF files

1. Drop the PDF into the box.
2. Type your name, or choose a photo or scan of your signature. A picture wins if you give both.
3. Pick the page and the corner, and whether to add today's date.
4. Download the copy ending in -signed.pdf.

The preview shows the signature exactly as it will be stamped onto the page.

Typed or handwritten

Typed names are drawn in a handwriting-style font from your own computer, such as Segoe Script on Windows or Snell Roundhand on a Mac, in dark blue ink. They are quick and look tidy.

A picture of your signature looks like the real thing. Sign a blank sheet of white paper with a dark pen, take a photo in good light, and crop it close to the ink. The tool fades out the white and light grey paper around the strokes, so only the ink lands on the PDF and the text underneath stays visible. The Signature Pad tool on this site can also draw a signature with a mouse or finger and save it as a PNG to use here.

Where the signature goes

The signature is fitted into a box 170 points wide and 56 points tall, roughly 6 by 2 cm, keeping its shape. It sits half an inch from the bottom edge and, for the left and right options, half an inch from the side. With a date, a thin line is drawn under the signature and the date is printed beneath it in small type, in the long form your browser uses, such as 1 October 2026.

Is this a legal signature?

In most countries an electronic signature is any mark you add to show that you agree to a document, and a typed name or a pasted image counts. The EU's eIDAS regulation, the US ESIGN Act and UETA, and the UK's Electronic Communications Act all accept this kind of simple electronic signature for everyday agreements such as tenancies, employment offers and supplier contracts.

Some documents need more. Wills, deeds, some property transfers and certain court and government forms still require a wet ink signature or a witness, and some regulated processes require an advanced or qualified signature backed by a certificate. If you are unsure, ask the person who sent you the document what they accept.

Tips and pitfalls

This is a visible signature, not a digital certificate. It shows your agreement but does not lock the file against later changes the way a certificate-based signature in Acrobat does. Password Protect PDF can stop casual edits once you have signed.

Fill in forms first. If the PDF has form fields, complete them with the PDF Form Filler before signing, then flatten the file so the answers and signature cannot be changed by mistake.

Check the signature block. The signature goes in a fixed corner. If the document has a signature line elsewhere, check the result and tell the recipient the signature is at the foot of the page, or print and sign that one page.

Use a clean photo. Shadows, lined paper and blue-grey backgrounds can leave faint marks around the signature. A white sheet under a lamp gives the cleanest cut-out.

Password-protected files must be unlocked first. An encrypted PDF cannot be edited until the protection is removed.

Reading the result

Pages signed shows how many pages received the signature out of the total. Signature says whether your typed name or your uploaded image was used, and Date shows the date that was printed, or "Not added".

Related tools