Sign PDF

How to use Sign PDF

1. Choose your PDF. Thumbnails of every page appear so you can jump to the page that needs a signature.
2. Press Create signature / initials. Draw with a mouse, finger or pen, type your name in a handwriting style, or upload a photo of your signature and remove its white background.
3. Pick the saved signature, initials, date stamp or typed text, then click the page where it should go. Drag to move it and pull the corner dot to resize. Repeat as often as you like.
4. Press Download signed PDF. The original file is untouched; you get a new copy with your marks on it.

Visual signature versus digital signature

A visual signature is an image of your handwriting placed on the page, the same as signing a printed copy and scanning it. A cryptographic digital signature is different: it uses a certificate issued to you, mathematically binds your identity to the exact contents of the file, and lets a viewer report whether the document was changed after signing.

This tool creates the first kind only. It does not create certificates, timestamps or tamper detection, and anyone with an editor could copy the image. Many everyday agreements, internal forms and permission slips only ask for a visible signature; contracts with stricter requirements may ask for a certificate-based or platform-based signing process instead. Ask the receiving party which they accept before relying on it, and seek professional advice for anything high-stakes.

Getting a clean-looking signature

For the drawing method, use a thicker pen on a phone screen and a thinner one with a mouse, and use Undo to remove a stroke you dislike. Draw large; the tool crops empty space and scales the result to fit.

For the upload method, sign in dark ink on plain white paper, photograph it straight on in good light, and switch on Remove white background. Lower the cut-off slider if paper shading remains, or raise it if parts of your pen strokes disappear.

• Save initials separately so you can add them to every page of a contract.
• Use the date stamp format that matches the rest of the document.
• Zoom in on the preview to check the signature does not cover printed text.

Limits and privacy

The signed copy is built from your original pages, but interactive features such as form-field filling are not part of this tool, and an encrypted or password-protected PDF may not save until the protection is removed. The images you place are embedded as PNG with transparency, so very large uploads are downscaled to keep the file small.

All work happens in your browser using the pdf.js and pdf-lib libraries. The file and your signature are not sent to any server, which makes the tool suitable for private paperwork. Closing the tab clears everything.

Why use this sign pdf tool

• Three ways to make a signature. Draw with smooth ink strokes and a choice of pen colour and thickness, type a name in handwriting-style fonts, or upload a PNG or JPG with an optional white-background remover.
• Signatures, initials, dates and text. Keep a signature and initials ready, add a date in your preferred format, or place any line of typed text such as a title or the word Approved.
• Place, move and resize freely. Put several items on one page, drag them with a mouse or finger, resize from the corner, nudge with arrow keys and copy initials to every page in one click.
• Private and rotation-aware. Your PDF and signature never leave your browser, and placement is mapped correctly on rotated pages and pages with a crop box.

Frequently asked questions

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