How to sign a PDF without printing it
· 6 minute read
Put your signature on a PDF in seconds: draw it or type it, place it on the line, and know when a picture of a signature is enough and when it is not.
The old routine was to print the document, sign it, scan it and send the scan, which took twenty minutes and produced a worse copy than the one you started with. For most everyday paperwork, you can put your signature directly onto the PDF instead. This article covers how, and where the limits are.
Three ways to make a signature
- Draw it. Use a mouse, a trackpad, a finger or a stylus. A touchscreen with a stylus gives the most natural result; a trackpad is the roughest.
- Type it. Enter your name and pick a handwriting-style typeface. It is neat, consistent and reads clearly, and it is often what people prefer.
- Use a picture. Photograph your signature on paper and place the image. This is the most "real" looking, though it needs a clean photograph.
Making it look right
- Draw large and shrink afterwards. A big signature is smoother when it is made smaller than one drawn small and enlarged.
- Place it on the line. Zoom in so you can see exactly where it sits, and resize it to a believable height.
- Choose ink to suit the document. Black is formal. Blue is easy to tell from printed text.
- Save it. Drawing a signature once and reusing it is the difference between a feature you use and one you try.
What a placed signature is, and is not
A signature placed on a PDF is a picture on the page. It shows that you intended to sign, and for a great many documents, such as agreements between people who know each other, consent forms and confirmations, that is practical and accepted. It is not a certificate-based digital signature. Those are produced with a certificate issued to you, bind the signature to the document cryptographically and record whether the document was changed afterwards.
Which one you need depends on the document, the country and the other party. Some situations require a particular kind of electronic signature by law, and some require a physical one. If you are unsure, ask whoever requested the signature what they will accept. This article is general information and not legal advice.
Before you sign
- Finish the document first. Fill in every field, using Fill PDF form if it is a form, and read the whole thing. Signing a document and then editing it leaves a document nobody should trust.
- Check you are signing the right version. File names like "final-v3-FINAL" are a warning.
- Keep an unsigned copy.
After you sign
A placed signature does not lock the document. Anyone with an editor could change the page. If the document is going to someone who needs to know that it has not been altered, consider adding a password to restrict editing or use a service that provides a signing certificate and an audit trail. For simple, low-risk exchanges, a clean signed PDF is what most people expect.
Tools mentioned
- Sign PDF — Draw or type your signature, and put it where it belongs.
- Fill PDF form — Type into the boxes a form already has, and save it filled in.
- Protect PDF — A password on the file before it leaves your hands.