PDF Signer - Sign PDF Documents
Draw, type, or upload your signature to sign PDF documents. 100% client-side processing for privacy.
About PDF Signing
This signer stamps a handwritten-style signature directly into the pages of your PDF, the digital equivalent of signing a printout with a pen. You choose exactly where each signature sits by clicking on a live preview of the page, so a signature line at the bottom of a lease or a small initials box in a margin are both easy targets. The output is a new file named after your original with -signed appended, and the source document is left untouched.
Three creation methods cover the common situations. Drawing on the canvas with a mouse, trackpad, or fingertip captures your actual handwriting and is the best match for documents where a recognizable personal mark matters. Typing your name and picking one of the font styles is fastest when the signature just needs to be present and legible, such as internal approvals. Uploading an image lets you reuse a scan of your real ink signature; keep a transparent PNG of it on hand and every future document takes seconds.
Multi-page signing is built in: navigate to any page, click to place another signature, and the page badges keep track of what you have covered before you download. The optional date stamp prints the signing date beneath each placement, which is worth enabling on anything contractual.
Common Use Cases
- - Sign contracts, agreements, and legal documents
- - Authorize invoices and purchase orders
- - Sign permission slips and consent forms
- - Add signatures to tax forms and applications
Note on Legal Validity
This tool creates visual signatures (similar to signing with a pen). For documents requiring cryptographic digital signatures with legal certification, you may need specialized software or services. Visual signatures are widely accepted for many common documents.
How This Signer Handles Your Document
Everything happens inside your browser. The page loads your PDF with pdf-lib, a JavaScript PDF library, and renders the preview locally. When you click Sign and Download, your drawn, typed, or uploaded signature is converted into a PNG image and drawn directly into the page content at the exact position and size you chose. The finished file is assembled in browser memory and saved straight to your downloads folder. The PDF itself is never transmitted to a server, which matters when you are signing leases, medical intake forms, or anything else carrying your personal details.
Because the signature is baked into the page itself (often called flattening), a recipient viewing the file in a normal PDF reader cannot select it, drag it aside, or delete it. It prints exactly as it appears on screen.
Electronic vs. digital signatures: know the difference
What you create here is an electronic signature: a visible mark that records your intent to sign, equivalent to pen on paper. A digital signature is something different. It uses a cryptographic certificate to bind a verified identity to the document and to detect any modification made after signing (the kind that shows a green checkmark in Adobe Acrobat). Under laws such as the U.S. ESIGN Act and UETA, and the EU's eIDAS regulation, simple electronic signatures are valid for most everyday agreements: service contracts, NDAs, invoices, consent forms. A few document types, such as wills, certain real estate deeds, and some court filings, may require notarization or a certificate-based signature, so check the rules for your document type and jurisdiction.
Signing a document in four steps
- Upload your PDF (up to 30MB). A page preview appears immediately.
- Create a signature: draw it with a mouse or finger, type your name and pick a font, or upload a PNG or JPG photo of your real signature.
- Click the spot on the page where the signature belongs, then drag to fine-tune the position and pull the corner handle to resize. Navigate to other pages and click to sign those too; the page badges show where signatures have been placed.
- Optionally tick the date stamp, then hit Sign and Download.
Where this tool fits
A freelancer can countersign a statement of work and email it back within minutes, no printer or scanner involved. A tenant initialing every page of a 12-page lease can place a mark on each page and use the page badges to confirm none were missed. A parent handed a permission slip at 8 a.m. can sign it on a phone, since the drawing canvas supports touch input.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a signature made with this tool legally binding?
For most routine contracts, yes. E-signature laws like ESIGN, UETA, and eIDAS accept a drawn or typed signature as long as both parties intended to sign. What this tool does not provide is a cryptographic digital signature or an audit trail, so for high-stakes documents where you may later need to prove exactly who signed and when, use a certificate-based signing service instead.
Does my document get uploaded anywhere?
No. Loading, previewing, signing, and saving all run in your browser using pdf-lib. The document never leaves your device.
Can the recipient remove my signature?
Not with an ordinary PDF viewer, because the signature is flattened into the page content rather than added as a movable annotation. Keep in mind that no visual signature, including scanned ink, prevents a determined person with editing software from altering a document. Only digital signatures make tampering detectable.
Which image format gives the cleanest uploaded signature?
PNG with a transparent background. A JPG will carry its white rectangle onto the page, which looks fine on white paper but stands out over shaded areas. If you are photographing an ink signature, sign on plain white paper in good light and crop tightly before uploading.
Why won't my PDF load?
The most common cause is password protection; encrypted PDFs cannot be opened for signing. Remove the password first with our PDF Remove Password tool, then sign the unlocked copy.
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