Sign PDF Online: Draw, Type or Upload Your Signature

Add a visual signature to any PDF in seconds. Draw with your mouse or finger, type your name with a handwriting style, or upload a signature image. Place it anywhere across any page, resize, and download. Your PDF never leaves your device. This is a visual signature for fill and sign workflows, not a cryptographic digital signature.

100% Private

Draw / Type / Upload

Multi-Page

No Watermark

Setup

How to Sign a PDF Online

Three steps. Your PDF stays in your browser the whole time.

Drop your PDF

Drag-and-drop a PDF file. Up to 50 MB works smoothly on a laptop. The file is decoded locally with pdf.js, no upload, no copies on our side.

Create your signature

Choose Draw (mouse or touch), Type (4 handwriting styles) or Upload (PNG/JPG). Click anywhere on the page to place it. Drag to move, pull a corner to resize. Add initials, today's date, free text or checkmarks the same way.

Download the signed PDF

Hit Download. The tool burns every element into the PDF in place (form fields, links and embedded fonts are preserved) and hands you a {filename}-signed.pdf. Done.

Built for Real-World Signing

Contracts, NDAs, school forms, rental agreements, anything you would normally print and scan.

Draw Naturally

Pressure-smoothed strokes via signature_pad, the same library used by industry-grade signing tools. Works with mouse, trackpad, stylus, and touchscreens. Drawn at 2x device pixel ratio so the signature stays crisp when scaled in the PDF.

Type a Signature

Type your name and pick one of 4 handwriting fonts that ship with every OS (no external font fetch, no tracking). Preview live, then place. Great when you do not have a touchscreen or a steady mouse hand.

Upload an Existing Signature

Already scanned your signature? Drop a PNG or JPG. The tool auto-removes near-white backgrounds (transparent PNG output) so your signature blends with the page instead of leaving a white box around it.

Place Anywhere, Multi-Page

Click any page to drop the active element. Drag to fine-tune position, pull the corner handles to resize. Jump between pages from the thumbnail strip. Place as many signatures, initials, dates and checkmarks as the document needs.

Initials, Date, Text and Checkmarks

Full fill-and-sign toolkit. Add separate initials, stamp today's date, drop free text into form fields the original PDF did not include, mark agreement boxes with a check or cross. Each element is independently positionable and resizable.

100% Local Processing

pdf.js renders previews, pdf-lib writes the output, signature_pad captures strokes. Every byte stays in your browser tab. Confirm zero outbound requests with DevTools Network panel during the entire signing flow.

Signature Types: What This Tool Is (And What It Isn't)

Plain-language guide to the three signature standards so you pick the right one for your situation.

Visual / electronic signature (what this tool does)

A visual signature is an image of your handwritten signature placed on a digital document. Under eIDAS (EU) and the ESIGN Act (US) this is a Simple Electronic Signature (SES), admissible as evidence for most everyday agreements: rental forms, school permission slips, internal HR documents, low-stakes contracts. It does NOT prove the document was untouched after signing, only that an image of your signature appears on it. Same legal weight as printing a contract, signing with a pen, then scanning the result.

If a counterparty would accept a print-sign-scan workflow, they accept this tool's output. If they require Adobe Acrobat's blue ribbon, you need a cryptographic signature instead.

Cryptographic digital signature (PAdES, what this tool does NOT do)

A digital signature uses a private key tied to an X.509 certificate to produce a cryptographic hash of the PDF that is verifiable and tamper-evident. Adobe Reader shows a blue ribbon: 'Signed by X, certificate valid'. Producing one requires a personal certificate (.p12/.pfx) issued by a Certificate Authority, plus software that supports PAdES-B-B or higher. For everyday contracts this is overkill. For tenders, notarial deeds, or regulated finance, it is the standard. Tools: Adobe Acrobat Pro, DocuSign, eIDAS-qualified providers.

If the other party demands 'a digital signature with a valid certificate' or 'PAdES Baseline', this tool is not enough. Use Adobe Acrobat Pro or a qualified trust service provider.

Qualified Electronic Signature (QES, the legal top-tier)

A QES is a cryptographic digital signature created on a hardware token (USB stick or smart card) issued by a Qualified Trust Service Provider approved by a government regulator. Under eIDAS, a QES has the same legal value as a handwritten signature in every EU member state. It cannot be produced in a web browser, by design, because the private key is physically isolated on the hardware. Required for: notarial acts, government tenders, certain high-value commercial contracts.

If law requires a QES, no online tool can replace a visit to a qualified provider. This is intentional, not a limitation of our tool.

How to pick the right type

Choose visual signature (this tool) for: rental agreements, freelance invoices, HR forms, school slips, customer paperwork, internal NDAs, anything you would normally print-sign-scan. Choose cryptographic signature for: cross-border B2B contracts where the counterparty asks for it, regulated industries (banking, insurance, healthcare records), legal opinions, anything where someone might dispute whether the document was altered after signing. Choose QES for: notarial deeds, government bids, real estate transactions in EU states that require it.

Most everyday signing is visual. If you have not been explicitly told you need a digital signature, you almost certainly do not.

Real-world use cases

Rental and lease agreements

Landlord emailed you a rental contract? Sign your name and date in the right boxes, send back. Same legal weight as print-sign-scan, ten times faster, no scanner needed.

Freelance invoices and quotes

Client wants a countersigned proposal before kickoff. Open the quote, add your signature on page 3, drop in today's date, return it in two minutes. Done while they are still on the call.

HR and onboarding forms

Tax forms, NDAs, equipment policies, code-of-conduct acknowledgments. Sign and initial each page from your laptop, no trip to the printer.

School permission slips

Field trip, photography release, medical authorization. Sign with mouse or trackpad in 30 seconds and email it back to the teacher.

Medical and insurance forms

Pre-appointment paperwork, claim forms, consent docs. Sign privately at home before showing up. Your file stays on your device, never touches a third-party server.

Internal team approvals

Quick approval workflows: budget sign-off, internal memos, design sign-offs. Sign, add a date stamp, drop a checkmark in the 'Approved' box, slack it on.

Sign PDF, Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers about the tool

Is this a legally binding signature?

Under eIDAS (EU) and the ESIGN Act (US) this counts as a Simple Electronic Signature (SES), which is admissible evidence for most everyday agreements: rental contracts, freelance invoices, HR forms, school slips. It carries the same legal weight as printing a contract, signing with a pen, and scanning the result. For higher-stakes legal documents that demand non-repudiation or tamper-proofing (notarial acts, government tenders, regulated finance), you need a cryptographic digital signature or a QES, neither of which any web tool can produce client-side.

Is this a digital signature?

No, not in the cryptographic sense. A digital signature uses a private key + X.509 certificate to mathematically prove the document was not tampered with after signing (Adobe Reader shows a blue ribbon). This tool produces a visual signature: an image of your handwriting placed on the page. If the counterparty specifically asks for 'a digital signature with a valid certificate' or 'PAdES-compliant', use Adobe Acrobat Pro or DocuSign instead.

Will the PDF be uploaded to a server?

No. pdf.js (rendering) and pdf-lib (writing) both run inside your browser tab via WebAssembly and pure JavaScript. The signature_pad library captures strokes locally on a . Confirm with DevTools Network tab, zero outbound requests during the entire flow. Your PDF and signature never reach our servers.

Can I sign multiple pages at once?

Yes. The thumbnail strip on the left lets you jump between pages. Place a signature, initials, date or text on any page, as many times as needed. Each element is independently positioned and resized. The final downloaded PDF has every element burned in on the right page.

Will form fields, links and embedded fonts be preserved?

Yes. The tool mutates the existing PDF pages in place using pdf-lib's drawImage and drawText, instead of copying pages to a fresh document (which would strip AcroForm fields and link annotations). Embedded fonts, hyperlinks, form fields and bookmarks all survive.

What if my PDF is password-protected?

Encrypted PDFs are rejected with a clear banner pointing to our Unlock PDF tool. Unlock it there first (you need the password), come back here to sign. We do not bundle the encryption fork into this tool because the vast majority of signed PDFs are unprotected, keeping the bundle small benefits load time.

How big a PDF can I sign?

Comfortable up to 50 MB on a modern laptop with 8+ GB RAM. Above that, browser memory pressure starts affecting render speed. Mobile devices are best below 20 MB. If your PDF is very large, compress it first with our Compress PDF tool, then sign.

Can I save my signature for next time?

No, by design. Each session starts clean. We chose not to store signatures in localStorage to avoid any cross-session privacy risk on shared computers. If you sign often with the same handwriting, type-mode reproduces the same look in one click, or save a transparent-PNG of your signature locally and re-upload it.

Why does my drawn signature look pixelated in the PDF?

Make the signature box on screen as large as is convenient before drawing. The tool captures at 2x device pixel ratio so it scales well, but starting too small still produces visible pixels when blown up in the PDF. As a rule, draw the signature 3-4x larger than where it will appear in the document.

Does it work on iPhone and Android?

Yes. signature_pad uses pointer events that work on iOS Safari 13+ and modern Android Chrome / Firefox. The canvas captures finger and stylus strokes natively. The page thumbnail strip becomes horizontally-scrollable on narrow screens. For files over 20 MB, sign on a laptop, mobile RAM gets tight.