How to sign a PDF
- Add your PDF. Drop it onto the box above or tap to choose a file.
- Create your signature. Under 1. Create your signature, choose Draw, Type or Upload, and pick an ink colour.
- Place it. Under 2. Place it on the pages, go to the right page with the arrows and press Add signature. Drag it into position and drag the corner dot to resize it. Press Add date to place the date as well.
- Repeat for other pages if needed, or select an item and press Copy to all pages.
- Press Sign PDF, then download your signed PDF.
Features
- Draw, type or upload your signature, with the same tools as our signature maker.
- Drag and resize on the real page. Each page is shown the way a PDF reader displays it, so you can line your signature up with the signature line exactly.
- Touch friendly. Move and resize with a finger on phones and tablets.
- Keyboard support. Tab to a placed item, move it with the arrow keys (hold Shift for bigger steps), resize with plus and minus, and remove it with Delete.
- Date stamp with text you can edit, filled with today's date to start with.
- Multiple placements on as many pages as you need, and Copy to all pages for initials.
- Correct on rotated pages and pages with cropped margins.
- Transparent signatures, so lines and text underneath stay visible around the ink.
- Original left untouched. You download a new, signed copy.
Why use Fileora to sign PDFs
Documents that need signing are often private: contracts, tenancy agreements, bank forms, medical consent. Many online signing sites upload your file to their servers. Fileora works in your browser instead, so the PDF and your signature never leave your device. There's no account, no watermark and no limit on how many documents you sign.
It also saves the usual print, sign and scan routine. A signed PDF made this way is sharp and small, while a scanned printout is often crooked, grey and several times larger.
If the document came in several parts, combine them first with merge PDF, then sign the complete file. For long documents, add page numbers before signing so every page can be referred to. To mark a signed copy as a draft or copy, use watermark PDF.
Electronic signature or digital signature?
These terms are often mixed up. An electronic signature is any sign of agreement in electronic form, and a picture of your handwritten signature on the page is the most common kind. This is what this tool creates. It looks the same as signing on paper, and for many everyday documents that's all that's needed.
A certificate-based digital signature is different. It uses a digital certificate issued to the signer to seal the file, and PDF readers can check whether anything changed after signing. This tool doesn't add a certificate. If a document asks for a qualified, advanced or certified digital signature, or if it's already digitally signed by someone else, use the signing process the sender specifies. Adding content to an already digitally signed PDF will make that existing signature show as invalid.
Tips for signing documents
Size it like ink. A handwritten signature is usually about 4 to 6 cm wide. Resize yours to sit on the signature line without covering the printed text around it.
Check every page before signing. Scroll through with the arrows and look for initial boxes as well as the main signature line. Many contracts ask for initials on each page, and Copy to all pages handles that in one step.
Keep your signed copy and the original. The tool never changes your original file, so keep it in case something needs to be corrected and signed again.