How to sign a PDF without printing it

• Upload your real signature for the most natural look. Sign a sheet of plain white paper with a dark pen, take a well-lit photo, and crop it close.
• Make a reusable signature image. Signature Maker saves a drawn or typed signature as a transparent PNG that you can upload whenever you need it.
• Drawing with a mouse is hard. A trackpad, touchscreen or stylus gives a smoother line. Sign larger than you need, then scale it down.
• Size it like a real signature. It should fit the signature line, at roughly the size you'd sign by hand.
• Keep a copy. Save the signed PDF somewhere you'll find it again, with a clear file name.

In many countries, electronic signatures are legally recognized for most everyday agreements. In the United States, the ESIGN Act says a signature or contract can't be denied legal effect just because it's electronic. In the European Union, the eIDAS Regulation says an electronic signature can't be refused as evidence just because it's electronic, and gives qualified electronic signatures the same legal effect as handwritten ones.

There are exceptions. US law, for example, excludes wills, many family-law matters and court documents, and an organization can insist on a particular kind of signature. A signature added with Sign PDF is a visual signature, like signing a printout. It isn't a certificate-based digital signature that proves who signed and that the file hasn't changed since.

Mac: Preview

Open the PDF in Preview, show the Markup toolbar and click the Sign button. You can create a signature on your trackpad, by holding a signature on paper up to your Mac's camera, or on a nearby iPhone or iPad. Preview keeps it for next time.

iPhone and iPad: Markup

Open the PDF, for example from the Files app or a Mail attachment, and tap the Markup button. In the Markup toolbar, tap the Add button (+), then Add Signature.

Windows: Microsoft Edge

Open the PDF in Microsoft Edge and use the Draw tool to sign with a mouse, pen or finger. It's quick, but a neat signature is harder to draw than to upload as an image.

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Adobe's free Acrobat Reader includes Fill & Sign. You may be asked to sign in with a free Adobe account to use it.

E-signature services

If other people need to sign the same document, you want a record of who signed and when, or you need a certificate-based signature, use a dedicated e-signature service. These work by uploading the document to their servers, and that's the point: they keep the record for you.