How to sign a PDF online for free

A short, practical guide.

The paper version of this exact moment is what you are trying to skip.

A landlord once sent me a lease with instructions to print it, sign it, scan it, and email it back within the hour. I did not own a scanner. I do not think I have owned a printer since university either. What I did instead was open the PDF in a browser, draw my signature with a mouse, and send it back in about ninety seconds. The lease was accepted without comment, because nobody actually checks whether a signature came from a pen or a trackpad, they just check that it is there.

There are two free ways to do this, and which one is better depends on how often you expect to be signing things.

Signing a single document right now

Open the file in the PDF editor and choose Sign from the toolbar. A small pad opens up, draw your signature with a mouse, a trackpad, or a finger on a touchscreen, then insert it. It drops onto the page as a small movable image that you can drag into position and resize to fit the signature line. This is the fastest route when you only need to sign one thing and move on.

Building a signature you will reuse

If you sign documents often enough that you want the same signature every time, rather than drawing a slightly different one on each file, the signature maker is the better tool. Draw it once, or upload a photo of your actual ink signature on paper, and download it as a transparent image. Keep that file somewhere handy, and from then on you can drop it straight onto any PDF using the Add image tool in the editor, in seconds, with a signature that looks identical every time.

Which one is actually more official

Neither. A signature drawn or dropped onto a PDF this way is what is usually called a simple electronic signature, the same category as typing your name into an email or ticking a box that says you agree. For contracts, leases, and most business paperwork, this is exactly what gets accepted every day. It is not the same as the certificate backed digital signatures used for things like government tax filings or court documents, which need a verified identity behind them and a different kind of tool entirely. If you are ever unsure which one a document needs, that is stated on the form itself, and it is worth checking before you sign rather than after.

Looking for something else? Use the CV and resume maker if the document you are signing is one you are also building from scratch, or browse all tools on TidyToolbox.