Put a signature picture on a PDF
Make a picture of your signature by drawing it, typing it or choosing one from your device, then place it on any page and save a new PDF.
- Price
- Free
- Sign-up
- None
- Files
Your file and your signature stay on your device. Nothing is uploaded.
Add your PDF
Drag a PDF file here, or
One PDF at a time.
Your signature
Draw with a mouse, a pen or your finger. If drawing is hard for you, choose Type instead.
Signature to place
No signature yet. Make one above.
Signature styles: Dancing Script (SIL Open Font License 1.1), Caveat (SIL Open Font License 1.1), Homemade Apple (Apache License 2.0). Licence texts ship with the fonts.
What this tool can handle
We set no limit on how many files you use or how big they are. The real limit is your device's memory: each file is read whole, copied while it is worked on, and the result is built in memory too, so a job needs several times the size of its files.
Rough guide: a laptop or desktop copes with a few hundred megabytes in total; a phone, about a hundred. In our own test on a recent Mac, merging six files of 100 MB each (600 MB in all) took about two seconds, and splitting one 200 MB file into ten parts took about two seconds too. Those were simple test files; real documents with thousands of small objects take longer.
We have not tested every phone, so big files may fail on yours. If a job fails, use fewer or smaller files at a time.
Check for yourself that nothing is uploaded
- Open the page and wait for it to load fully.
- Turn off Wi-Fi, or switch on airplane mode.
- Add your files and run the tool. It keeps working, because the work happens in this tab and not on a server.
- For a closer look, open your browser's developer tools, choose the Network tab and run the tool again: no request carries your files.
Need a website to go with it? See Digital Works Forge website packages. A small San Antonio studio that builds sites for local businesses.
How to put a signature picture on a PDF
- Add the PDF. Drag the PDF onto the box or choose it. A preview of its pages appears further down.
- Make your signature. Draw it with a mouse, a pen or a finger, type your name in one of three handwriting styles, or upload a photo of a signature on white paper.
- Place it on a page. Go to the page you want and press Add signature to this page. Drag it into place and drag the round handle to resize.
- Fine-tune it. Use the arrow keys to nudge, plus and minus to resize, or type the position and width in the boxes below.
- Add a date if you want. Edit the date text, then press Add the date to this page. It is placed and moved the same way.
- Save the copy. Press Save the signed copy and download it. Your original is left as it was.
What this does, and what it does not
This tool places a picture of your signature on a page. That is all it does. The result looks like a signature on paper that was scanned. It does not create a cryptographic digital signature, it does not prove who signed, and it does not detect whether the file changed after signing.
Whether a picture of a signature is enough depends on who asks for it and why. Many everyday forms only want to see a signature on the page. If someone requires a particular kind of signature, ask them what they accept before you rely on this.
Three ways to make the signature
Draw
Use a mouse, a pen or your finger in the drawing box. Undo removes the last stroke and Clear starts again. The picture is cut down to just the ink, with a see-through background. Choose black or blue ink.
Type
Type your name and choose one of three handwriting styles. The pictures are made from fonts that ship with the page, so they look the same on every device. This route needs no pointer, so it suits keyboards and screen readers.
Upload a picture
Sign on white paper with a dark pen, take a straight, well-lit photo or scan it, and upload it. The option to make the white background see-through lets the page show through around your ink.
Placing it exactly
The preview shows the page at a readable size. Drag your signature to where the line is, and use the round handle at its corner to size it. If a mouse is not your tool, the same things work from the keyboard: arrow keys move the selected item, Shift makes the step bigger, plus and minus change the size, and Delete removes it. Three number boxes show and set the position and width as a percentage of the page.
The signature can go on several pages. Add signature to every page copies it to the same spot on each page, and you can then fix any page where it lands badly. Pages that are turned in the file, such as sideways scans, still get an upright signature.
What stays in the file
The signed copy is the original file with the pictures added on top, so its text, bookmarks and form fields are untouched. The signature is part of the page, so anyone with the file can see it, and anyone with editing software could also remove it. Save a copy of the original for your records.
About the signature fonts
The three handwriting styles are Dancing Script and Caveat, published under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, and Homemade Apple, published under the Apache License 2.0. They are served from this site with their licence texts. Nothing is loaded from another website.
Related tools
Invoice generator
Make an invoice or estimate, then sign it here.
Merge PDF files
Join the signed pages with the rest of the packet.
Reorder, rotate and delete pages
Turn a sideways scan upright before you sign.
Frequently asked questions
Is my PDF or my signature uploaded?
No. The file and the signature are handled in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server.
Is this a digital signature?
No. It places a picture of your signature on the page. It does not create a cryptographic digital signature and does not prove who signed.
Can I use it on a phone?
Yes. Drawing works with a finger, and the Type and Upload routes are easy on a small screen. Very large PDFs may be too much for a phone's memory.
Can I sign more than one page?
Yes. Add the signature to one page at a time, or to every page, and adjust each one.
Can I add the date?
Yes. Edit the date text and add it to the page. It is placed and moved like the signature.
Can I move the signature with the keyboard?
Yes. Select it, then use the arrow keys, plus and minus, and Delete. Number boxes below the preview also set its position and width.
Why does my uploaded signature have a grey box around it?
Turn on Make the white background see-through, and use a photo of dark ink on plain white paper under even light.
Does this change anything else in my PDF?
No. The signature picture is added on top of the page you choose; everything else is kept as it was.