How to Sign a PDF Online for Free

Printing a document just to sign it and scan it back in is one of the more pointless rituals of modern paperwork. If you just need your signature on a PDF — for a lease, a form, a simple agreement — here's how to do it directly, without a printer.

Three ways to get your signature onto a PDF

1. Draw it. Using a mouse, trackpad, or finger on a touchscreen, draw your signature directly with a pen tool.
2. Type it. Type your name and have it rendered in a handwriting-style font — faster, and looks intentional rather than sloppy if you're not confident drawing with a mouse.
3. Upload it. If you already have a photo of your signature on paper (or a signature saved as an image from somewhere else), upload that instead.

In a tool like PDFly's editor, all three options live under the Sign tool — draw, type, or upload, then drag the result onto the document and resize it to fit.

Is a typed or drawn signature actually valid?

For the vast majority of everyday documents — rental agreements, internal business forms, simple contracts between individuals — an electronic signature like this is generally accepted as a valid indication of consent in most places, under e-signature laws that many countries have had in place for years. That said, this isn't legal advice, and a small number of document types (certain wills, some court filings, particular real-estate or notarized documents depending on your jurisdiction) have stricter requirements. If you're unsure whether a specific document needs a notarized or wet-ink signature, check with whoever is requiring the signature, or a legal professional, before relying on an electronic one.

Getting the signature to look right

• If you draw it with a mouse, do it a couple of times until one attempt looks natural — the first try is often too shaky.
• Keep it a reasonable size relative to the signature line; a huge signature looks careless, and a tiny one is hard to make out when printed.
• If you'll need the same signature again later, save the image you upload somewhere you can find it, rather than re-drawing it every time.

What about initials on every page?

For documents that need initials on each page in addition to a final signature, the same tool works — just place a smaller version of your signature (or type your initials) on each page that needs it, one at a time.