Add initials to every page of a lease, without drawing them 12 times

Initial your lease now

Sign PDFDraw, type or upload; flatten on save. Free, runs on your device.Open

The editor opens with the Sign tool picked. Everything below runs on your device and nothing is uploaded, which is what you want for a document with your name, your address and your rent in it.

Why do leases ask for initials on every page?

Two reasons, both from paper. Initials on each page show you saw every page, so nobody can say later that you missed the clause on page 7. And they make swapping a page obvious: a replacement page has no initials, or the wrong ones. That is why the initials should look the same and sit in the same place on every page: a tidy column of identical marks reads as deliberate.

Before you start, check whether the landlord or agent wants a particular spot (often a small box at the bottom of each page) and whether they accept initials made on screen. Most do; a few still insist on wet ink.

Step by step on a computer

1. Open the lease in the tool above. The Sign tool is already picked; its bar shows New signature, Initials and Date.
2. Press Initials. The pad opens titled “Your initials”. Draw them, or switch to Type (the box suggests “Initials, for example A.K.”), or Upload a photo of your paper initials. Press Use these initials.
3. Click page 1 where they go, usually the bottom right corner or the initials box. They land about 2 cm wide (60 points), with their top left at your click. Drag to adjust; the editor selects them for you.
4. Copy them: with the initials still selected, press Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac).
5. Go to page 2: click its thumbnail in the Pages panel, or scroll until it is the page in view.
6. Paste: Ctrl+V (Cmd+V). The initials land at exactly the same position as on page 1.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for every page that needs them. On a 12-page lease that is 11 thumbnails and 11 pastes.
8. On the last page, sign in full. Press New signature, make it, click the signature line. Then press Date and click beside the signature: today’s date goes in as real text, written the way your browser’s language writes dates (11 October 2026, or October 11, 2026 in US English).
9. Save. Pick Save PDF. If the lease has form fields you filled and you are the last one to sign, Save flattened PDF fixes them too.

Copy and paste keeps the position because the editor pastes onto another page at the same coordinates. If your lease mixes page sizes (an A4 lease with a Letter annex, say), check the odd pages and drag the initials into place there.

On a phone or tablet

There is no keyboard paste on a phone, so use the Sign bar instead:

1. Press Initials, draw them with your finger, press Use these initials, and tap page 1 where they go.
2. Scroll to the next page. Tap the small preview of your initials in the Sign bar, then tap the page in the same corner.
3. Repeat for each page, then sign the last page in full and add the date.

Each page is 2 taps. The spot is set by your finger, so it varies by a few millimetres; zoom in a little and aim for the same corner of the text each time.

Can typed initials go on every page in one go?

Yes, with a different tool, if the other side accepts typed initials. Add page numbers writes a header or footer on every page in one pass:

1. Open the lease in Add page numbers.
2. Set Where to No numbers if the lease already has page numbers.
3. Type your initials in Footer, for example Initials: JC. The footer sits at the bottom centre of every page.
4. Leave Cover page on numbered unless the cover must stay clean, and press Add numbers.

This is typed text in Helvetica, not your handwriting, and it sits at the bottom centre rather than in a corner. It only takes Latin letters (a ł or ř in your initials is refused with a message saying so). For a lease where the landlord wants something that looks like initials, use the copy and paste method above.

Initials, signature and date: what goes where

Page	What you add	How
Every page except the last	Initials, same corner	Copy once, paste on each page
Pages with a change written in by hand	Initials next to the change	Click your initials in the Sign bar, click beside it
The last page	Full signature and the date	New signature, then Date
Annexes and inventories	Initials, unless the lease says otherwise	As for every page

If the date must be in a specific format (some forms print DD/MM/YYYY under the line), use the Text tool and type it the way the form asks rather than the Date button; dates on PDF forms explains the formats.

The honest part

No one-click “initial every page” for drawn initials yet. Placement is per page. Copy and paste makes it quick and exact on a computer; on a phone it is 2 taps per page.

Pasted initials are copies of the placed object. They look the same, print the same, and the editor’s panel shows each copy as Initials, like the original.

Initials are page content, not a form field. Once placed and saved, they print and show in every viewer, flattened or not. Flattening matters for the lease’s form fields, not for your initials. And anyone with a PDF editor can still move page content; what protects you is your own copy of the signed lease and the email it travelled in.

Not everyone accepts screen initials. If the landlord or agent demands wet ink, ask before you start, not after.

Signing with someone else on the same lease? Two people signing one PDF covers the order. For everything else, start at Sign and fill a PDF.