Sign a PDF without printing and scanning it

Sign it now

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

The file opens in the editor with the Sign tool picked. Everything below happens in your browser tab: the PDF is never sent anywhere, so a lease or an employment contract stays on your machine.

Why people still print to sign

Two reasons, mostly. Habit: the printer is right there and the loop is familiar. And doubt: a signature drawn on a screen feels less real than ink. The doubt is the one worth answering. A drawn or typed signature is an electronic signature, and both EU law (eIDAS) and US law (ESIGN and UETA) say a signature cannot be refused only because it is electronic. The plain-words explainer on signature law has the details and the exceptions.

Meanwhile the paper loop costs you more than time. A scan turns every page into a picture: the text no longer selects or searches, the pages come back slightly crooked and grey, and the file grows. In our measurements a 10-page lease scanned at 300 dpi in colour came out at 17.6 MB, about 1.8 MB a page, too big for many mail inboxes. Signing the original adds about 10 KB.

Make your signature in under a minute

1. With the PDF open, look at the bar above the page: the Sign tool shows New signature, Initials and Date. Press New signature. (Clicking the page before you have made one opens the same pad.)
2. The pad has 3 tabs: Draw, Type and Upload. Pick the ink first: Black or Blue (blue is selected when the pad opens).
3. Make it one of 3 ways:
   • Draw: sign in the white area with a mouse, trackpad, finger or pen. Clear starts again.
   • Type: type your name; it appears in a handwriting style, and becomes drawn outlines on the page, so no font is added to the file.
   • Upload: Choose a picture of your signature on paper (PNG, JPG or WebP). Make the white paper see-through is ticked, so only the ink lands on the page. Making that picture well has its own guide.
4. Press Use this signature.

Which one suits you is a matter of taste and of your device; draw, type or upload compares them. For the law they weigh the same.

Place it on the line and add the date

1. After Use this signature, the bar says “Click the page where it goes.” Click just above the start of the signature line. The signature lands about 6 cm wide with its top left corner where you clicked.
2. It is now selected. Drag it to sit on the line, and pull a corner until it matches the length of the line, not the empty space around it.
3. If the PDF has a real signature field, it shows a dashed box saying Sign here. Click that instead: your signature drops in, fitted to the box.
4. For the date, press Date (the button shows today’s date, written the way your browser’s language writes it, such as 11 October 2026), then click beside the signature. It is placed as ordinary 11 pt text you can move like the signature.
5. A signature you made stays in the bar as a small preview, so a second signature line, or the next page, is one click on it and one click on the page. It stays ready for the next file you open in the same tab too; closing the tab forgets it.

Got something wrong? Undo with Ctrl+Z, or select the signature and delete it.

Save it, and when to flatten

Press Save for a new file with your changes; it is named after the original with “-edited” added. The signature is written into the page itself as a drawing (or, if you uploaded a photo, as a picture), not as a loose sticker on top, so it prints and shows the same in every PDF reader.

If you also filled form fields, open the arrow next to Save and choose Save flattened PDF. That fixes the answers into the page so nobody can retype them, and the file name ends in “-flattened”. Keep the unflattened copy for yourself in case you need to correct something. What flattening protects, and what it does not, is explained in its own guide.

Then attach the file and send it; sending a signed PDF back has the short checklist. If the recipient’s inbox is strict about size, the attachment limits guide has the numbers.

The honest part

This is a simple electronic signature. getPDF does not make certificate-based digital signatures, and the signature pad says so. For leases, offers, HR forms and most contracts between people and companies, a simple signature is what everyone uses. A few documents need more: in some countries notarised deeds and wills, certain court and registry filings, and documents where the law asks for a qualified signature. If you are unsure, ask the receiving party what they accept before you sign. This is an explanation, not legal advice.

A drawn signature proves less than ink witnessed in person. It shows you agreed; it does not by itself prove who drew it. For most documents the email you send it with is the record that matters, so send it from your usual address and keep a copy.

If someone insists on wet ink, print. Some banks and offices still do, and arguing costs more than a page of paper.

If the PDF already carries a digital signature (a certificate signature from the sender), the editor adds yours after the signed version instead of rewriting the file, so their signature stays valid for what they signed, and it tells you so when you save. The pillar guide to signing and filling covers forms, initials and the rest of the job.