Multiple signatures on one PDF, in the right order

Sign your part now

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

Each signer uses the same free tool in their own browser. Nothing is uploaded and no one needs an account, so the other party can sign without signing up for anything.

The 1 rule that prevents every mess

Only the last signer flattens.

Flattening (the Save flattened PDF choice in the editor’s Save menu, or Flatten PDF) turns form fields and marks into fixed page content. If the first signer flattens a lease that still has the tenant’s name field, the tenant’s date field or a “Sign here” field for the tenant, those are gone: the tenant can no longer type into them or click to sign at the right size. They would have to place text by hand on a page that no longer helps them.

The signatures themselves are not affected either way. A signature placed with getPDF is written into the page as drawn lines or a picture, so it already prints and shows in every viewer before any flattening.

The sequence, step by step

Signer 1 (whoever the document comes from):

1. Fill in your part of the document: your name, your fields, any blanks that are yours.
2. Sign your line: in the Sign tool, press New signature, make it, click the line (or click your “Sign here” field). Press Date and click beside it.
3. If the document asks for initials on every page, add yours now (initials on every page shows the quick way).
4. Press Save PDF, not the flattened save.
5. Email the saved file to signer 2, with 1 line of instructions (below).

Signer 2, and every signer in between:

1. Open the PDF you received in the tool above.
2. Look before you click: find your line. Earlier signatures are there as objects; leave them where they are.
3. Fill your fields, sign your line, add the date, initial where asked.
4. Check the Changes list: it should show only your own changes (“Signed”, “Added the date”, and so on). If you nudged someone else’s signature by accident, undo with Ctrl+Z.
5. Press Save PDF and send it on, or back.

The last signer:

1. Sign as above.
2. If the document has form fields, pick Save flattened PDF, so nobody can retype an answer afterwards. If it has none, Save PDF is the final copy.
3. Send the final file to everyone who signed, in the same email thread.

The worked example: a lease between Graz and Vienna

Karol Michał lets a flat in Graz to Jane Cooper, who lives in Vienna. The lease is a PDF with fields for both parties.

Email 1, Karol to Jane:

Subject: Lease, Graz flat, signed by me

Hi Jane, the lease is attached, filled and signed on my side. Please fill in your details, initial each page, sign and date page 12, then save it flattened and send it back in this thread. Karol

Email 2, Jane to Karol:

Re: Lease, Graz flat, signed by me

Hi Karol, signed and flattened, attached. Jane

Email 3, Karol to Jane:

Re: Lease, Graz flat, signed by me

Received, thank you. Keys on the 1st as agreed. Karol

That third line costs 10 seconds and is worth having: it records that both sides hold the same final file.

Name the files so the chain stays clear

getPDF names a save after the file you opened: lease.pdf becomes lease-edited.pdf, or lease-flattened.pdf for the flattened save. After 2 signers that drifts to lease-edited-edited.pdf. Rename as you go, so every attachment says its state:

• lease-graz-signed-michal.pdf from the landlord
• lease-graz-signed-both.pdf as the final

In Chrome and Edge on a computer the save dialog lets you type the name; other browsers download the file under getPDF’s name, which you rename in your downloads.

Dates, initials and extra signers

Put the date beside each signature with the Date button: it writes today’s date as text, in the format your browser’s language uses. Each signer dates their own signature on the day they sign, so the dates themselves show the order.

For 3 or more signers (2 directors and a tenant, say), agree the order up front and write it in the first email, so each person knows whom to send the file to next. Parallel signing (everyone signing their own copy at the same time) creates several different “final” files, which is exactly the mess this order avoids.

If the document reached signer 1 already carrying a certificate-based digital signature, getPDF adds each new signature after the signed version instead of rewriting the file, so the certificate signature stays valid for what it covered, and the editor says so when it saves.

The honest part

Email order is a record, not proof. This workflow does not prove who signed or in what order by itself; the dated emails do that, and for most everyday contracts (leases, agreements between 2 people, small business paperwork) that is accepted. A signing service adds a hosted audit trail, reminders and enforced order; certificate signatures prove identity and show any later change. getPDF does neither: it cannot send documents for signature, because nothing is uploaded, and it does not make certificate signatures yet.

Every signature on the page can be moved by an editor. Flattened or not, a signature is page content, and a PDF editor (this one included) can select it. That is why every signer keeps the copy they sent: if a returned file differs from what you signed, your copy shows it. This is not legal advice; if a contract is high-stakes, ask the other party what form of signature they accept before you start.

Sending the final copy? Send a signed PDF back is the checklist. For everything else about signing and filling, start at Sign and fill a PDF.