Sign PDF Online Free

Everything happens inside the browser tab

When you drop a PDF onto the tool, the file is read straight from your device into memory. The page you are looking at is rendered by pdf.js onto a canvas, and when you press download, the finished file is written by pdf-lib in the same tab. There is no upload step, no queue on a server, and nothing to delete afterwards. Close the tab and the document is gone from the tool entirely. For contracts, consent forms, tenancy paperwork and anything else you would not email to a stranger, that is the practical difference from most online signing sites.

The trade off is that everything is limited by your own device. Very large documents use real memory, and a phone will struggle with a two hundred page scan where a laptop will not. Password protected PDFs cannot be opened until the password is removed first.

Making and placing a signature

The signature dialogue has two tabs. Draw gives you a signing pad with three ink colours, a dark navy, a plain black and a teal, plus a pen thickness slider from 1 to 8 and a clear button. Drawing with a finger on a phone or a stylus on a tablet produces a far better result than a mouse, so if the signature looks wrong, the input device is usually the reason rather than the tool. Type takes your name and renders it in a script face, which is neater but obviously not your hand.

Once created, the signature is dropped onto the current page. Tap it to select, drag to move, drag the corner dot to resize, and tap the cross to remove it. Anything you place belongs to the page you placed it on, so moving through a multi page agreement with the page selector or the previous and next buttons lets you initial each page and sign the last. The date button stamps today's date in a long written format taken from your device settings, and the text button adds a free text field for things like a printed name, a position title or a reference number.

What "flattening" means on download

Pressing download does not attach your signature as a separate annotation layer. Each signature image is embedded into the page as a picture, and each text item is drawn into the page using a standard built in font. The result is a single flattened document where the signature is part of the page content, the same way it would be if the page had been printed, signed and scanned, only without the loss of quality.

Flattening has two consequences worth knowing. The good one is portability: the file looks the same in every reader, on every device, and nobody can drag your signature off the page by opening it in an editor. The limitation is that the placement is final. If you need to move a signature after downloading, you go back to the original PDF and start again, so keep the unsigned copy until you are happy with the signed one.

What a drawn signature is, and what it is not

The following is general information, not legal advice. If a document matters, check the requirements that apply to it or get advice from a qualified adviser.

A signature you draw or type here is an electronic signature: a mark you apply to a document to show you approve it. In Australia, electronic signatures are recognised for many everyday purposes under the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 and its state and territory equivalents, generally where the method used is reliable and appropriate for the purpose, where the signer can be identified, and where the other party consents to signing electronically. Plenty of routine paperwork is signed this way without difficulty.

What this tool does not do is verify who you are. It has no account, no identity check, no audit trail, no timestamp from an independent authority and no cryptographic certificate. That makes it different from a digital signature, which binds a document to a certificate issued to a named person and can detect later alteration. If a counterparty asks for a "digital signature", a "qualified electronic signature" or a signing platform with an audit log, drawing a picture of your name will not satisfy them.

Some categories of document also have specific form requirements, and they vary by state and by document type. Wills, statutory declarations, affidavits, powers of attorney, some land dealings and anything that must be witnessed in person are the usual examples where an electronically drawn signature may not be sufficient on its own. When in doubt, ask the receiving party what they will accept before you sign, which takes one email and saves a re signing round.

Practical habits that avoid problems

Sign on the largest screen you have available, because a signature drawn at a small size and then enlarged looks noticeably rough. Place the signature so it sits inside the signature line rather than across it. Add a printed name with the text tool where the form asks for one, since a drawn signature alone is often unreadable. Keep both files, the original and the signed copy, and name them clearly. If a form is going to be printed after signing, check it on screen at full page size first, as a signature that looks fine at thumbnail size can be too light once printed.

The companion guide sign a PDF without emailing it covers the workflow end to end, including getting a document onto a phone, signing, and sending it back.

Related tools

If a form arrived as several files, Merge PDF joins them before you sign, and Split PDF pulls out just the pages that need signing. Compress PDF helps when the signed file is too big for an upload form, and PDF Watermark adds a draft or copy marking. The guide on merging and splitting PDFs without uploading explains how those fit together.

Questions about signing