What a signature added here is, and is not
Signing a PDF here puts your signature onto the page: drawn, typed or from a picture, wherever you place it, with a date if you want one. That is the same thing as signing a printed page and scanning it back in, and it is what most documents actually ask for. It is not the same thing as a certificate-backed digital signature, and the difference matters for some documents and not for others.
Which tool you need
An agreement, a form or a letter that needs your name on it
Sign PDF. Draw with a pen or a finger, type your name, or place a picture of your signature, and put it where it belongs on the page.
Something that has to prove who signed it, and that it has not changed since
This is not that. A visible signature shows a name on a page; it carries no identity and no seal on the document. Use a service that issues certificates when the document's value depends on the proof.
Filling in the rest of the form as well
Edit PDF adds text anywhere on a page, which is what an unfillable form needs. Come back here for the signature itself.
Initials or a signature on every page
Place the mark once, then put the selected mark on every page. Each copy lands on its own page, so you can still move or remove any of them before downloading.
The signed document should not be readable by just anyone
Password protect PDF after signing. Signing does not restrict a document in any way, and a password is the only thing here that decides who can open it.
Anyone can take it off again
The signature is ordinary page content, so a person who can open the file can remove it with the same kind of tool that put it there. Nothing here prevents that, and no visible signature anywhere does.
Treat a signed PDF the way you would treat a signed piece of paper: it is evidence of what you sent, not a lock on what happens next. Where that is not enough, the document needs a certificate rather than a picture of a name.
Where a signature is kept
Nowhere. What you draw, type or pick exists only alongside the PDF you are signing, and disappears with it: clear the document or leave the page and it is gone. Nothing is written to this browser's storage and nothing is uploaded.
That is also why opening a second document never shows the first one's signature. Forget, in the panel, drops one before then.
Drawn, typed or a photograph
A drawn signature is saved as lines rather than as a picture of lines, so it stays sharp when the page is zoomed or printed and adds almost nothing to the file. The pad takes a pen, a finger or a mouse, and uses pen pressure where the device reports it.
A typed signature is the quickest and looks like a typed signature, which for many documents is fine. A photograph of a signature on paper brings its own background with it, so photograph it on white and crop it before you use it here.
What to know before you start
- Marks are written in black. That is the standard for a signature, a typed name and a date alike; a picture you place keeps its own colors.
- A locked document cannot be signed until its password is taken off with Unlock PDF.
- Nothing is uploaded. The signature is written onto the page in your browser and the file stays on this device.