Sign a PDF with a Drawn, Typed or Uploaded Signature
Place your signature in the box on a form or declaration, add the date, and sign one page or every page
Drop a PDF here
Draw, type or upload your signature, then drag it into place
Signing happens entirely in your browser, so neither the document nor your signature is uploaded anywhere. This adds a signature image to the page, the way you would sign a printout; it is not a digital certificate (DSC) signature. Drag the signature exactly where the form has its box, and use “Keep editing” to add initials on other pages.
About this tool
A declaration at the end of an application, an undertaking for a scholarship, a form that says Signature of candidate above a box. Printing, signing, scanning and reattaching takes longer than filling the form did. This tool places a signature image on the PDF page directly, the way a pen would on a printout.
The signature can be drawn with a finger or mouse, typed in a handwriting-style font, or uploaded as a photo of your real signature with the paper made transparent. It is then dragged into the box, resized with a live centimetre readout, and optionally dated.
Signing runs in your browser, so neither the document nor your signature is uploaded anywhere. What comes out is a flattened image on the page, which is what a scanned signed form is too.
How to sign a PDF
- Drop the PDF onto the tool. The first page renders in the preview area.
- Make the signature with Draw, Type or Upload in the Signature panel. A preview of the trimmed signature appears below.
- Use the page arrows to reach the page that needs signing, then drag the dashed signature box into the printed box; drag the corner handle or move the width slider to size it.
- Tick Add today's date under the signature if the form has a date line next to it.
- Choose This page only, Every page or Last page, then click Sign PDF.
- Download the signed file, or click Keep editing to add initials or a second signature on other pages.
Three ways to make the signature
Whichever source you use, the blank border around the ink is trimmed away automatically, so the box you drag matches the signature itself.
| Source | How it works | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Draw | Sign on a lined canvas with a finger, stylus or mouse; strokes are smoothed into curves | Four ink colours (black, blue, teal, red), pen thickness 1 to 8 px, undo the last stroke, clear |
| Type | Type your name and it is set in a signature-style font | Handwritten, Classic or Italic style, in the same four ink colours |
| Upload | A photo or scan of your signature on paper; near-white paper is made transparent and light grey fades out | Make white paper transparent is on by default; untick it for a signature already saved as a PNG with transparency |
Placing and sizing the signature
The signature starts near the bottom right, where most forms keep the box. Drag it anywhere on the page, or press the arrow keys to nudge it by 1 percent of the page, 5 percent with Shift held. The Snap to chips jump it to the bottom left, bottom centre, bottom right or top right with a small margin.
Width is set as a percentage of the page width, from 5 to 80 percent, by dragging the corner handle or moving the slider; height follows the signature's own proportions. The panel converts this to centimetres on paper. On an A4 page, which is 21.0 cm wide, the default 28 percent gives a signature about 5.9 cm wide (0.28 x 595.28 pt = 166.7 pt, and 166.7 divided by 72, times 2.54, is 5.88 cm). A 20 percent width gives about 4.2 cm, which suits most printed signature boxes.
Place on decides which pages receive it. This page only signs the page you are viewing, Last page signs the final page where declarations usually sit, and Every page stamps the same spot on all pages. The position is stored as a fraction of the page, so on a document with mixed page sizes it lands at the same relative spot on each.
The date line
With Add today's date ticked, the text Date: DD/MM/YYYY is printed directly under the signature in a small dark font, sized between 7 and 11 pt according to the signature's width. The date is read from your device's clock on the day you sign, in the Indian day-month-year order. It cannot be set to another day; for a form that needs a different date, leave the box unticked and write the date by hand or in another tool.
What this signature is, and is not
The output is a PDF with a picture of your signature embedded on the page and flattened into it, named after the original with -signed added. Any portal or office that accepts a scanned copy of a signed form accepts this. The signed pages, the new file size and the signature's printed size are shown after signing.
It is not a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) or an Aadhaar eSign. Nothing cryptographic is attached and no verification panel appears in a PDF reader. Filings that specifically demand a DSC, such as some e-tendering, company and tax submissions, need that separate process.
A PDF with rotated pages shows a warning; the placement can land a quarter turn off on those pages, so check the download. A password-protected file cannot be opened; save a copy without the password first.
Keep editing reopens the signed file as the new input, so initials on page 1 and a full signature on the last page can be added in two passes on the same file.
Frequently asked questions
›Is a signature added this way accepted on government application forms?
It gives the same result as signing a printout and scanning it, which is what forms asking for a signed declaration or undertaking expect. Where a notification says the form must be physically signed and posted, or needs a DSC or Aadhaar eSign, a pasted signature image does not meet that requirement. Read the instructions of the specific recruitment before relying on it.
›How do I remove the white background from a photo of my signature?
Choose Upload and add the photo with Make white paper transparent ticked, which it is by default. Pixels close to white are turned fully transparent and light grey ones are faded, so only the ink remains and the signature sits on the form without a white rectangle. Sign with a dark pen on clean white paper in good light for the cleanest result.
›Can I sign only page 3 of a 5-page PDF?
Yes. Use the page arrows above the preview to move to page 3, place the signature, and keep Place on set to This page only. Only that page is changed; the other four are copied as they were. The result panel shows one signed page to confirm it.
›How do I put initials on every page and a full signature on the last page?
Do it in two passes. First make a short typed or drawn initial, choose Every page and click Sign. Then click Keep editing on the result, make the full signature, choose Last page, place it in the declaration box and sign again. The second pass works on the already-initialled copy, and the download carries both.
›What size should my signature be?
Match the box printed on the form. The panel shows the signature's width and height in centimetres as you resize, so you can compare with a ruler on a printout or with the box's proportions on screen. Between 4 and 6 cm wide fits the boxes on most Indian application forms; stay inside the lines so no printed text is covered.
›Can I change the date to a different day?
No. The date line always prints the date on your device when you click Sign, in DD/MM/YYYY order. If the form needs a specific earlier or later date, untick Add today's date and leave the date line blank to fill by hand, or type the date as text in the Type tab, which accepts any text, and place it where the date goes.
›Does the signed PDF show as digitally signed in Adobe Reader?
No. A PDF reader's signature panel only appears for certificate-based signatures. This tool draws the signature as an image on the page, so the reader treats it as part of the page content, exactly like a scanned signature. That is the right behaviour for a form upload and the wrong one for anything that requires a verified DSC.