How to sign
- Add the PDF. The first page appears in the editor; use Previous and Next to move between pages.
- Create your signature. Draw it with a mouse, trackpad or finger; type your name and pick a script style; or upload a photo of your signature on paper, from which the paper is removed automatically. Click Use this signature.
- Place it. Click on the page where it should go. Drag to move it; drag the corner to resize.
- Add the date or text. Add today's date and Add text (for a printed name or initials) place boxes you can move the same way.
- Save. Click Save signed PDF. Everything you placed is drawn into the pages.
Drawing a good signature
A mouse rarely produces a natural signature; a trackpad is better, a touch screen with a finger better still, and a stylus best. Sign larger than you need and resize on the page; small drawings look jagged when scaled up. If your drawn signature never looks like you, sign on white paper with a dark pen, photograph it, and use Upload: the tool separates ink from paper with the same method as the transparent signature tool, including shadows across the page.
What "flattened" means
The signature, date and text are drawn into the page content when you save, as if they had been printed there. They are not separate annotations that a viewer could hide, move or delete. That is what most people expect from a signed PDF. It does not make the document tamper-proof: a determined person with PDF editing software can change any PDF.
Visual signatures and digital signatures
There are two very different things called "signing a PDF". A visual (electronic) signature, which this tool makes, is a mark showing that you agreed, like ink on paper. A cryptographic digital signature uses a certificate to bind the signer's verified identity to the exact contents of the document; any later change breaks the signature, and viewers display who signed and whether the document has been altered. This tool does not make cryptographic signatures, because they require a certificate issued to you.
Australian law generally allows electronic signatures for many transactions, but specific documents have specific rules: some government forms, deeds, statutory declarations, wills and property transactions require particular witnessing or signing methods. When it matters, ask the person or agency receiving the document what they accept.
Pages with rotation
If a page has been rotated with a PDF rotation setting, the signature is placed at the position you chose but may be drawn turned with the page. For best results, fix orientation first with Rotate PDF by saving the pages upright.
Keep your signature safe
Your signature image never leaves your device: it is created in the browser and drawn into your PDF locally. Even so, be careful where you leave signed copies and images of your signature, and do not sign documents you have not read in full.
On a phone or tablet
Signing on a touch screen is the most natural way to draw a signature. Choose the PDF, select Draw, sign with your finger, tap Use this signature, then tap the page where it goes. Pinch-zooming the page helps you place it precisely on a signature line. Add the date with one tap. The signed PDF saves to your device; attach it from there.
Initials on every page
Some agreements ask for initials on every page. Create a small signature from your initials (type them, or draw them), then move through the pages placing it in the corner of each. Every placement is listed, so you can check none were missed before saving.
Signing a document with others
When several people must sign, each can add their signature in turn: the first person signs and saves, sends the file to the next, who adds theirs, and so on. Each signature is flattened into the page when saved, so later signers cannot accidentally move earlier ones. If a witness is required, check whether the witness must be physically present; for many Australian documents, such as statutory declarations, witnessing rules are specific and changed during and after 2020, so confirm the current requirement for your document.
Check every placement in the list before saving, because the signature cannot be moved once it is flattened.
Privacy: the file stays on your device
Online PDF services upload your document to their servers, process it there and keep it for a while. This tool does the work in your browser. The file is read into the page's memory, processed by open-source libraries (pdf-lib for editing and pdf.js for rendering) in a background worker, and the result is offered back as a download. Nothing is sent anywhere, there is no account, and closing the tab discards everything. You can check it: open your browser's developer tools, watch the Network tab while you run the tool, and you will see no upload. After the page has loaded once it also works offline.