PDF Sign: Sign PDF Documents in the Browser

Open a PDF, draw, type or upload your signature, place it on any page and download the signed file — everything happens in your browser, nothing is uploaded.

Sometimes you just need your own signature on one PDF, right now: a form, a notice, a one-page agreement. PDF Sign (Utilities → PDF Sign, /utilities/pdf-sign) is a small tool for exactly that. You open the PDF in the browser, put your signature where it belongs, and download a new signed PDF. The file never leaves your computer. If instead you need to send a document to other people and collect their signatures in order, use the e-signature flow in Documents — the section near the end of this article explains the difference.

Step 1: Upload the PDF#

1. Open Utilities → PDF Sign (/utilities/pdf-sign). In the “1. Upload PDF” card, click the upload area or drag a PDF file onto it.
2. Wait while the pages are drawn on screen (“Rendering pages…”). When it is done, the card shows the file name and how many pages the PDF has.
3. The pages appear in the “3. Place signatures” area on the right, one after another, each labelled with its page number.

• Only PDF files are accepted in this step. Scanned forms work fine as long as they are saved as a PDF.
• Uploading a different PDF replaces the current one and clears every signature you already placed, so finish one document before starting the next.

Step 2: Create a signature and save it to the library#

1. In the “2. Create signature” card, pick one of the three tabs: Draw, Type or Upload image.
2. Create the signature (details for each way are in the list below), give it a name if you like, then click “Save to library”.
3. The saved signature appears in the “Signature library” card below and is selected automatically, ready to place.

• Draw: sign inside the box with a mouse, touch or stylus. You can change the pen colour and stroke width (2, 3, 5 or 8 px), and Clear wipes the box so you can try again.
• Type: type your name, then choose a font style — Serif, Script (handwriting-style) or Sans-serif — and a colour. What you see in the preview is what gets saved.
• Upload image: use a PNG or JPG picture of your signature. A picture with a transparent background looks best on the page.

The signature library lives in this browser on this computer: your signatures are still there next time you open PDF Sign (Utilities → PDF Sign, /utilities/pdf-sign), so a signature you use often only needs to be made once. Click a saved signature to select it, or use its Delete button to remove one you no longer want. Because the library is stored in the browser, it does not follow you to a different computer or browser.

Step 3: Place signatures on the pages#

1. Make sure the signature you want is selected in the library — the page area tells you which signature is currently selected.
2. Click on a page where the signature should go. The signature appears at that spot.
3. Repeat on other pages if the document needs your signature in more than one place. You can place the same signature as many times as you need.

• Drag a placed signature to move it; drag the blue handle at its bottom-right corner to make it bigger or smaller (the shape stays in proportion).
• The × button on a placed signature removes just that one. “Remove all placements” above the pages clears every placed signature at once, but keeps your uploaded PDF and your saved library.

Step 4: Download the signed PDF#

1. Check each page once more: right pages, right spots, right size. The “Download signed PDF” button shows how many signatures you have placed.
2. Click “Download signed PDF”. The signatures are written into the PDF and the finished file downloads, named like signed-<original name>-<date and time>.pdf. The original PDF on your computer is not changed.
3. Open the downloaded file once to confirm the signatures are really in it, then file or send it as you normally would — for example, upload it to Documents so it stays with the rest of the company’s files.

PDF Sign or the Documents e-signature: which one?#

Use PDF Sign (Utilities → PDF Sign, /utilities/pdf-sign) when the only signature needed is your own and you already have the file: it is a quick, one-person job that ends with a downloaded file. Use the e-signature in Documents (see the article “Documents: electronic signatures”) when other people must sign: there you add signers by email and name, the order of the rows is the signing order, each signer receives a link and signs on any device, and the document stays inside the system. PDF Sign does not send anything to anyone and does not track who signed — it simply puts your signature into a PDF.

Docklify features used in this article#

• PDF Sign — Utilities → PDF Sign (/utilities/pdf-sign)
• Signature library (draw / type / upload image, saved in the browser) — Utilities → PDF Sign → “2. Create signature” and “Signature library” cards (/utilities/pdf-sign)
• Place and adjust signatures on the page preview, then download the signed PDF — Utilities → PDF Sign → “3. Place signatures” (/utilities/pdf-sign)
• Documents e-signature (send a PDF to other signers, in signing order) — Documents → open a PDF → E-Signature tab
• Documents file storage (keep the signed file with the company’s other files) — Documents → Upload