Sign a PDF
Draw your signature, drag it where it belongs, and download the signed file. Free, with no account to create and nothing to install — and the document's own text and layout are left exactly as they were.
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Converted in your browser. A copy of the file you select is also uploaded and stored, so it can be investigated if a problem or a report of misuse ever requires that — see our privacy page for how long it is kept.
How to sign a PDF
- Open the PDF. It is drawn on screen so you can see what you are signing.
- Choose Draw signature and sign with a finger, a stylus or the mouse.
- Drag the signature onto the right spot, and drag its corner to size it.
- Choose Sign & download. The signed copy saves to your device.
What this does to the file
Your signature is drawn onto the page as an image, over the existing content. Nothing else about the document changes: the text stays selectable and searchable, the layout is untouched, and the other pages are copied across byte for byte. That is the difference between this and printing, signing and scanning — a scan flattens the whole document into a picture and loses the text.
What it is not
This is a visible signature, not a cryptographic one. A certificate-based signature (PAdES, or a qualified electronic signature) binds an identity to the document and makes later tampering detectable; this does neither, and no tool that simply draws on the page can. For a routine agreement between people who already know each other, a visible signature is usually what is being asked for. For anything where a third party has to verify who signed, it is not.
What to check before signing a document online
Signing tools are easy to build and easy to monetise badly, and a contract is not a good thing to find that out with. Four questions worth answering before you upload:
- Does it charge you after the work, not before? A common pattern is to let you upload, sign and position everything, and only ask for a card at the download step — by which point you have already handed over the document.
- Is the trial price the real price? A few days at a token amount that rolls into a monthly subscription is a subscription, not a trial.
- What happens to the file afterwards? "Deleted after processing" and "kept until you delete it" are very different promises, and only one of them is usually written down. Ours is on the privacy page.
- Is it the kind of signature you were actually asked for? Almost every online signer, including this one, draws a picture on the page. If somebody needs to cryptographically verify who signed, none of them will do.
Signing on a phone
A finger on a touchscreen is the closest thing to a real pen here, and signatures drawn that way usually look better than ones drawn with a mouse. The signature is trimmed to the strokes themselves, so the surrounding space in the drawing box does not become padding around it on the page.
Questions
Is this a legally binding signature?
It draws a picture of your signature onto the page — the same thing as signing a printout and scanning it. Whether that is binding depends on your jurisdiction and the kind of document, and plenty of everyday agreements are accepted this way. What it is not is a digital signature in the cryptographic sense: there is no certificate, nothing proves who signed, and nothing detects a later edit. If you have been asked specifically for a certificate-based or qualified electronic signature, this is not that tool.
Is my document uploaded?
The signing happens in your browser and the signed file saves straight to your downloads — that part is genuinely local. A copy of the document you open is also uploaded and stored, the same as any file sent to Scriptorium, so a problem or a report of misuse can be investigated. See our privacy page for how long it is kept.
Do I need an account, or a subscription?
Neither. The tool runs on this page and signs the file straight away. It is worth checking this before you upload anything anywhere: several signing sites let you do the whole job and then ask for a card before they will give you the signed file back, and a cheap trial price is often a monthly subscription that starts a few days later.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs in the browser you are already using — there is no extension, no desktop app and no plugin.
Can I sign on my phone?
Yes, and a finger on a touchscreen usually produces a better-looking signature than a mouse does. The drawing area takes touch input directly.
Can I sign more than one page?
One signature per run at the moment. Sign the file, then open the signed copy again to add the next one.
Will it work on a password-protected PDF?
No. An encrypted PDF cannot be opened without its password, so remove the protection in whatever created the file first.
Turn what is said into text
Scriptorium's main job is transcription: bring a video or an audio file and get back text you can read, correct, search and export.