How to Sign a PDF Online
Adding your signature to a PDF — an offer letter, a form, an agreement — doesn’t require printing, signing, and rescanning. Sign PDF lets you create a signature three ways and place it directly on the page, all in your browser.
Three ways to create a signature
- Draw it. Use your mouse, trackpad, or finger on a touchscreen to draw your signature freehand on a small canvas.
- Type it. Type your name and PageFlow renders it in a signature-style font.
- Upload it. If you already have a signature saved as an image (a PNG of your signature on a transparent or white background works best), upload it directly.
Whichever method you choose, you can move, resize, and rotate the placed signature before exporting, and add a date or printed name alongside it.
Important: this is not a digital signature
PageFlow’s Sign PDF tool adds a visible electronic signature — an image placed on the page. It is explicitly not a certificate-based digital signature. That distinction matters:
- It does not verify your identity.
- It does not cryptographically seal the document against tampering.
- Its legal weight depends entirely on your jurisdiction and the context you’re using it in — for anything with real legal stakes, check what your situation actually requires.
For the full distinction, read Electronic Signature vs. Digital Signature.
Steps
- Open Sign PDF and upload your document.
- Choose Draw, Type, or Upload, and create your signature.
- Place it on the page, adjusting position and size as needed.
- Optionally add a date stamp or your printed name nearby using the same panel.
- Export your signed copy.
If the document already has a digital signature
If PageFlow detects that your PDF already carries a certificate-based digital signature, it will warn you before you make changes: editing a digitally signed document — including adding your own visible signature — will very likely invalidate that existing signature. This is a property of how digital signatures work, not a PageFlow limitation.
Combine signing with protection
Once signed, you can immediately add a password with Protect PDF in the same workspace session — no need to re-upload the signed copy.