Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, absolutely! This is a 100% free online tool designed to help you easily add your electronic signature to PDF documents (e-signature) or prepare PDFs for others to sign. There are no hidden costs, no subscriptions required, and no watermarks added to your signed documents. You can sign as many PDFs as you need, completely free of charge.

Signing a PDF is simple:

1. Upload Your PDF: Click the "Upload PDF" button on our homepage and select the PDF document you want to sign.
2. Define Your Signature: If you're signing yourself, type your name and choose a font style, draw your signature using your mouse or touchscreen, or upload an image of your signature.
3. Place Signature Field(s): If you're signing yourself or preparing for others, select "My Signature" (or "Recipient Signature") from the field types and click on the PDF where the signature should go. You can resize and reposition this field.
4. Sign (if signing yourself): If it's your signature field, it will be populated with your defined signature. If you are a recipient, click on the designated signature field.
5. Finalize & Download: Once all necessary fields are placed and/or filled, click "Finalize & Download" or "Submit Signed Document." Your electronically signed PDF will be ready for download.

Yes! Our tool allows you to prepare a PDF for a recipient to sign. Simply select the "Prepare for Recipient" mode after uploading your PDF. You can then add fields like "Recipient Signature," "Recipient Initials," and "Date Signed by Recipient" onto the document. Once prepared, you'll provide the recipient's email, and we'll send them a secure link to sign the document online. This is a great free alternative for simple contract signing workflows.

You have several flexible options for creating your e-signature:

• Typed Signature: Simply type your name, and we offer a selection of cursive and handwriting-style fonts to make it look like a real signature. You can also choose styles like "Full Name," "First Initial Last Name," or just "Initials."
• Drawn Signature: Use your mouse, trackpad, or touchscreen to draw your signature directly on the screen.
• Image Upload: (Currently not implemented, but a common feature) You could potentially upload an image of your physical signature.

Yes.

• For Self-Signing: You can add a "My Date Signed" field which will automatically populate with the current date.
• For Preparing for Recipient: You can add "Recipient Signature," "Recipient Initials," and "Date Signed by Recipient" fields. The recipient will fill these in.

No, there are currently no limits on the number of PDFs you can sign yourself or prepare for others using our free service. Enjoy unlimited free document signing!

Yes, our PDF signing tool is designed to be responsive and should work on most modern mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) through your web browser. You can upload, place signature fields, and sign PDFs on the go.

We take your security and privacy seriously. Your documents are uploaded over a secure HTTPS connection. The processing of your e-signature and the embedding onto the PDF happens on our servers. We aim to provide a secure PDF signing experience. Please review our Privacy Policy for more details on data handling.

To provide the service, your PDF is temporarily uploaded to our servers for processing. Signed documents are also temporarily stored to allow you (and recipients, if applicable) to download them. However, these files are not kept indefinitely. Original uploaded PDFs and their finalized signed versions are subject to automatic deletion after a set period (currently 7 days) to protect your privacy and manage storage. We do not claim ownership of your documents.

This is a common challenge with web-based PDF manipulation. The preview you see in your browser (HTML/CSS rendering) and the final PDF (generated by a library like ReportLab) use different rendering engines and font metric systems.

• Our frontend `fitTextInElement` function calculates an optimal font size in pixels to fit the text within the box you define on screen.
• The backend then converts this pixel-based size to points for the PDF. While we apply scaling and checks, slight variations in how fonts are rendered, character spacing (kerning), and line height can occur between the browser's display and the PDF output.
• We strive to make it as close as possible, but minor differences in text size or spacing relative to the box can sometimes happen. The backend also tries to ensure text doesn't overflow the box in the PDF.

Please ensure your file is a valid PDF document. Some common reasons for upload failure include:

• The file is not actually a PDF (e.g., it's a Word document or image with a .pdf extension).
• The PDF is corrupted or password-protected (we currently do not support password-protected PDFs for editing).
• The file size is excessively large (though we aim to support reasonable sizes for a free tool).
• A temporary network issue.

This tool is primarily focused on adding new content (signatures, dates, initials) as overlays onto your existing PDF. It is not a full PDF content editor, meaning you cannot directly edit or delete the original text or images already present in the PDF document you upload. Its strength lies in its free e-signature and field placement capabilities.

Electronic signatures are legally recognized in many countries worldwide (e.g., ESIGN Act in the U.S., eIDAS in the EU). Our tool provides a way to create and apply such signatures. However, the legal validity of an e-signature can depend on various factors including the intent of the parties, the security and reliability of the signing process, and specific local regulations. For critical legal documents, it's always advisable to consult with a legal professional to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and requirements for your specific situation and jurisdiction. This free tool provides the means to affix a signature; ensuring its legal appropriateness for your use case is your responsibility.

No account creation is required! You can start using our tool to sign PDFs or prepare them for others immediately. We believe in providing a simple, accessible, and free document signing solution without the hassle of registration.