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🏠 Home | Tips | How to Sign PDFs (Free)

How to Sign a PDF for Free

With the recent push from larger software companies (not naming names) towards their “Premium” paid versions of previously free software, we’ve gotten more requests asking how to add a signature to PDF files without paying for “Premium” subscriptions. Luckily, the previous methods for adding signatures to PDFs for free are still available, just not blatantly obvious. This guide will walk you through the simple steps of adding your signature to PDF files.

Matt Jacyk

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Step 1

Install Adobe Reader (Free)

Download the free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader here. Make sure you don’t download any of the premium paid versions with similar names, such as Adobe Acrobat or Adobe DC. 

Once it’s downloaded, install the software by clicking the downloaded .exe file. (Figure A)

Figure A

Step 2

Open Adobe Reader

Once the application is installed, run the program (it may open automatically or prompt you to open the software after completing the installation).

Step 3

Open Document for Signing

Select the document you’d like to sign and open it inside of Reader. You may see it under Recent, or you can click the Menu option in the top left and select Open, then manually browse to and select your document (Figure B)

Figure B

Step 4

Add your Signature to Reader

Slightly to the left of your document, you should see a vertical menu with 6 icons; at the bottom is a pen icon – if you hover over it, “Add Your Signature or Initials” pops up (Figure C). Click this icon, and you should see a small popup menu; click the option to Add Your Signature (Figure D)

You should see a number of options pop up (Figure E). The default selection allows you to type in your name – you can change the style of your signature in the bottom right corner under Change Style. Alternatively, you can select Image at the top to upload a picture of your signature for use, or you can select Draw to manually draw your signature. For professional documents, we recommend uploading an image of your signature, but for most cases the default Type option works just fine.

Once you’re happy with your signature, click Apply at the bottom to save your signature for re-use.
Figure C
Figure D
Figure E

Step 5

Insert Your Signature in the Document

After clicking Apply, you should now have a version of your signature attached to your mouse. Mouse over where you’d like the signature to be and click to place it. After placing the signature, you should see a small menu pop up (Figure F); click the smaller A to decrease the size of your signature, the larger A to increase, or the trash can to remove the signature. On the left vertical icon menu, there may also be a black coloured dot underneath the Pen icon that you can click to change the colour of your signature. 

Figure F

Conclusion

Save and Reuse Your Signature

Now that your document is signed, remember to save your document with the save icon in the top right. You can re-use this signature on any other PDF documents – simply open the document in Adobe Reader, then click the Pen icon to insert your saved signature.

 

If you have any trouble signing PDF documents for free, please contact us – we’re always happy to help! 

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