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Sign PDF documents

Last updated on Jun 3, 2025 | Also applies to Adobe Acrobat Sign

Acrobat User Guide
Introduction to Acrobat
1. Access Acrobat from desktop, mobile, web
2. Introducing the new Acrobat experience
3. What's new in Acrobat
4. Keyboard shortcuts
5. System Requirements
6. Download Adobe Acrobat
7. Download Acrobat | Enterprise term or VIP license
8. Download Acrobat 64-bit for Windows
9. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader | Windows
10. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader | Mac OS
11. Install updates for Acrobat and Reader
12. Update your Acrobat to the latest version
13. Download Acrobat 2020
14. Release Notes | Acrobat, Reader
Workspace
1. Workspace basics
2. Opening and viewing PDFs
3. Working with online storage accounts
4. Acrobat and macOS
5. Acrobat notifications
6. Grids, guides, and measurements in PDFs
7. Asian, Cyrillic, and right-to-left text in PDFs
8. Adobe Acrobat for Outlook
9. Set Acrobat as default PDF viewer
10. Explore Acrobat tools
Creating PDFs
1. Overview of PDF creation
2. Create PDFs with Acrobat
3. Create PDFs with PDFMaker
4. Using the Adobe PDF printer
5. Converting web pages to PDF
6. Creating PDFs with Acrobat Distiller
7. Adobe PDF conversion settings
8. PDF fonts
Editing PDFs
1. Edit text in PDFs
2. Edit images or objects in a PDF
3. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
4. Edit scanned PDFs
5. Enhance document photos captured using a mobile camera
6. Optimizing PDFs
7. PDF properties and metadata
8. Links and attachments in PDFs
9. PDF layers
10. Page thumbnails and bookmarks in PDFs
11. PDFs converted to web pages
12. Setting up PDFs for a presentation
13. PDF articles
14. Geospatial PDFs
15. Applying actions and scripts to PDFs
16. Change the default font for adding text
17. Delete pages from a PDF
18. Edit a signed PDF | FAQ
Scan and OCR
1. Scan documents to PDF
2. Enhance document photos
3. Troubleshoot scanner issues when scanning using Acrobat
Forms
1. PDF forms basics
2. Create a form from scratch in Acrobat
3. Create and distribute PDF forms
4. Fill in PDF forms
5. PDF form field properties
6. Fill and sign PDF forms
7. Setting action buttons in PDF forms
8. Publishing interactive PDF web forms
9. PDF form field basics
10. PDF barcode form fields
11. Collect and manage PDF form data
12. About forms tracker
13. PDF forms help
14. Send PDF forms to recipients using email or an internal server
Combining files
1. Combine or merge files into single PDF
2. Rotate, move, delete, and renumber PDF pages
3. Add headers, footers, and Bates numbering to PDFs
4. Crop PDF pages
5. Add watermarks to PDFs
6. Add backgrounds to PDFs
7. Working with component files in a PDF Portfolio
8. Publish and share PDF Portfolios
9. Overview of PDF Portfolios
10. Create and customize PDF Portfolios
Sharing, reviews, and commenting
1. Share and track PDFs online
2. Mark up text with edits
3. Preparing for a PDF review
4. Starting a PDF review
5. Hosting shared reviews on SharePoint or Office 365 sites
6. Participating in a PDF review
7. Add comments to PDFs
8. Adding a stamp to a PDF
9. Approval workflows
10. Managing comments | view, reply, print
11. Importing and exporting comments
12. Tracking and managing PDF reviews
Saving and exporting PDFs
1. Saving PDFs
2. Convert PDF to Word
3. Convert PDF to PPTX
4. Convert PDF to XLSX or XML
5. Convert PDF to JPEG
6. Convert PDF to TIFF
7. Convert PDF to PNG
8. Convert or export PDFs to other file formats
9. File format options for PDF export
10. Reusing PDF content
Security
1. Enhanced security setting for PDFs
2. Securing PDFs with passwords
3. Manage Digital IDs
4. Securing PDFs with certificates
5. Opening secured PDFs
6. Removing sensitive content from PDFs
7. Setting up security policies for PDFs
8. Choosing a security method for PDFs
9. Security warnings when a PDF opens
10. Securing PDFs with Adobe Experience Manager
11. Protected View feature for PDFs
12. Overview of security in Acrobat and PDFs
13. JavaScripts in PDFs as a security risk
14. Attachments as security risks
15. Allow or block links in PDFs
16. Edit secured PDFs
Electronic signatures
1. Sign PDF documents
2. Capture your signature on mobile and use it everywhere
3. Send documents for e-signatures
4. Create a web form
5. Request e-signatures in bulk
6. Collect online payments
7. Brand your account
8. About certificate signatures
9. Certificate-based signatures
10. Validating digital signatures
11. Adobe Approved Trust List
12. Manage trusted identities
Printing
1. Basic PDF printing tasks
2. Print Booklets and PDF Portfolios
3. Advanced PDF print settings
4. Print to PDF
5. Printing color PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
6. Printing PDFs in custom sizes
7. Scale or resize PDF pages
Accessibility, tags, and reflow
1. Create and verify PDF accessibility
2. Accessibility features in PDFs
3. Reading Order tool for PDFs
4. Reading PDFs with reflow and accessibility features
5. Edit document structure with the Content and Tags panels
6. Creating accessible PDFs
7. Cloud-based auto-tagging
Searching and indexing
1. Creating PDF indexes
2. Searching PDFs
Multimedia and 3D models
1. Add audio, video, and interactive objects to PDFs
2. Adding 3D models to PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
3. Displaying 3D models in PDFs
4. Interacting with 3D models
5. Measuring 3D objects in PDFs
6. Setting 3D views in PDFs
7. Enable 3D content in PDF
8. Adding multimedia to PDFs
9. Commenting on 3D designs in PDFs
10. Playing video, audio, and multimedia formats in PDFs
11. Add comments to videos
Print production tools (Acrobat Pro)
1. Print production tools overview
2. Printer marks and hairlines
3. Previewing output
4. Transparency flattening
5. Color conversion and ink management
6. Trapping color
Preflight (Acrobat Pro)
1. PDF/X-, PDF/A-, and PDF/E-compliant files
2. Preflight profiles
3. Advanced preflight inspections
4. Preflight reports
5. Viewing preflight results, objects, and resources
6. Output intents in PDFs
7. Correcting problem areas with the Preflight tool
8. Automating document analysis with droplets or preflight actions
9. Analyzing documents with the Preflight tool
10. Additional checks in the Preflight tool
11. Preflight libraries
12. Preflight variables
Color management
1. Keeping colors consistent
2. Color settings
3. Color-managing documents
4. Working with color profiles
5. Understanding color management
Troubleshoot
1. Troubleshoot PDF printing in Acrobat and Acrobat Reader
2. Adobe Acrobat license has either expired or not been activated
3. Edit PDF forms created in LiveCycle Designer
4. Insufficient data for an image error on Adobe Acrobat
5. Resolve errors related to the AcroCEF/RdrCEF processes of Acrobat or Acrobat Reader

Overview

You can sign a document to attest to its contents or approve the document. This document explains how to sign a document or agreement using Acrobat or Reader desktop application.

To sign a PDF document or form, you can type, draw, or insert an image of your handwritten signature. You can also add text, such as your name, company, title, or date. When you save the document, the signature and text become part of the PDF.

Try it yourself
Fill and sign your documents in a few simple steps

Open Acrobat

Note:

You can also capture a picture of your signature on mobile using Adobe Acrobat Reader mobile app and save it in Adobe cloud storage so that it's synced and available for use across your desktop and other mobile devices. For more information, see Capture your signature on mobile and use it everywhere.

Open the PDF document. Select E-sign from the global bar.
Create your signature and initials if not already done. To do so:
1. To add a signature, select Add signature. In the dialog that appears, type, draw, or add an image of your signature and then select Done.
2. To add your initials, select Add initials. In the dialog that appears, type, draw, or add an image of your initials and then select Done.
Select your signature.
The form fields are detected automatically. Hover the mouse over a field to display a blue box. Click anywhere in the blue box, the cursor will be placed at the right position automatically. Type your text to fill the field.

Hover the mouse to display the detected text field

To fill the PDF form with your desired color, from the Quick actions toolbar, select the Color icon and then select a color.

By default, the signature color is black. To retain the default color of the signature, make sure the Keep signatures black option is unchecked.

Note:

For more information on filling your form, see Fill out your PDF form.
If you've already added your signature or initials, just select it from the Sign options, and then click at the place in the PDF where you want to add your signature. Skip to the next step.

If you are signing for the first time, you see the Signature or Initials panel. Below is an example of the Signature panel.

You can choose to type, draw, or import a signature image. Added signatures and initials are saved for future use.

Select Apply, and then click on the place in the PDF where you want to place the signature or initial.
To move the placed signature or initial, select the field to highlight it and then use the arrow keys. To resize or delete the field, use the options in the field toolbar.

Note:

If you want to use an image as your signature:

Sign your name in black ink on a clean, blank sheet of white paper. Sign in the middle of the paper so you don't photograph or scan the edges.
Photograph or scan your signature. If you are taking a picture of your signature, make sure that the page is lit and that no shadows fall across the signature.
Transfer the photo or scan to your computer. Acrobat/Reader accepts JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, TIF, and BMP files. You do not need to crop the image. Acrobat/Reader imports just the signature if the photo or scan is fairly clean.

Sign an agreement

If you receive an email request for a signature from someone using Adobe Acrobat Sign, you can access the agreement from the link in your email or through your Acrobat or Acrobat Reader desktop application. You will see a notification that an agreement has been shared with you for signing.

You can sign the agreement using one of the following two ways:

Go to Acrobat or Acrobat Reader Home view and then from under Agreements, select All agreements.

It takes you to the All agreements page where all the agreements shared or received for signature are displayed.
Select the agreement and click Sign in the right-pane. The agreement opens.
Select the fields and enter the required information.
Select the signature field and then select Apply.

Note: If you are signing for the first time, you see the Signature or Initials panel as shown below.
- Type: Type your name in the field. You can choose from a small selection of signature styles; click Change Style to view a different style.
- Draw: Draw your signature in the field.
- Image: Browse and select an image of your signature.
- Mobile: Select this option to create your signature on a mobile device. Enter your mobile number and click Send. A link is sent to your mobile. Clicking the link opens the web browser on your mobile device where you can draw or select an image of your signature.
- Save: When this check box is selected, and you're signed in to Acrobat Reader or Acrobat, the added signature is saved securely in Adobe cloud storage for reuse.
Once you complete all the fields and sign, select Click To Sign.

Select the link of the agreement received in your email for signing. The agreement opens in a web browser.
Select the fields and enter the requested information.
Select the signature field and then select Apply.

Note: If you are signing for the first time, you see the Signature or Initials panel as shown below.

You can choose to type, draw, or import a signature image. Added signatures and initials are saved for future use.
- Type: Type your name in the field. You can choose from a small selection of signature styles; click Change Style to view a different style.
- Draw: Draw your signature in the field.
- Image: Browse and select an image of your signature.
- Mobile: Select this option to create your signature on a mobile device. Enter your mobile number and click Send. A link is sent to your mobile. Clicking the link opens the web browser on your mobile device where you can draw or select an image of your signature.
- Save: When this check box is selected, and you're signed in to Acrobat Reader or Acrobat, the added signature is saved securely in Adobe cloud storage for reuse.
Select Click To Sign.