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Add Signature to PDF and Own Its Authority

  Rollins Duke
Rollins Duke   
Published: December 4th, 2024 • 4 Min Read

You are not always supposed to sign a document in as a hard copy by going through the struggle of printing it, signing it, and then mailing it back. We live in a digital world influenced hugely by technology. In addition, there are many ways to sign a document the moment it reaches you, to share it back it immediately from immediately. PDFs being the finest available document formats today will be discussed about along with the ways to add signature to PDF. Apart from that, you will come across various important tips in between which are suggested to be carefully taken into consideration.

Signing a Portable Document Electronically

Print-less document signing is quite in trend these days and apart from being an advanced provision by Adobe, it is an interesting one too. When using Adobe Acrobat (preferably, version XI), you can add signature to your portable document in three different ways. Yes, you heard it right, and one of the methods gives you the option to use a hand-drawn signature for signing your documents.

Here is how you can do it:

Beginning: Starting to add a signature to your PDF

  • Open the document that you want to sign using Adobe Acrobat Pro.
  • On the top right corner, click on the “Sign” pane.
  • Now open “I Need to Sign” from the panel.
  • Click on “Place Signature” to start placing your signature on the document.
  • Now choose one of the given options to sign your document provided in the drop down list.

(A) Type My Signature

  1. Type your name in the field provided as “Enter Your Name.”
  2. Click on the “Change Signature Style” to choose the right option for the appearance of your signature. Click on “Accept” to finalize the chosen appearance.
  3. Now, scroll to any location on the document and click there to place your signature.

(B) Draw My Signature

NOTE: Here you will need to use your mouse or a stylus.

  1. Use either your mouse or a stylus (for accuracy) to create a signature by drawing it in the field provided.

TIP: In case you go wrong at some point, click on Clear Signature to begin again.

  1. Click on “Accept,” once you have finalized the signature.
  2. Then, scroll to the desired area of the document where you need to place your signature and click to place it.

(C) Use an Image

NOTE: A scanner will be required for this option.

  1. Scan a physically signed paper into a portable document.

TIP: The OCR technique using Acrobat is be applicable here.

  1. Locate the file containing your hand-drawn signature and click on “Accept” to select it.
  2. Now go the area of the document where you need to place the signature at and click on it.
  • If you require signing your document more than one time, then click on “Place Signature” option and follow the same procedure of scrolling down to the desired location on the page and clicking on it to place the signature.
  • If you want the file to keep the document signed permanently, merge the signature into it and save the file. Click on Confirm to agree with the changes made and after providing a name to the file, click on Save.

Optional: You will be provided with an option for sending the document with signature to others using Adobe EchoSign. In order to proceed, click on Upload and follow the rest of the procedure. However, you can also click on Not Now to disagree using Adobe EchoSign.

Drawn or Image Based Signature: Risks Involved

According to various studies conducted regarding the ongoing rate of cybercrime, using a hand-drawn signature or image-based signature is quite risky. It is considered as a huge risk to security of the user. It can easily lead to identity theft issues as anybody could get access to your document (hacking or any other illegitimate means) and pick your signature for performing unlawful acts using it.

In such cases, signing the document either just with your name or with preferring to use a watermark instead to own its authority is a better option to go with.

Applying Watermark: You can add image/text based watermark using the Acrobat Pro. It is from the Adobe itself.

Conclusion

Assuring the authority of your PDF document is the most important task these days due to the rise of illegitimate acts being carried out on digital data. The guide above suggests the way to sign your document and other alternatives to overcome the risks involved with certain types of signatures.