Is a signature added on screen as valid as one I print and sign?

In most everyday cases, yes. A drawn or typed signature is a simple electronic signature, and under eIDAS art. 25 in the EU and the ESIGN Act and UETA in the US it cannot be refused legal effect purely for being electronic. The exceptions are narrow: wills, deeds, and some notarial or registry filings.

Does the PDF get uploaded anywhere while I sign it?

No. The document is opened and signed by code running in your browser, and the signed copy is written straight to your downloads folder. You can confirm it in the Network tab of your developer tools, or by disconnecting from the internet after the page loads and signing anyway.

The sender asked for a scanned copy. Will a signed PDF do?

Usually. What they want is proof you signed, and a flattened PDF shows that more clearly than a grey phone scan. If they push back, ask whether they need a wet-ink original or just a signed file. Almost always it is the second, and the request was habit.

The PDF has boxes I need to fill in as well. Can I do that here?

Yes. The free signer has an Add text tool: type what you need, choose a font, and drag it into the box. It stamps text onto the page rather than filling a form field, so if the PDF has real fillable fields it stays tidier to fill those in Preview, Acrobat Reader or Chrome first, then sign here. On a scanned or non-fillable form, the text tool is the whole answer.

How to sign a PDF without printing and scanning it

Printing a contract, signing it with a pen and scanning it back is the slowest way to return a document, and every round trip costs you page quality. You can skip all of it. Open the PDF in your browser, draw your signature onto the page, and download a signed copy. Nothing is uploaded.

Last verified: August 27, 2026

Sign a PDF free, no upload

Three steps, no printer

01
Open the PDF where it already is
Drag the file into the free signer, or pick it from your downloads folder. It opens locally, in the tab, at up to 25 MB. No account, no upload step to wait through.
02
Draw, type or photograph your signature
Draw with a trackpad, finger or stylus, type your name in a handwriting style, or photograph a signature you wrote on paper. Drag it where it belongs and add the date if the document asks for one.
03
Download the signed PDF and reply
The signature is flattened into the page and the file saves to your device, ready to attach to your reply. The page count, text layer and file size stay close to the original.

What the print and scan loop actually costs

A scan is a photograph of a page. The searchable text inside the original PDF is gone, replaced by pixels, so the recipient can no longer copy a clause or run a find. Anyone who needs to quote the document has to retype it.

File size usually moves the wrong way too. A five page agreement of 300 KB comes back from a phone scanner app at 8 MB or more, which is enough to bounce off a mailbox with a 10 MB attachment limit. Add the crooked margins and the grey cast that every scan picks up, and the version now in circulation is worse than the one you were sent.

Signing on screen leaves the original pages untouched. Your signature is drawn on top and flattened in, so what the other side receives is the document they wrote, plus a signature.

When you genuinely still need a printer

Some documents want ink on paper and no software changes that. Wills and deeds are the usual examples, along with notarial acts and anything a land or company registry has to file. A few banks and insurers still ask for a wet signature on original forms out of habit rather than law.

There is also the case where the other party simply insists. If a counterparty says they will only accept a scanned original, arguing about eIDAS or the ESIGN Act rarely saves time. Print that one and sign the rest on screen.

Nothing leaves your device

Most online signing tools work by uploading your file, processing it on a server and deleting it later. That is why so many of them advertise a deletion window. The free signer here has no upload step at all: the PDF is parsed, rendered and stamped by code running in your browser tab.

You can check that yourself in about ten seconds. Open your browser's developer tools, switch to the Network tab and sign a document. No request carries the file. Turning off your wifi after the page has loaded works just as well, because the signing still completes offline.

Frequently asked questions

Is a signature added on screen as valid as one I print and sign?: In most everyday cases, yes. A drawn or typed signature is a simple electronic signature, and under eIDAS art. 25 in the EU and the ESIGN Act and UETA in the US it cannot be refused legal effect purely for being electronic. The exceptions are narrow: wills, deeds, and some notarial or registry filings.
Does the PDF get uploaded anywhere while I sign it?: No. The document is opened and signed by code running in your browser, and the signed copy is written straight to your downloads folder. You can confirm it in the Network tab of your developer tools, or by disconnecting from the internet after the page loads and signing anyway.
The sender asked for a scanned copy. Will a signed PDF do?: Usually. What they want is proof you signed, and a flattened PDF shows that more clearly than a grey phone scan. If they push back, ask whether they need a wet-ink original or just a signed file. Almost always it is the second, and the request was habit.
The PDF has boxes I need to fill in as well. Can I do that here?: Yes. The free signer has an Add text tool: type what you need, choose a font, and drag it into the box. It stamps text onto the page rather than filling a form field, so if the PDF has real fillable fields it stays tidier to fill those in Preview, Acrobat Reader or Chrome first, then sign here. On a scanned or non-fillable form, the text tool is the whole answer.

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