Sign PDFs free: typed, drawn, or uploaded — what's legal?
Visual signatures vs cryptographic signatures. Most business contracts only need the first.
Signing a PDF is two different things: drawing your name on the page (a visual signature) and applying a cryptographic seal (a digital signature). Most online tools only do the first. The visual signature is what 99% of business workflows actually require, and it's what we offer for free.
Visual signatures are legally binding for most cases
Visual e-signatures are binding under the US ESIGN Act, EU eIDAS for simple e-signatures, the UK ECA, and similar laws in most jurisdictions. They cover NDAs, MSAs, employment paperwork, vendor agreements, and standard business contracts.
When you actually need cryptographic signing
Court filings in some jurisdictions, regulatory submissions, and qualified electronic signatures (QES) under EU law require certificate-based signing. Adobe Acrobat, DocuSign, and our API integration with certificate workflows handle these.
Tips for professional signatures
Upload a real handwritten signature — sign on white paper, take a phone photo, upload. Save your signature for reuse so future signings are one click. Match signature size to surrounding text. Sign last, after all other edits are final.
Posts authored collectively by the pdfcraft ai team — release notes, infrastructure updates, and editorial content where no single author is the right attribution. Read more →