You’ve got a PDF.
And you want to know how to add a digital signature to it.
Worry not — by the end of this article, we’ll be walking you through a couple of clear-cut, straightforward answers:
There are multiple ways to do it.
It all depends on the tool you’ll use.
We’ll cover 3: SignHouse (which you can use on this very page), and then two very popular choices: Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat
Signing with SignHouse is 100% free and it does the job 8x faster and 12x more efficiently.
But without presenting it too much, let’s focus on how to do it:
And voila! You’re done.
If you’re the only signee, you will be able to download the very same document, but with a proper, 100% secure and legally-binding eSignature added.
If you’ve sent this to other signees, you’ll be updated as they make progress.
And then get the final document with all the signatures.
All signatures created with SignHouse do come with a digital signature certificate, which can be read by any software that allows that — or any authority that requires it. Therefore, it's 100% legally binding.
Naturally, you’ll need Adobe Acrobat for this.
The short of it is this:
Microsoft Word doesn’t have a native way to add a signature with a digital signature certificate.
You are able to add a signature in a Word document.
Microsoft mentions here the digital certificate, but doesn’t shed any more light as to how to generate one within Microsoft Word.
For the time being, we recommend sticking to a proper eSignature software tool.
Here's the thing, however: we've talked about both electronic and digital signatures, but there's a slight difference between the two.
To tell the difference, here's this table on electronic signatures vs digital signatures:
To add a digital certificate to a PDF signature in Adobe Acrobat, you'll need to follow the next steps.
That's it. Now your signature comes with a digital certificate!
You can use SignHouse's signature generator, which is 100% free. You can choose between:
At the end, our Signature generator will put out a transparent-background signature that is ready to be uploaded.
A transparent-background signature works best, as that probably means you can use it in one of those rare situations where you either have a non-white background, or, on a white-background document, you still want the elements under the signature to be visible (e.g. a dotted line).
SignHouse's signature generator puts out transparent-background signatures!
1. Open up the SignHouse app (you don't need to log in to get satrted).
2. Upload your PDF doc using our simple uploader. Click highlighted area in the picture above — an upload box will pop up, for you to add your .PDF file.
3. Click the “Signature” block on the sidebar
4. The pop-up showing all the options will pop-up. You will want to select “Upload”.
5. Over there you will be able to add your signature to the PDF file.
You will be able to:
Yes you can! You can either draw a signature by hand, or add one if you already have it
To draw a handwritten signature in Word:
This will definitely work better on a laptop with a touchpad, rather than with a mouse on a desktop device. Or, probably the best way, with a pencil on a tablet.
To add a handwritten signature in Word:
Yes, signed agreements hold up in court, but they first need to be valid (before being signed). As long the agreements meet the following 4 conditions, they are valid:
A signature added to an agreement is, to put it shortly, the confirmation that you agree with the clauses and conditions.
However, the 4 conditions listed above need to be met in order for the contract/agreement to be enforceable in a court of law.
When the 4 conditions are met + your signature is added, it holds up in court!
Ch Daniel is the co-founder of SignHouse and chairman of the CH Group. Daniel is leading the development of SignHouse's product, as well as strategising how else the company can reach its main mission: empowering 100M+ to use the world's most efficient document organisational tools.